Sometimes curiosity leads you down paths unknown. I came across a food truck with a name that provided no information on what they served – El Sarten (“The Pan,” I believe?). I feel I’m pretty aware of Utah’s food truck scene, but this one hadn’t crossed my radar. Boldly emblazoned on their truck is the promise of “Burgers * Italian Pasta * Gourmet” – gourmet what exactly, it didn’t say. I was intrigued.
As I looked at the menu, there appeared to only be burgers. Gourmet burgers, perhaps, but no mention of pasta. When I inquired about the Italian pasta, I was informed that El Sarten is actually a fleet of trucks and, while nothing indicated which truck I was at, I learned that El Sarten Mexicano sells tacos, El Sarten Italian Pasta sells, well, pasta, and I was standing in front of El Sarten Burger, which also sells what its name implies.
Next up: the burgers. Remember that Carl’s Jr. slogan from the ’90s, “If it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face?” Well, El Sarten’s burgers are far messier than Carl’s Jr.’s have ever been. Unfortunately, this is not a good thing. I should have stocked up on napkins the way Americans stocked up on toilet paper at the height of pandemic panic. My hands were coated in all manner of sauces, grease, and wayward toppings. And hamburger buns just don’t hold up under that kind of assault. I found myself having to discard portions of the bun so soggy they’d reverted back to their constituent ingredients.
But the real question, the one that matters most anyway, is how did the burgers taste? Well, dear reader, I’m nothing if not honest with you and I can sincerely say the burgers tasted…meh. I definitely got full, which is a good thing. But, had I been blindfolded, there’s no way I could have distinguished between the two burgers. Despite having differing ingredients, they tasted almost exactly the same. I don’t know if that’s due to the seasoning on the meat itself or some other strange magic, but it was disconcerting. Maybe the Blue Cheeses Burger was slightly more garlicky and the El Sarten Burger was slightly more Sarteny? – I don’t know. So, the burgers get an underwhelming 2/10.
In talking with the people working the truck, I learned the El Sarten trucks have been around for about 4 years. The Italian Pasta one is apparently not operating right now due to underwhelming sales (I have to admit, a steaming hot plate of pasta doesn’t sound too great during a heatwave. It would be more appealing in an air-conditioned restaurant, I’m sure.) After checking out their website elsarten.net, I learned that the “Gourmet” on the side of the truck refers to a fourth truck (or maybe just a fourth menu? See below.) which appears to sell various sandwiches, spring rolls, nachos, chicken nuggets, and corn dogs.
Know Before You Go: Two burgers and an order of fries came out to $21.03. All four menus can be viewed on elsarten.net. The mysteries as you navigate the site continue to present themselves. El Sarten offers catering services and says you can choose between three different trucks and then goes on to list four. The tagline for the Gourmet truck says it serves the most delicious Asian food in town, though spring rolls appear to be the only food item that might fit that category. The website also claims they have the best soul food in the city, though I’m not sure any of the four menus really have options I’d describe as soul food. I respect the drive to send multiple trucks out on the town, each with its own style of food, but I can’t really recommend El Sarten at this time. An expansive list of offerings is only impressive if they’re all executed at a high level. At least when I gave them a try, El Sarten did not succeed on this point. If I saw them at a food truck roundup, however, I might consider ordering fries to accompany whatever I ordered somewhere else.
