What might I be referring to you ask!? Karma of course! Based in Petaluma California, Karma is a mobile food truck serving up Indian food from the side of the street.
Karma Mobile Indian Food Truck
I had been seeing posts pop up on my Facebook feed for months, one in particular catching my eye –
“Order the Sexy beast fries, topped with coconut curry, red onion, mint chutney, spicy tomato chutney & candied curry BACON!”
Without batting an eye… SOLD!!
Although not that far, Petaluma is a little out of reach to hit up for lunch during the work week. However, being I had a few days off this week I thought what perfect time to get me some Sexy Beast Fries for lunch! [Insert stomach rumbling noises here!] Imagine my disappointment when I found out they’re closed on Mondays and don’t open until 6:15pm on Tuesdays. Bah bye lunch plans, HELLO dinner plans!! 🙂 Next hurdle – finding a victim, heh hmm friend, who loves curry equally as I, willing to brave the HWY 101 evening commute traffic (both ways) in order to sample some home-style Indian food purchased in a parking lot and consumed in the toasty confines of my truck. 🙂
We were eagerly on our way to what became one of the most comical evenings, ever. Thanks to the carpool lane, we made fairly good time cruisin’ down to Petaluma. We decided to use my friends iPhone GPS rather than my Garmin being I suddenly became typing impaired. We got into Petaluma and found ourselves in the middle of town, no Indian food truck in sight and the GPS telling us we had reached our destination. Lies! All lies! We circled the block a few times and pulled over a few times. I tried (emphasis on the “tried”) using the Garmin to redirect us. Between my very bossy Garmin’s, “RECALCULATING” and “TURN LEFT HERE!”, I was pretty close to forgoing the Indian food and hitting up the taco truck that we had passed about a half-dozen times during our search. It took “liking” FindKarma ( http://www.facebook.com/FindKarma) on Facebook for us to be able to properly map the location. When we rolled up on it (I swear had I blinked I would have missed it!), we were surprised at what we saw. The food truck was more of a small trailer hitched to the back of an SUV. It was located in the corner of a very small and dark parking lot. The lighting was bad and there were no other patrons. Hmmmm… if we can judge a book by its cover, this had “sketchy” written all over it. We went ahead and parked and checked out the menu.
Karma Mobile Indian Food Truck
Putting on a one-man show, I believe the owner is who assisted us. He was a quiet guy. Seemed nice enough but wasn’t overly outgoing. The process was slow, taking one order and finishing it to completion before starting the next. I did like however that after he handled our money he was quick to wash his hands before preparing our food. Big plus!! I mean, we all hope those in food preparation are washing their hands before handling food, but how often do you actually get to witness them doing it!?
I ordered the Sexy Beast Fries and the Malabar Chicken Plate.
Sexy Beast Fries - fries covered with coconut curry, mint chutney, spicy tomato chutney, red onion and candied curried BACON!
Malabar Chicken - tender chicken simmered in spiced coconut sauce served over rice with a green salad.
My friend ordered the Chicken Vindaloo Wrap.
Chicken Vindaloo Wrap - chicken sauteed with browned onion and garlic sauce wrapped in what appeared to be a regular ole' tortilla.
Served piping hot, our food smelled mouth-watering delicious!! And when I say hot, I mean HOT! I actually ended up with a raised burn mark on the top of my thigh from where I rested the thin recycled cardboard type container holding my food. The fries were a little soggy. I would have liked them to be a bit more crispy. This could have resulted from not frying them long enough, or it may have been my waiting to eat until my friend received her order. I loved (love may not be a strong enough word however!) the combination of the curry and the mint and the candied curry bacon was OVER. THE. TOP. fanfukintastic!! My Malabar Chicken was tasty. The chicken was very tender and pulled apart in shreds with no effort. I ordered “medium spiced”, but would have preferred the heat level to be kicked up a notch or two. I’ll know for next time. 🙂 The salad greens were crisp and perfectly dressed with an amazingly yummy vinaigrette dressing. Although my friend seemed to enjoy her Chicken Vindaloo Wrap, she did say she liked the curry of the Malabar Chicken better. I was so overwhelmed with the items I ordered, that I didn’t sample the Chicken Vindaloo.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give Karma a…. 7. The food was fresh, delicious and prepared well! The prices reasonable. The service was a little slow (we felt both orders could have been taken and prepared simultaneously) and although I hate to use the word, unfriendly, the service was a bit unfriendly. Their current location is kind of off the beaten path, in a very dark area and too easy to miss. They may be able to increase their business if they moved to a more centralized and brighter location in town. However I understand it’s all about, get in where you fit in as a food truck can’t just set up shop where desired!
epicureantease 