Midtown Lunch

Midtown Lunch: L.A. wrote about a Jamaican food truck this week, so I figured it was about time to point out a Philly equivalent. Though University City gets all the love for their fab food truck scene, the Temple area has a few gems of its own, including the Irie Food Truck.

You will not walk away hungry after finishing your meal from the Irie Food truck. Staples like jerk chicken and oxtail are served in 3 different sizes: mini (comes with one side, $5.50), medium (with 2 sides, $7.50), and large (with 3 sides, $9).

I tried a mini with two things I really enjoy, brown stew chicken with mac n cheese as my side. The chicken was very tender and I enjoyed how the brown sauce spilled over onto the mac n cheese. The mac n cheese itself was cooked to just the right level of firmness and covered in liquidy cheese; I was, however, upset about the lack of any crunchy burnt layer- that’s the best part!

The mini is not really mini at all. True, there is not a huge serving of the meat, but all of that mac and cheese will fill you up. But if it doesn’t, for another $2.50 you can have yourself a cocobread-Jamaican patty sandwich.

I ordered my patty as I had planned, and then decided to throw in some cocobread for good measure. The friendly Irie employees then asked me if I wanted the patty inside the bread or not. I was confused for a second, until I remembered an old post from Midtown lunch about this popular Jamaican combo. Now I would have been quite happy with this carb bomb, but I picked the wrong patty. I have liked the other patties from the truck (surprisingly, I think the veggie is my favorite). But this time I was thrown off by the jerk chicken patty, it tasted like chemicals! Stick to the regular chicken patty, the veggie, or the standard beef patty. With another patty inside, this crazy cheap and quick sandwich could serve you well.

I haven’t found anything about the Irie truck on Internet, including their menu, so here is a closeup of part of the menu on side of their truck (they also serve breakfast and have a few specials posted):

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Big portions for the price
• Soft, stewy chicken with a comforting brown sauce
• Cocobread/Jamaican patty sandwich!

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I like my mac and cheese more burnt
• Nobody wants their jerk chicken patty tasting like chemicals

Irie Food Truck, W. Montgomery Ave (@ N. Broad St), 215-982-8349