Midtown Lunch

Last week the Cinnamon Snail truck started selling its vegan food in New York City five days a week after essentially being forced out of parking across the river in Hoboken and Jersey City. They were supposed to be in the Financial District on Thursday but were unable to find parking and instead made a surprise appearance on Monday on Wall St. I headed over for a late lunch and was impressed with how quickly the short line moved and the time it took for me to get my food despite only one guy handling the food. There are only approximations of meat served at this truck (along with a whole lot of delicious-looking vegan baked goods), and I ordered one to see what they were doing with seitan.

Most of the sandwiches are Asian inspired and $8 or $9 although there’s also a Creole tofu variety, a new ancho chile seitan burger, or a raw pizza for $15 if that’s your thing. I ordered the lemongrass 5-spice seitan sandwich ($8) and was handed a nice-sized parcel. If you’re afraid that ordering from a vegan organic food truck will leave you hungry, fear not as this was the same size as a bahn mi or other comparable sandwich on baguette.

Also, you’re probably not going to feel too virtuous eating this because it’s got a healthy amount of grease despite being vegan. The seitan was nicely flavored and had additional help from chili sauce and wasabi mayo that made the greens, bits of curried cashew and the grilled baguette less virtuous and more delicious. Other than a little kick from the wasabi this wasn’t spicy either if you’re afraid of heat. I know I normally don’t encourage you all to eat vegan, but this is one sandwich I can endorse.

Parking in the Financial District on Thursdays looks like it won’t pan out, so we’re going to get the Cinnamon Snail on Monday or Tuesday, according to the truck’s Adam Sobel. Stay tuned to the Twitter Tracker posts to see when they’re in our area!

Cinnamon Snail Vegan Truck, on the Web and Twitter