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The Kembo Truck has officially closed, according to a post on social media. The popular Taiwanese trailer parked for years along busy Atlantic Avenue in Monterey Park, but is now off the streets entirely, with no plans for a return.
The Kembo Truck first rose to prominence several years ago as one of the only truly Taiwanese near-daily late night food trucks in the entire city. The San Gabriel Valley upstart was founded by Ed Hsu as an after-dark option for skewers, popcorn chicken, and other snackable fare, and found a loyal following of daily eaters eager for something other than tacos or all-night mainland Chinese food in the neighborhood. In 2016 the truck was practically destroyed during service by a drunk driver, but reemerged soon after with a new look and the same menu.
More recently, Hsu and the Kembo team were forced to relocate closer to Downtown Los Angeles, and away from Monterey Park, owing to some stricter regulations in the SGV city. The new address seems to have caused something of a drop-off in crowd sizes, leading Hsu to post about the sudden closure on Facebook over the weekend. The note reads:
After a long consideration, it’s sadly to announce that we’ve decided to shut down our food truck operation. We would like to thank you all for being with us for the past many years. It was our pleasure serving everyone of you!
Hsu is selling off the trailer entirely, and is instead hoping some of his Taiwanese sausages will catch on with wholesale customers looking to sell them at restaurants or in a retail capacity. That’s similar to the move made by former underground chorizo-maker The Chori-Man, who managed to parlay a burgeoning wholesale business into a production-focused storefront down in San Pedro last year. Sadly, the final night of service for the Kembo Truck has already come and gone.
