If your path crosses the bottom of Temescal Canyon Road, just above Pacific Coast Highway, then word of mouth has no doubt already lured you over to Galvan’s Food Catering. The Mexican food truck, which offers a clear ocean view, has been parked in the same spot along Lower Temescal Park since 1999, when the Galvans”David and Janet”bought the truck and the route from a previous owner. The truck”which employs five including the hands-on Galvans”offers familiar Mexican food, as well as some curve balls culled from David Galvan’s personal and family recipes from his native Jalisco, Mexico. Galvan prides himself on using fresh ingredients and creating ‘handmade corn tortillas and homemade tortilla chips. ‘One of the things I try to do is make Mexican food like I had in Mexico,’ he says. ‘The real stuff.’ There’s even a total invention or two, such as the truck’s preparadas (a twist on the chicken quesadilla). ‘The daily soup has become popular,’ Galvan adds. ‘Each day’s soup is different.’ On this chilly April morning, customers line up at the truck. At times, they run six to 10 people deep. Many seem to know the Galvans and vice versa. David Galvan points out a charro placing an order to one of the truck’s three cooks. ‘He’s a regular,’ he says. ‘He always orders the meatball soup.’ On this day, the albondigas, as it is called, is popular. ‘My grandmother used to make it,’ Galvan says. The customer, a Mexican man in a cowboy hat, walks away with a generous container of soup that costs $5 and is worth its weight in oros. The thick meatballs arrive packed with rice and spices while the cooked vegetables”carrots, potatoes and celery”taste as fresh as the meat and fish Galvan uses in his entrees. ‘It’s the best food this side of the Mississippi,’ says ‘Big Dog,’ who shows up at 11 a.m. with two fellow city workers. ‘It’s hot and it’s good,’ says his colleague, Marcel Bertrand, who oversees maintenance at city parks in Pacific Palisades. ‘There’s nothing I don’t like here,’ adds Joe Leyva. ‘David is a professional chef.’ The best part of his job, Galvan continues, is ‘running my own business. And meeting all kinds of hard-working people.’ Customers include local Latin immigrant workers, Palisades High students, businessmen, even other restaurateurs, such as the folks who drive down from a Zuma Beach establishment to frequent the truck. Members of the Santa Monica Police Department often stop for a meal. ‘I discovered the truck last summer,’ says Palisadian Bruce Hulse, who tried the ceviche at the urging of a friend. ‘I tried it and it’s the best. As a model, I’ve tried restaurants all over the world, and it’s the best.’ Here, tostadas de ceviche is a popular order, as is sopes (tostadas filled with beef or chicken) and the coctiles camaron y pulpo (shrimp and octopus cocktails). Ceviche (citrus-marinated seafood) tacos cost $2 each, as does the chicken empanada (which is fried but not greasy). Carnitas (pulled pork) and carne asada (roasted beef) tacos cost $1.50 each, the fish or shrimp, $1.75 each, and $5 gets you the full rice-and-beans combo. The chile rojo is something special: shards of beef intertwined with cooked cactus and sauce that tastes piquant but not too spicy. Sauce is crucial, says Galvan: ‘A taco is not a taco if you don’t have some salsa on it.’ Galvan seems indifferent to the gourmet food truck trend covered by the L.A. press since 2008. He says he hasn’t felt a significant bump in business as a result of the truck craze, as sales have remained steady. ‘I try to focus on what we do, not pay attention to what’s going on.’ Unlike the gourmet trucks, lunch trucks suffer from the ‘roach coach’ stigma”greasy, unhealthy”even among Galvan’s regulars. ‘I don’t usually eat at trucks,’ Leyva says. ‘That’s true,’ Bertrand interjects. ‘Normally, I stay away from trucks.’ ‘But David and Janet are good people,’ Leyva says of the Hawthorne couple, ‘and I’ve never had a bad meal here. We’ve never had a [health] problem.’ Janet Galvan points out options for vegetarians: veggie burritos, salads, and health-conscious Aloe drinks. In addition to Mexican fare, the Galvans offer an array of morning selections (breakfast burritos and sandwiches), burgers, hot dogs and fries. As the truck’s name suggests, they also cater parties and events. That Galvan authenticity goes back to Jalisco, where Galvan grew up on the coastal town of Barra de Navidad with his father, a fisherman. Galvan’s mother died when he was 9, which meant that, as the oldest child, Galvan grew up cooking meals for his three siblings. Seafood was always a staple: lobsters, shrimp and oysters. In fact, Galvan shows the Palisadian-Post a photo in his cell phone from a recent visit back to Barra de Navidad, where a buddy holds up two big catches. Galvan came to Southern California when he was 18. For 15 years, he worked in the restaurant business for a popular Italian chain in the Valley and Hollywood. Then ‘I opened that place from scratch,’ he says of a Manhattan Beach Italian eatery owned by a pair of New Yorkers. The Galvans married 11 years ago and purchased their truck shortly after. ‘My best friend’s mom happened to know David,’ says Janet Galvan, born and raised in Hawthorne and of Cuban descent. ‘She had been trying to set me up with him and I kept saying, ‘No, no, no.’ By coincidence, we met [randomly at a club].’ ‘We wanted to get a business of our own,’ David Galvan says. ‘Now our dream is to open a restaurant.’ The Galvan’s Food Catering truck, on Temescal Canyon Road near PCH, is open from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., Monday through Saturday. Contact: 310-308-4453.
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