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The Dim Sum Truck is perhaps the gourmet food truck that makes the most sense: Dim sum already comes to you on wheels in a restaurant — why not come to you on wheels in a truck?

Now, I have to admit that I don’t like a lot of traditional dim sum foods. Luckily my co-workers do, so between all of us, we’ve probably had most of the Dim Sum Truck’s menu. Here’s my take on what I’ve tasted.

Hands-down my favorite dish, from the truck and from dim sum in general, are turnip cakes. Made from shredded daikon, which is really a radish and not a turnip (obviously lost in translation), rice flour and water, the truck’s version also contains what I believe are bits of Chinese sausage. I usually eat these with hoisin sauce in restaurants, but I haven’t seen any such sauce at the truck and eat them without the sauce. They’re really good on their own, so the lack of sauce doesn’t bother me. Thanks for getting my favorite dish right!

Turnip cakes

The sticky rice is another favorite of mine from the truck. The dish is made with glutinous rice, shrimp, Chinese sausage, mushrooms and chicken (and possibly peanuts, but I can’t remember) all wrapped up in a lotus leaf and steamed.

Sticky rice

The traditional sesame balls are true to form and don’t skimp on the lotus paste filling. The truck’s version may be a tad sweeter than I’m used to, but only in the slightest. There are many other dim sum standbys on the menu, including BBQ pork buns (fried and steamed), har gow and shau mai. These aren’t dishes I normally go for, but I’ve tried the steamed chicken and mushroom buns, which were decent though the dough wasn’t as soft as I’d like. I figure it must be hard to keep steamed buns consistent if you’re making them ahead of time. However, my co-workers liked the dumpling-type dishes a lot.

Chicken and mushroom buns

While most of the menu is traditional, sometimes fusion food shows up, such as duck tacos. Filled with duck, duck skin, cucumber and red onion and served on a corn tortilla, it’s a cross between a taco and those Chinese steamed taco-like buns you eat Peking duck with. It was pretty darn good.

Duck taco

Full disclosure: Dim Sum Truck owner and founder Alex Chu is a USC alumnus, and I work for USC University Public Relations. While I’m sure there are many USC alumni who I will cross paths with during the course of my reporting, I mention this affiliation now because I am actively working on a story about food trucks started by USC alumni for the USC Chronicle/USC News Web site. The views presented here do not reflect the views of USC, and vice versa.