Lee’s Philly Gogi

Only one visit with this excellent food truck. Today they were in Orange County along with another well known food truck available for lunch at my school. Our district was doing a staff development on our site and we had hundreds of hungry teachers! I decided to give this particular truck my business and I am glad I made the decision! There was a line and I was prepared to wait 15 to 20 minutes but these folks work quickly! My wait in line was only about 5 minutes and then only about 5 minutes after ordering I had my food!
They had a large variety of sandwiches on the menu, part of my attraction. I decided to try the Korean googi Philly cheeesesteak, with kimchi in the middle. I knew this would not be a traditional Philly cheesesteak. At first I was disappointed as I thought the kimchi would be simply added on the top of the meat but it is cooked in with the meat and was delicious.
You will not be disappointed with your meal from these folks! I am a fan!

I had the cheesesteak here last week and I can’t get it off of my mind.
Only trouble I have is that I can’t find their truck anywhere! I’ve tracked them down on twitter and can’t wait for them to come back to Irvine. Not the greatest cheesesteak ever, but it’s hard to find ones of this caliber in Irvine. Super tasty.

Got the wit and I felt like i was at 9^th and Passyunk again.
Obviously this has very little to do with a «philly cheese steak» but i liked it. The sauce with kimchi was sweet but flavorful, the bread was soft, the portions weren’t oversize, the cheese was decent and the staff was friendly. she even gave up her chair for me to sit down.
I don’t need the chips, which may allow them to justify the price and they do charge a fee to use a credit card, which is a slight pain in the butt except for who would expect a food truck to allow credit cards anyhow.
I’m not really in the mood to compare it to the famous kogi truck, since the concept is a little different, but if you’re gonna make me, i would describe the flavors here as more subtle and frankly not quite as good as the other, but i think the other is pretty darn good.

I discovered Lee’s at the Los Al Din Din a Go-​Go.
They weren’t busy. I was studying their menu. When I started asking the lady that was getting people to stop by their questions she was quite rude and walked away to get other people to try their food.
NO THANK YOU Lee’s for having a sucky person trying to promote your business and not wanting to answer a potential customer’s question.
You sucky suck!

I’m glad I tried out this truck. The reviews were too good to pass up. They were at the OC fairgrounds today. The main attraction that was busy was Grill Em All. I didnt wanna wait in that line so I went to Lee’s. A menu with hoagies, burritos, and cheesesteak sandwiches. The truck is white and simple looking. The food however has a lot going on and in a good way.
I got the gogi beef burrito and the bacon cheesesteak sandwich. The bacon cheesesteak sandwich was okay. The bacon really made it a lot better. I added on the green mild sauce and some sirarcha. That made it really good. The gogi beef burrito is the best! It had beef, corn, kim chi, rice, onions, green mild sauce. I also added sirarcha and bbq sauce. This was a treat to eat. Much better than stuff I’d eat at Kogi or Calbi. I repeat the GOGI BEEF BURRITO is a MUST.
Recommendation: Gogi beef burrito

Go with the tacos or go with the Gogi.
Either way you’ll be a winner.
Chris and his crew are not lying when they say they are slinging the best damn Gogi in LA.
I love a good phillycheese steak, but damn it if they didn’t find a way to make it a bajillion times better.
Plus their shrimp tacos are KILLER and their homemade green sauce and avocado sauces just add that extra oomph that will bring tears of joy to your eyes.

The last time I had something this big, bland, soggy, floppy and limp in my mouth was when…
awww, geez… nevermind.

Ordered a Gogi Burrito.
— At first bite: I thought it was good. Had some flavor.
— Next few bites: Starting to slow down cause its starting to lose flavor.
— Half way downing the burrito: Had to stop. Can’t take it anymore. I need some flavor in my mouth!
— Friend ended up eating only half of my half and couldn’t finish it cause they didn’t like it.
Pros:
— Fast making food.
— Reasonable price.
— Big portions.
— Nice service
Cons:
— Read what I said about the burrito
Will i be back? Maybe. I don’t know.

As my friend Lloyd B put it…“Korean sweetness” and goodness from the white guy making the tacos inside.
We had 2 beef gogi tacos (with the mild avocado salsa) and 1 spicy chicken taco.
All 3 were good and packed full of meat, kimchi, onions, cilantro, etc. Tasty stuff, yummy stuff, and for $ 2.50 a pop.
Next time I think i’ll try the Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
Dined @ the Los Alamitos Din-​a-​Go-​Go!

In 2009, former Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park, signed with Rodney H.‘s beloved Phillies and had a mediocre season going 3 – 3 with a 4.43 ERA and the concept of Korean/​Philadelphian fusion was born. And even though I was curious to try a famous Philly Gogi; I was just looking for a quick snack to hold me over until a dinner engagement.
So I decided to just go with a Shrimp Taco, and for $ 2.50 it was one heck of a deal. Once caveat for the taco customers here – be sure to grab a fork. You will need to eat about half of the shrimp, Kimchee, House Slaw, cilantro and Green Onions concoction before you can even think about picking up the double tortilla. The shrimp was marinated in Korean style spices more complex for me to describe.
Trust me, it was good.
«Gourmet Food Truck #117 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal»

Delicious mixture of food.
I tried this truck last night. I wanted to order a burrito or something with some steak and cheese in it, but since I wanted to sample other food trucks around the SGV Food Truck Fest, I got a spicy chicken taco, and a gogi taco. They were $ 2.50 each, and super tiny.
Although they were tiny, they were freakin’ delicious. They pile on a lot of vegetables, but the vegetables were super good. Although I prefer a good flour tortilla over a corn tortilla, the corn tortilla complimented the rest of the taco well.

As my friend Suzy R likes to say, «Like, nice try.»
Seriously though, what a waste of potential. A Korean Philly cheesesteak sandwich HOW CAN YOU MESS THAT UP? This easily could’ve been a smash hit at the SGVftf, but the sandwich was just so poorly executed. There are a few things that I (and I’m sure I’m not alone here) expect with my Philly cheesesteaks. Let’s see how Lee’s Philly stacked up.
Tender, juicy steak — Fail. Are you kidding me? All you had to do was replace the normal steak with decent bulgogi. And when I say decent, I don’t mean good, I mean decent. My standards for Korean meat are not that high. Right Elizabeth S? Right David P? But no, your marinade was bland, and your meat was crumbly. Hm, where have I seen meat sand like this before? Oh right. The $ 7.99 tables at Mr. Lee’s.
Gooey, melty cheese — Fail. Good cheesesteaks achieve this by melting the cheese on the steak before piling it all on the bread. Since the cheese melts into the steak, you get cheese and steak in every bite. Lee’s cheese was completely separated from the steak. So not only did the cheese never have a chance to melt, half the bites were completely cheeseless! Yea! CHEESELESS!
Peppers and onions — There doesn’t have to be much, but they have to be there, to lend their flavors to the meat. I barely noticed them at all, and had to look at pictures to even realize they were there.
Good bread — The bread should be slightly crispy on the outside, and should have enough substance that each bite requires a small tug. Success.
But since this was a Korean twist on an American sandwich, it did offer one pleasant surprise — kimchi. The kimchi was nice, but was also slightly bland. Lee, you should try cooking the bulgogi and kimchi together, and then melting a blanket of cheese on top of it before making the sandwich next time.

One Kogi taco please!
I don’t eat a lot, so one was enough, definitely with the amount of meat it had! It was a pretty big taco. The bad thing was that the juice was running everywhere and it made the tortilla soggy! My taco broke midway, so i had to just eat it with a fork. It was good still, just really really messy!

My initial thought was: «Another bloody korean fusion truck?»
My thoughts after I tried their shrimp taco and gogi taco? «I really wished I had more stomach space to try everything.» The shrimp is perfectly cooked + their green sauce is kicky and delicious. Perfect balance on the seasoning /​marinade /​crack.
Something got my tortilla soggy which would have bummed me out if it wasn’t for the fact that it got inhaled and didn’t have that much time to sit in its little tray. MMmmm, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for you guys!

I was hungry after I left the office this afternoon, so I decided to stop by Sawtelle, hoping there would be a few food trucks still there. I parked along the street in one of the neighborhoods and walked towards the food trucks on the side of the street I was on. I had never seen Lee’s Philly before and the menu looked great. I checked out the other truck, but ended up going back to Lee’s Philly. After seeing the Philly Cheese Steak, on the menu I had to get one, even though I was intrigued by the Gogi Cheese Steak. Their customer service was great; both the lady who took my order and the guy who handed me my food were pleasant.
I grew up in Philly, so I have a soft spot for the grub; after moving to California, I’ve been disappointed more than enough times. The cheese steak didn’t disappoint. I ordered it to go, so by the time I sat down to eat it, it had been sitting in the box for several minutes. The bread wasn’t soggy and it didn’t fall apart =) At first I thought $ 7.50 was a little steep, but there was a lot of meat inside and it tasted great. The cheese was melted, but I felt like it could have used a bit more. The cheese steak also came with a small side of potato salad.
I’ll definitely stop by the truck again if I see it to try one of their Gogi items!

My Phillies were behind by a run in the third inning of the NLCS so figured I’d sent them some love and grab a few sandwiches while the rest of the family was off in the Ludo Bites line.
Really friendly service, said he like my old Phillies hat and asked if I knew the score of the game so they had everything set up to be perfect.
Ordered three different sammies — traditional, chicken and gogi.
The traditional was ordered plain and really lacked flavor. It bordered on dry and figured if it was loaded, would have been better. Wiz instead of unmelted provolone would have saved it but just a mental note. I moved onto the fully loaded gogi which still left me unsatisfied. Mom tried mine with the same opinion. The Mrs gave her chicken sammy a bite and it was the same way; kinda dry, kinda flavorless and just OK.
I really wanted to like them and their food but no relief pitcher could have saved this one. I’ll give them another chance since this evening was a bit of a mess and hope they can hit my next visit out of the park.

Since I’ve moved back down to Southern California I’ve been trying to find a good cheesesteak. (I LOVED cheesesteak shop in the Bay Area).
So when I went to the OC Foodie Fest I made sure to check out the philly cheesesteak truck. I ordered one regular cheesesteak and one gogi cheesesteak.
I was sorely disappointed with the regular one. Didn’t taste like anything I’ve had in Northern California or even Philadelphia.
The gogi? It was good. It was different. And I enjoyed it much better than their regular one. I doubt I’d look this place up again to go grab some grub, but if I stumbled across it I might grab a gogi cheesesteak.

The anti food truck climate in the Sawtelle District has reached an all time high as local store and restaurant owners have been working in conjunction with the City to sweep the food truck scene off the streets and repress the entrepreneurial spirit they have been working so hard to establish for themselves. This is evidenced by my observations and participation as a consumer in the area, and in conversations with the local parking attendants and the owner of Volcano Tea. Since the crackdown that started about a month ago, the level of foot traffic has dwindled in the corridor while several food trucks remain resilient with their continual presence in spite of the hostilities they face. Until now, I haven’t been compelled to go out of my ways to support the gourmet food trucks given their high prices and minimal values, but I decided to give Lee’s Philly a try once I spotted this Korean fusion cheese steak mobile parking alongside Sawtelle late into the night.
One of the owners came out of the truck to greet me by giving me a very nice run down of their menu. I decided to pass up their most popular items in favor of his personal favorite, the Spicy Chicken Cheese Steak Sandwich ($ 7.50). The torpedo sandwich was humongous with a soft baguette filled with melted cheeses, kimchi, marinated chicken, sautéed onions, green peppers, and I topped it off with a green spicy avocado lime sauce that they have on the side. The sandwich was pretty decent with a mix of spicy flavors and a truck load of chicken. I wished there was more cheese as it was unevenly distributed as a background flavor, and the thick hearty baguette was too soft without the crispy qualities and soggy at particular spots. Additionally, the role of the kimchi should be at the top of the sandwich instead of the bottom where they lose texture, and I find the use of green spicy avocado lime sauce original and a delicious discovery.
The sandwich also came with a small cup of Potato Salad which was delicious with a nice presence of eggs, snow peas, and carrots that intermingled with chunks of potatoes. All together, the value isn’t bad and the sandwich was passable, but not the greatest. Service was very friendly and super fast. My food was ready within 5 minutes and their staff was very helpful with the utensils and napkins and asked if I needed the sandwich to be cut in half. I’d be interested in checking out their rib eye sandwiches and a number of other items. As a fan of all foods and cuisines, I hope these trucks will continue to have a presence on Sawtelle, among other places. 3 solid stars for the overall experience.

Lee’s Philly Gogi (that’s right, «Gogi», not «Kogi») has a relatively unique concept of combining Philly cheese steaks and Mexican food with Korean flair.
Their most popular item, the Gogi Beef Burrito, is a Korean style-​Philly cheese steak-​burrito. The main ingredient is thinly sliced rib eye seasoned with Lee’s special Korean style marinade. Although it’s big, hot, juicy, meaty, and exploding with flavor, this burrito is still tender and light enough on the stomach to not feel guilty after consuming it. At $ 6.75, it’s a great deal and good to share (they offered to cut ours in half), so you can save room for another item. I washed it down with a Shikhye; a sweet Korean rice drink in a mini can.
I’m giving Lee’s it’s full five stars not only because of the taste, quantity, and reasonable price point, but also because of the extremely personable service. Unlike many trucks, Lee’s had a someone outside of the vehicle who was readily available to greet us, let us know about their menu, and take our order and payment, all without being pushy to sell. She even asked us how we liked the food afterward, and complimented my friend on her shoes.
To give an idea of how fast the service was: We placed an order for 2 hot dogs from the Taco Dawgs truck BEFORE walking to, reviewing, and purchasing from Lee’s neighboring truck. However, Lee’s burrito was STILL done (and brought to us) before the Taco Dawgs order was complete. Neither truck had a line or pending orders to my knowledge.
It will be hard to stray from the Gogi Burrito, but my taste for variety will likely lead me to try Lee’s tacos next time!

It doesn’t seem like the food trucks are as popular as they once were in downtown. It was almost 1pm and there was absolutely no one around. I’ve never seen this truck before but after speaking to the owner, he said that the truck is usually parked here (Hope & 9^th) on Mondays.
I had two tacos — a beef and the spicy chicken. Both were excellent. They were brimming with meat and full of marinated Korean sweetness. There was shredded lettuce, onions, and best of all, kim chi in each of them. I devoured these so fast.
I didn’t try the cheesesteak sandwiches, but why bother when the tacos are so good.