The Eatup

Remember that one time, Friday afternoon, you hopped on the bart, and as you’re walking up the stairs (’cause the escalator was ‘out of order’) and then the twilight sunset beams break on your brows? You keep strolling down, turn a corner and find your ears met with beautiful beats mixed into vocal melodies.
Your nose is attacked with scents of orgasmic foods, and then your stomach says «aight, mofo, sit and chow down». You oblige. To help digest your food baby you stroll through the two rooms of art in its gallery, with bourbon on the rocks in the left hand, and then dance to the down beat, and have a delicious bacon maple donut to top of the night.
Sweet blissful popup food trucks, The Eatup.

Food Trucks, art show, DJs spinning music, great people watching. The Eat up on First Fridays is a great place to hang out and grab a bit to eat. Definitely stop by and check it out.

Had the Cuban from Ebbetts, delicious. Also tasted my friend’s pizza from Politana. Seriously the best I’ve had in a while. DJ’s rocked it too!

One more reason for Telegraph’s reign of the Friday night. Yes the trucks are a bit overrated but they keep you going like the Energizer Bunny. #pepinmystep

Food trucks galore, music and just a ton of people having a great time. The amount of food trucks spans for several blocks. We spent more time here on First Friday than we did for the actual Art Murmur. It was fine by me since I needed something in my belly before doing the art walk anyway.
I would’ve went to Tina Tamale’s booth but I didn’t see it til I was nearly at the end of the block.
I ended up going to Curry Up Now since I’ve been a fan of theirs. My friend ended up getting Mexican food which she didn’t care much for and my other friend got Asian dumplings.
First Fridays have gotten ridiculously huge. It’s great to see so much diversity in downtown Oakland. Everyone was having a good time whether you stopped in a mobile art truck, mobile clothing shop or the art galleries itself, chances are you found something to enjoy.
Give the sunny side of the bay some love. You won’t regret it.

What just happened to me?
Serendipity, baby. A crazy cacophony of beautiful smells and flavors and activities in the streets of Oakland. Best night in a long time.
It started with insane good Cambodian Food. And then, sadly, but oh-​so-​happily, I accidentally stumbled onto The Eatup when I decided to walk from Chinatown to Downtown. I was only in town for a couple of days, I figured it would be chill.
Chill it was not. Thousands of people in the streets for First Friday, and then this pocket of mobile food that piques the interest of your taste buds. Music. People everywhere. Food trucks. Food tents. Flavors.
Bring some cash and bring your big boy patience pants. There will probably be lines. But that’s all part of the experience. Being a part of the people. They do this on non-​First Fridays (or so I’m told) but when you add it to the pure pandamonium of that crazy beautiful street scene it’s an all sensory bliss. Best happy accident I’ve stumbled upon in years. When you feel that itch to leave the hotel and walk into downtown Oakland, just do it. Whether it goes north or south on you, you’ll have stories to tell for a long time.

I walked into this madhouse skeptical not expecting much but left pretty happy about the quality I found. The Eatup is like a rave and food party at the same time nestled in Uptown Oakland where all the young’uns go out and play. I’m not sure exactly how often it occurs but at least 1 Friday per month from around 6pm to 9pm (or so)…
It’s like a rave because it has that almost spontaneous communal vibe to it. On telegraph between 20^th and 21^st are a group of about 8 food trucks all vying for the concert, club, bar, and young urban residential professional’s attention for their Friday Night dinner. Where there are quality restaurants in Uptown Oakland, there’s a sense of overbilling given that most of those places will cost 2 people $ 100+.
The Food Truck seems to offer that quality without that cost, say under $ 40 for two assuming you purchase your beer at the nearby liquor stores.
I like the concept. The energy is youthful, friendly, and filled with a house music like groove as there’s a Makeshift MC in the middle of these trucks, playing dance music.
Since this is my first Unilocal on this place, I can only comment on 1 truck that I tried: Indian Street Food. I had the CTM Burrito (a concoction of Mary’s organic chicken breast tikka masala, femugreek, cinnamon, tumeric rice, garbanzo beans, and shaved onions). It’s wrapped up like a reguar burrito but the flavor’s all Indian. Not bad and I must say, hearty but not fattening like a Mexican burrito and with strong spices that mix well together.
As a second entrée, I had to order the Sexy Fries (carne style) which is a combination of criss cut sweet potato fries, queso, shaved onions, ground halal beef, and chutneys.
If you dare they offer a complimentary Ghost chili (supposedly the hottest pepper in the world) pepper sauce. It’s pretty good and not all that hot the way it’s prepared.
The wait at 8pm is about 30 minutes and well worth it. I was very impressed by the quality of the food. I came with concerns of the sanitation of the food and finished my meal glad that I took the chance.
Definitely a viable food alternative in the Uptown amid a fun party like atmosphere.

Yesterday was my first time. We heard about the great cupcakes. OMG they were soooo good. I will definitely be there next week

The Eatup
Pod updates:
Hours: 6−11pm on first Friday of each month
3 or more food trucks
** Update: This monthly event went MIA after February 2013. The weekly event ended in 2012. They no longer update on Twitter. Check Facebook for updates.
June 2012
This was the latest addition to last month’s wave of new food truck pods in Oakland, for 2012. More food trucks (up to 10) will be added on the first Friday of each month, to feed the hungry crowds of Art Murmur’s First Friday art walk.
Summer 2012 weekly event:
Previous First Friday events on May 4 and June 1, proved popular. So Eatup organizers decided to have a weekly shindig. Friday, June 8 was the first day of this smaller weekly dinner event, without the Art Murmur crowds. So far, the Sweet Treat Stop dessert truck seems to be a regular, all other food trucks change.
Convenient location:
Just 2 blocks from 19^th Street BART station, on a fenced parking lot, at the corner of Telegraph Ave. and 21^st street. This is the only food truck gathering place in Oakland with DJ music, and that doesn’t use street parking spaces. The organizers plan to add art and crafts vendors for variety.

What an epic gathering last Friday. Great food and a crazy dance party.

The Eatup, a gathering of gourmet food trucks, has returned to uptown oaktown. it’s in the parking lot of a building that long ago hosted the korea times, a newspaper.
locale: 21^th & telegarah, every fridays, 6:30p.m.-11:00p.m.
⁶⁄₁ vendors:
–curry up now
–ebbet’s good to go
–that’s sweet
–twister truck
–pizza politana
foodnotes:
–bring cash.
–d.j. on site providing entertainment.