From food truck to restaurant: Guerrilla Street Food successfully offers original, Filipino-inspired dishes

Brock Workman | Food Editor

Guerilla Street Food

3559 Arsenal St., St. Louis, Mo.
Driving time: 18 min
Uber Cost: $14-$19

As Washington University students, we are fortunate to be within arm’s length of some convenient and flavorful food choices. It is easy to be content with a beef Gogi bowl from Seoul Taco or a meaty burrito covered in ancho chile tomato sauce from Mission Taco. However, just as St. Louis itself seemingly spans endlessly in each direction outside of campus, so does the range of exceptional and unique eateries.

You may have never heard of Guerrilla Street Food (GSF), and that’s perfectly reasonable. Up until recently, the only way to dig into one of their Filipino-inspired dishes was to find their food truck posted throughout the city—which isn’t so convenient for a Wash. U. student with only an hour to grab lunch between General Chemistry and Calculus III. But, now, GSF’s popularity has funded an expansion into a permanent home off of South Grand Boulevard in Tower Grove East. Open nearly all day and late on weekends—except Sundays—it is now much easier to access the distinctive fare that made GSF the Riverfront Times’ Best Food Truck in St. Louis in 2012.

The brick-and-mortar location of Guerrilla Street Food serves Filipino-inspired cuisine. The business, known for their food truck, is owned by entrepreneur Joel Crespo and chef Brian Hardesty.Brock Workman | Student Life

The brick-and-mortar location of Guerrilla Street Food serves Filipino-inspired cuisine. The business, known for their food truck, is owned by entrepreneur Joel Crespo and chef Brian Hardesty.

The restaurant itself is very simplistic and unintimidating. It hosts around 10 tables and sticks to the staple GSF color scheme of yellow on black—from its menu to the colors on the wall. Aside from a few additional decorations and shelves with miscellaneous collections and shirts for sale, GSF sends one message—it is all about the food.

The food is what built this restaurant into a local favorite. Evident from the giant menu board with removable meal tiles, GSF’s offerings are ever-changing. The owners focus on using fresh seasonal ingredients, so some meals slide in and out of availability. It is hard to be devastated if your favorite meal is removed, though, as the item that takes over its menu slot will probably be just as original and just as tasty.

On my first trip to GSF, a friend and I split two different entrees: the 800-pound Guerrilla and the Aporkalypse Now Redux. Yes, some of the menu names might seem like Guy Fieri whipped them up, but the food is worthy of its outlandish monikers.

The 800 Pound Guerilla dish features both pork and chicken on a bed of jasmine rice. Guerilla Street Food offers a rotating menu of Filipino-inspired cuisine.Brock Workman | Student Life

The 800 Pound Guerilla dish features both pork and chicken on a bed of jasmine rice. Guerilla Street Food offers a rotating menu of Filipino-inspired cuisine.

The Guerrilla is a rice bowl with chicken adobo and slow roasted pork tossed in with an egg and a range of spices. The pork melted in my mouth, and the egg and spices perfectly blended with the rice to pack a balanced flavor in each bite. The Redux is a loaded nacho plate GSF-style—with plenty of spice in the form of jalapenos and a drizzle of tofu “cheese.”

The tortilla chips are a bit funkier than a standard nacho, but they still balance well enough with the rest of the toppings. My sole grievance might be that just one entree on its own is not enough food for hearty eaters such as myself, but that problem is easily remedied by choosing one of the variety of side dishes available as well.

Each dish has its own identity—ranging from burritos and burgers to rice bowls— but each blends Filipino inspirations with local offerings in a unique way that makes GSF unlike almost anything else in Greater St. Louis.

Tower Grove might be a bit far from campus to be a true Wash. U. hangout, but it would be a mistake to not take a few trips down to Guerrilla Street Food to experience one of the most fascinating dining experiences St. Louis has to offer.

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