22 replies to this topic

[goodeats]

Daily Candy DC reports a new traveling cart. The Fojol Bros.

[AlexC]

The Fojol Brother's hot truck came across my radar screen this week. Their website is ridiculous: http://fojol.com/

They seem to have jumped on the twitter food truck bandwagon (See: Kogi BBQ) and are serving an indian grab bag, including chicken masala, chicken curry, etc. The truck runs nightly from Thursday-Sunday and, based on their twitter feed, they roam from Glover Park to the U St corridor.

I haven't been able to indulge in their "traveling culinary carnival", but am understandably curious. Anyone know anything?

[chiefdc]

The Fojol Brother's hot truck came across my radar screen this week. Their website is ridiculous: http://fojol.com/

They seem to have jumped on the twitter food truck bandwagon (See: Kogi BBQ) and are serving an indian grab bag, including chicken masala, chicken curry, etc. The truck runs nightly from Thursday-Sunday and, based on their twitter feed, they roam from Glover Park to the U St corridor.

I haven't been able to indulge in their "traveling culinary carnival", but am understandably curious. Anyone know anything?

I think it's a neat idea. Anything that adds to the street food scene in a meaningful way is a godsend. I wish them the best.

By the way, why do you deem them to be "frat boys"?

[ferment everything]

[You know, my immediate instinct was to change the subtitle of this thread, but now after seeing their website? I think it seems pretty accurate ... Jeez!]

Sweet moustaches, dudes.

[AlexC]

I was heading to Darlington House to watch hockey last night, and on the way I met the Fojol Brothers. Well, two of them, right outside the metro at Connecticut and Q. Indian music was blasting from a cool, brightly-colored vintage Airstream-looking bus, and people just kept wandering up, curious and confused, to order "merlindian" food.

Chef was right -- they're not frat guys, technically, and their enterprise is a little closer to absurdist theater than the tasteless Kappa Sigma Halloween party I was imagining. The whole venture smells like some sort of late-night drug-fueled brainstorm that, against all odds, was actually executed. As such, I approve.

They were offering chicken masala, chicken curry, a spinach dish and one other, each served over rice, in three sizes. The smallest size, just a taste, was $3, but the larger sizes would have made an actual meal.

I tried the chicken masala and the chicken curry. The Fojols reported that they'd worked with a local indian restaurant to get their recipes down, and I believe them. The masala was surprisingly tasty, with real heat, good enough that I'll go back when I run into them. The curry was good, too, but the flavor wasn't as punchy.

The Fojols have been consciously remaining "under the radar" as they get their operation underway, but next week they're gonna get some "serious press", so lingering questions will soon be answered.

[DonRocks]

The Fojols have been consciously remaining "under the radar" as they get their operation underway, but next week they're gonna get some "serious press", so lingering questions will soon be answered.

I was having a quiet dinner on the patio at Enology last night, when I saw what I thought was an ice-cream truck heading southbound on Wisconsin Avenue. Crossing Macomb Street, it was blaring hurdy-gurdy music, with three guys in turbans yelling out the windows, and crossed right in front of the patio diners at Cactus Cantina, then Enology, then Cafe Deluxe. Everyone had a good laugh, but then the Fojols went around for a second pass: They turned down a side street, and came up Macomb, right in front of Sushi Sushi and 2 Amys, and stopped at the Wisconsin Avenue intersection, for all to see.

The trucks are carnival-like, flamboyant, and really very amusing (although I suspect Guru Nanak might disagree). That having been said, I can see this getting old after about the fifth time.

[RaisaB]

I haven't seen the Fojol Bros but they have something similar in Richmond. They are outside of Virginia Medical Center everyday for lunch. There is also a Thai truck and a myriad of others.

[Anna Blume]

They've done the carnival thing on Capitol Hill, too. Actually saw the truck the afternoon I read about it here. Do these guys stop and actually sell food?

[goodeats]

They are currently at Eastern Market, at least all this morning they were. I am unsure why, but I got sticker shock that it was $9 for a full meal of 1 scoop of rice and a small square of chicken curry on those preportioned trays. Didn't try it for that reason.

[lekkerwijn]

Fojol Bros were at 14th and K this afternoon. I got there around 12:30 and there was a pretty solid line and a camera crew. I tried to see their credentials- it looked like they were from Utah. Plus lots of office worker types who sood around the truck taking pictures, but did not order any food. I joked with the Fojol Bro taking orders that the Papparazzi were out in force today. He laughed and said all the attention was "trippy".

On today's menu: Butter Chicken, Chicken Curry, Lentils, and Eggplant. For $6 you get two choices plus rice. I thought the butter chicken was really good and tasted eerily like the sauce from Bombay Curry Company, but instead of a Tandoori-style chicken in big chunks it was more stewed and shredded. The Lentils were pretty soupy, but had a good kick. The rice was nicely cooked and had a cool/sweet almost dairy-like flavor. They clearly use real spices because there was a whole cardamom pod in my chicken, whole red pepper in the lentils, and fennel seeds (?) in the rice.

I will continue to monitor the Twitter daily hoping they return to my work neighborhood very soon.

[brr]

there were about 25 people in a non-moving line at 12.20 at Farragut Square today. I can't really justify queueing 20 or 30 minutes for lunch when the lunchtime deal at Julia's Empanada's is but a hop skip and a jump away

[synaesthesia]

Surprised no one has mentioned the lassi pops. Had a mango lassi pop a few weeks back. It was really good though it started to get melty quite quickly.

[AlexC]

Surprised no one has mentioned the lassi pops. Had a mango lassi pop a few weeks back. It was really good though it started to get melty quite quickly.

Though I'm sure it's been a great business and lifestyle decision, but I'm a little bummed that the Fojols have gone the lunch route and stopped serving late-night on the weekends. With 2 AM lassipops, everyone wins.

[Tweaked]

Hanging out near Metro Center today so I hopped in the line. They ran out of the spinach and cheese two people in front of me and I grabbed the last order of the butter chicken to the displeasure of the line...got it with the lentils

Overall a good effort. The butter chicken was a little on the sweet side, lentils were good. Their food lacks the complexity of spices that DC's better Indian restaurants have, but I would rate them in squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to DC Indian food...I've definitely had worse!

It would be nice if they had some pickle or chutney options...a little mango chutney or lime pickle on the side would have been a good addition.

[wlohmann]

Not sure if it merits a split topic but I tried the Fojols's relatively new Ethiopian truck today ("Fojol Brothers of Benethiopia) and loved it. Got the berbere lentils (full of flavor and heat) and the Beets n Beans (Crimson and savory). Injera on the low end of the "sour-scale" (which I prefer). Service jovial and fun (without being over the top as sometimes they have been in the past) and a generally great food truck experience.

[treznor]

It's not that new as I had it over a year ago one day near L'enfant. I'm not a huge fan of Ethiopian (I know, a travesty in DC) but tried it anyway. Seemed pretty decent, not that I'm one to judge Ethiopian food at all.

[DonRocks]

[Okay, it was time to split "The Discussion" into the News and Media forum. Please feel free to discuss the issue in this thread, and we'll leave this one for the actual food stuff. Kindness ...]

[RWBooneJr.]

I'm starting to think these guys might be brilliant.  At a minimum, they keep things interesting.  I'm also starting to view their schtick more kindly, much the way I've developed an appreciation over the years for the pop art of the '50s and '60s.  They're food's actually pretty good too.

[Kev29]

I'm starting to think these guys might be brilliant.

 

Or they're just doing things that guys in Portland and Austin have done for years - which kind of sums up the food truck scene

[RWBooneJr.]

I never said they were original.  What interests me about them is their apparent understanding of media and culture,* and their ability to fashion a true brand out of something that really isn't altogether different from the hot dog trucks that have lined the Mall for years or, perhaps, the latin american trucks that tour construction sites daily.  Sure, the food is different, but the basic premise is the same.  What they do is take the hipsterish appeal of the new food trucks to the extreme, and the press -- and presumably the public -- laps it up.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear that their business is doing fairly well.  And I'm sure we'll eventually hear more from them than just food trucks.

 

*Yes, I realize they made headlines for percieved cultural insensitivity.  I'm not referring to that kind of culture, but rather the prevailing hipster/social media pop culture of our time.  My analogy to the pop art movement was purposeful.  Warhol sort-of became its poster child and, while he wasn't a great artist, he certainly was a brilliant one.

[saf]

 Portland and Austin

 

And Nova Scotia. (Sadly, Gio's Seafood Chowder Bus in Sydney, Nova Scotia, does not appear to have a website.)

[darkstar965]

And, about as far west as you can go in car, these guys make some of the best fish tacos I've ever had.  Their "original" truck (not the orange or the blue), while not a bus, is as large and as distinctively quirky.

[hoosiereph]

Or they're just doing things that guys in Portland and Austin have done for years - which kind of sums up the food truck scene

 

Or these guys just outside Yellowstone National Park.