LA Comic Con ’23: Stepping Up The Convention Food Game
by Brendan M. Allen
It’s broadly accepted that convention attendees can expect to pay bonkers prices for basic cafeteria food at almost every show. If the event has in and out privileges, participants technically have the ability to go offsite to grab a bite at an actual restaurant or fast food joint, but it often takes so much time to scan out, leave, order, eat, pay, and get back to the venue, most folks will stay on site and overpay to eat whatever mediocre cuisine the venue has to offer.
I was able to get on the floor early for last weekend’s Los Angeles Comic Con, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the Voodoo Ranger Beer Garden. In addition to the Voodoo Ranger IPA beer truck, Stop Bye Cafe, Wings N Waffles, Oaxaca On Wheels, Love Bird Fried Chicken, Tokyo Style, Flaming Grain, Rice Balls Of Fire, and a few other fantastic gut trucks were all parked in a large semicircle with tables, chairs, and shade umbrellas in the center.
Now, here’s the thing. As a general rule, if you’re part of a captive audience, you can expect to pay higher prices for food and drink. That’s just the way of the world. However, it really is nice to be able to actually choose the food that you’ll be paying a convenience markup on.
I didn’t go to every truck to check the menus, but the few I did visit had decent selections for chicken and waffles, Korean fusion, Japanese cuisine, and loads of other amazing offerings, and the prices weren’t actually even that bad. I was honestly tempted to try the bulgogi nachos at Rice Balls Of Fire, but I went for the bulgogi bowl instead. I know. No sense of adventure.
The bowl was amazing, though. Rice, veg, kimchi, and bulgogi in a decent sized bowl for $17 had me feeling full for the rest of the day. Way better than the chicken fingers and fries downstairs, and probably around the same price point.
Not a huge fan of the IPAs, but if they had a whisky truck…
