Granada Hills Food Truck Festival: Belly Dancers, Mini Golf (and Oh Yeah, Street Food)

Giga Granada Hills

Photos of truck's from September's event.

It started out innocently enough. Just a simple "dinner and a movie night" in which 'burbanites could enjoy some food truck fare and a free flick. But the Granada Hills Food Truck Festival got a little naughtier at every turn, and it's now morphed into one of our favorite (if not slightly inappropriate) food events of all. Known for letting the liquor flow, as well as for hosting drunk Santas and belly dancers, the Fest re-emerges on April 3rd with a wacky new twist: mini golf.

VFW Post 2323, where the event takes place, houses a miniature golf green on its back patio. Sadly, though, it lacks the windmills and giant open clown mouth-obstacles you'd typically see. Therefore, attendees are encouraged to create obstacles out of household materials in order to liven up the game a little bit. Organizer and Giga Granada Hills blogger Linda Williamson certainly encourages creativity, telling us, "I want to hit my golf ball off of an gnome-infested windmill or under a bridge made out of Barbies or maybe a mink dinosaur or something." Winners of the golf tournament, as well as the best obstacle contest, will take home trophies.

Since the festival's inception last year, Williamson has seen a change in the food truck community's willingness to venture up to the Valley. According to one food truck owner she spoke with, "Granada Hills now has a rep as a hot up-and-coming place that lots of trucks want to visit, since they still get a pretty rabid reception up here."

She also says that most Valley-dwellers love the recent influx of trucks, especially on Wednesday nights, when 5 or 6 at a time typically visit. "The sidewalks in the neighborhood are livelier than they've ever been. It's like we're getting a little taste of city life way up here in the 'burbs."

The event begins at noon, and trucks scheduled to appear include LudoTruck, Papas Tapas, Munchie Machine, CoolHaus, NoTomatoes, Crepe'n Around, Bool BBQ, Fresh Fries, Smokin' Willies, Ta Bom, Patty Wagon, Great Balls On Tires, and Slap Yo Mama. Belly dancers will be back again, as will the full bar.

Williamson adds, "A portion of proceeds benefit Veterans of Foreign Wars, especially if you like to drink a lot."