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| tri tip and chicken sliders |
**A version of this article can be found on OC Register’s Food Frenzy**
The first time I ate off this truck was on its third day of business. The truck didn’t even have its ‘wrap-around’ yet and people were curious yet hesitant to give the newcomer a try.
I convinced my friends to share some food with me and ordered a bunch of sliders. On that particular day I thought they were just okay, slightly under-seasoned, and I made it a point to let owner Andrew Honore know what I thought.
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| pulled pork with creamed corn |
Fast forward three to four weeks and I’m at Irvine Lanes and this time, and decided to give them another try. This time, the meat was nicely flavored and salted right, but all the sliders seemed to have the same condiments, making them taste similar regardless whether it’s pulled pork or tri tip. Again, I let them know.
Last week I found out they were parked not too far from me so I went specifically to try them out again. I’d heard that they had made some changes and I was eager to try.
I was really happy to find that the sliders all have different toppings and each meat is accompanied with its own unique condiment giving them all their on individual taste. The sliders now have taken on a character of their own and they are quite tasty!
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| portabello slider |
The menu is simple. There are four items: pulled pork, tri tip, chicken and portabello mushroom. Sliders are $2 each and sandwiches are $5. You can also choose to have any of these toppings on an order of fries if sandwiches aren’t your thing. I like the idea of having one slider per order. Some trucks offer two sliders an order and if I don’t like a particular item, I’m forced to eat two of them instead of eating one and then having the choice of moving on to something else. At Shortstop, I can order every slider on the menu without falling into a food coma later.
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| loaded fries |
Tri-tip with blue slaw and barbecue sauce is one of the originals and I’ve had them on every single one of my visits to the truck, and this week, I tried it in a sandwich. In the month and a half the truck’s been running, I’ve had this go from average tasting to nothing else is necessary in taste. The blue cheese is enough to give it the richness without overpowering, the barbecue sauce is not overly sweet with a tart finish which appeals to me a lot. I don’t like super sweet! This is a damn good sandwich!
Slow cooked pull pork has also had a make-over. It started off with a pickled red onion topping but is now served with delicious creamed corn and adds contrasting texture to the sandwich.
My surprising favorite is the portabello mushroom. Topped with provolone, it is so delicious I always wish I had ordered the sandwich instead because it’s bigger, but the glutton in me always wants variety hence getting one of each.
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| pork belly BLT |
If you don’t want to eat bread, try any of these meats on French fries. The result? The same deliciousness eaten with a fork instead of fingers.
A lot has changed in a short 6 weeks, and if this is a sign of things to come I know that in another 6 weeks, they would’ve grown in leaps and bounds. I’ve definitely got my eye on them!
ShortStopBBQ can be found at Twitter and Facebook
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