As I was talking about the memorable meals I have had from Seattle food trucks recently, my pal from Portland retorts, “P-town is so much more progressive when it comes to the mobile-food scene.”

Game on, sister; you’re steppin’ with your gat on safety because here are three mobile-food concepts, originating in Los Angeles, Portland, and San Francisco, that Seattle has covered.

Concept #1 from L.A.: Brick-and-mortar to truck. Nietzsche once said “The only way to start a Seattle food-truck article is by talking about Los Angeles.” Instead of ceasing operations while L.A.’s Chego undergoes a complete remodel, Ray Choi, the founder of the Korean taco-truck sensation Kogi, decided to operate from a truck. After all, that’s how he built his fame as the supplier of the original $2 Kalbi-beef taco back in 2008.

Serving pork-belly rice bowls, “3 p.m.” meatballs, and ooey-gooey fries loaded with sambal, three types of cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and pickled garlic, Chego churns out a faithful representation of their restaurant menu from their truck, temporarily parked on the curb of their brick-and-mortar.

While the staff cannot wait to get back to the restaurant, because all agree operating out of a truck is a lot harder, Chego’s street cred certainly increased by getting back on the street.

Seattle’s version: With seven locations in the Seattle area, the fried-chicken institution Ezell’s is hitting the food-truck scene in April with Ezell’s Express. Oprah will be pleased. You’ll never guess what their main menu item will be.

Concept #2 from Portland: Specialize. In our consumer-supported society, I am grateful for the extensive grocery-store toilet-paper selection, but sometimes I wish someone could just tell me which is best for my tush. Another of my orifices feels the same about food trucks: Just pick for me. This is where Portland’s Nong’s Khao Man Gai steps in. Nong has one item on her menu, her Hainanese chicken rice. Since she has specialized, she is able to turn around orders lightning-fast and focus on making the tastiest chicken rice this side of a hawker center in Singapore. Nong has such a loyal following, she often sells out by 1 p.m.

Seattle’s version: In a similar vein, the owners of Seattle’s Diablo Food Truckz have also focused on one headline dish: yakisoba pan sandwiches. Translation: noodles in your sandwich. Trust me, this is one of those dishes that perplexes people until they try it, and then they can’t get enough.

Concept #3 from S.F.: Get creative with Asian. I am always coveting the Bay Area’s plethora of Asian-themed food trucks that strut their stuff by offering more than your Americanized fried egg roll. Hongrykong, for example, serves Hong Kong–style cuisine of the kind you can generally find only at dim sum joints or back in the motherland, from egg-custard tarts to siu mai dumplings. Chug down your treat with one of the country’s most prized drinks, an iced Ovaltine.

Another much-loved S.F. truck, The Chairman, delights customers with their Taiwanese baked and steamed buns. Their Coca-Cola-braised pork with Savoy cabbage and preserved yellow mustard seeds is a must-try.

Seattle’s version: Xplosive owners Cathy and Romano Basilio also stay true to their Vietnamese and Filipino roots while having fun with dishes like their grenade banh mi sliders and Xplosive chicken-adobo fried rice.

Seattle may not have pioneered these concepts. But Seattle didn’t invent hip-hop either, and Macklemore is blowing it up. E

food@seattleweekly.com