Los Angeles is about to get another vegan food truck dedicated to fried chicken.
The new mobile eatery is a collaboration between LA-based restaurant The Vegan Hooligans and Tehuanita, a food truck that specializes in plant-based Mexican cuisine. The former, located in LA’s Eagle Rock neighborhood, is known for its vegan comfort food classics like burgers, cheesy sandwiches, fries, and dairy-free milkshakes.
The Vegan Hooligans announced the new vegan food truck, called RockInHotChickUn, on Instagram earlier this week. “Stay tuned for our launch date coming soon to a street curb near you! You won’t be dissapointed,” they wrote. It won’t be the first time the restaurants will work together — for LA’s Vegan Street Fair, the two collaborated on a spicy vegan chicken sandwich topped with dairy-free mac and cheese.
A restaurant representative told LIVEKINDLY that the vegan food truck will serve meatless Nashville-style hot chicken, housemade mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, an assortment of hot sauces, and more.
What Is Nashville Hot Chicken?
Said to be created in the 1930s in the Music City, Nashville hot chicken consists of chicken coated in crunchy breading seasoned with a cayenne-heavy spice mix. Jen Murphy wrote for Thrillist that the dish wasn’t popular until the early 2000s, when shops dedicated to the spicy chicken began to pop up in the city.
Fried Chicken Goes Vegan
RockInHotChickUn won’t be the first vegan fried chicken-focused shop to hit the streets of LA.
Lettuce Feast is a food truck that specializes in meat-free Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, “wings,” and seasoned fries. Named after the 2016 cookbook of the same name by authors Eva Cannon and Willie Perrymon, the eatery draws its inspiration from Southern and Creole cuisine.
Across the country, highly-acclaimed NYC-based vegetarian burger spot Superiority Burger offers the spicy fried tofu sandwich pictured above, served with tangy slaw on a sesame seed bun. Hartbreakers, a vegan restaurant based in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, specializes in vegan fried chicken made from seitan, a meat-free meat made from wheat protein.
RockInHotChickUn is set to open later this month and joins a number of vegan chicken shops and trucks in the Southland.
According to Jess Schoech, founder of Vegan Street Fair, several vegan fried chicken pop-ups and trucks are regular vendors at the weekly Vegan Sunday Market in North Hollywood, including Lettuce Feast, Eat Love, Clean South, Veggie Fam, and Wingz.
