Midtown Lunch

While I may have gotten some sugah from my diner experience this week, I was craving some actual dessert. I had been meaning to try the Sugar Philly truck for many many months. Finally I made my way over to University City to check out their treats. The first lesson I learned was that college students love their macarons. So much so that many flavors were sold out by the time I arrived in the late afternoon. The chef even mentioned he might be moving towards a more macaron centered menu.

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It’s raining, it’s sunny, it’s raining, it’s sunny… hopefully you can watch the forecast and pick one of the sunny afternoons to pop over to Tyson’s Bees truck on the UPenn campus to check out what everyone has been buzzing about. Chef Tyson’s truck food is inspired by Korean and Thai cuisine. I highly recommend taking your food to the nearby courtyard of some Penn building (I am sure some Penn students can help us out with the name) which has tables overlooking a koi pond.

Getting food at the Tyson’s Bees means that for every time you first open your styrofoam container you will be greeted by a visual spectacle that you would never expect came from a truck. It doesn’t even matter what camera you have, snap a pic of their wares and your friends will think you should be a photographer for a magazine. It’s kind of like taking a picture of Gisele, it can’t be bad. Oh, and it all tastes pretty good too.

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Over the last few weeks, I’ve realized that the King Kabob truck has returned to 38th & Spruce.  The cart has apparently been open for a few years, but was on hiatus last semester because of a change in ownership.  Now that King Kabob is back, I decided to give it a try with a few friends.

I mentioned last week that we would be hearing from some new voices on ML Philly as we are going to be getting reports from a new correspondent each week. Today, we are getting a report from this week’s profiled luncher Morgan, who is checking out the street meat, not as common east of Broad, on 12th and Chestnut.

A few years ago I worked at 36th and Spruce streets. I could step outside and choose from a wide array of food trucks all offering delicious and cheap food. Trucks as far as the eye could see. Sweet potato burritos and chicken cheesesteaks called to me early every afternoon and I wandered the streets knowing that I could hardly make a poor decision.

Fast forward a couple of years. I work in center city in the Midtown Village/Washington West area. Over here I have the hardest time finding a decent lunch (until I started reading Midtown Lunch, that is). I’m surrounded by chain restaurants. I can only eat so much Qdoba or Subway in a lifetime. I tried the trucks nearby and found perfectly passable cheesesteaks. Then I found a dead leaf in one and lost all faith.

So you can imagine the sense of attachment I feel towards Gyro King, a Halal food cart stationed at 12th and Chestnut streets. And, judging by the line you face if you come out at peak lunch hours, I’m definitely not alone. It appeared to me as an oasis in a lunchtime desert and has held a special place in my heart ever since.

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After being missing for several months the Irie Food Truck is back. They needed some time to get the truck inspection level ready. For now, just breakfast and sandwiches will be served. The Jamaican menu, including the Jamaican patties and stew chicken, is back next week.

Meal Ticket has just reported that a taco truck opened on 12th and Norris. Chris’s Taco Truck is now in its 2nd week. Tacos are $6 for 3. Check out the Facebook page or Twitter for updates.

Update: And more tacos! It looks like Coup de Taco is testing out Temple Campus on Tuesdays. This would be their 3rd location, in addition to University City and LOVE Park. Double check their location on Twitter.

Today, Nick from My Inner Fatty is getting his hands on more Japanese food with the Bento Box Truck.

As good as the Chinese food trucks in University City are… the wait times are sometimes just plain absurd. When I saw a crowd of roughly 30 people waiting next to Kim’s Oriental, I weighed my options. I could stand outside, cold and hungry, or I could try give one of the lesser known options a try. Maybe, just maybe I’d come across a food truck jewel in an otherwise homogeneous sea of grandfather chicken and lo mein.

Finding good Japanese food is a tall task. There’s so much that can go wrong in Japanese cuisine that a thick coating of oil just can’t make up for. Thoughts of soggy katsu crust, teriyaki overpowered by soy sauce, and gummy feeling tempura are all things that plague my culinary nightmares. Sushi? Don’t even get me started on how bad sushi can be, if not done properly. Now, think about getting Japanese food from the back of a food truck. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen right? Wrong. Continuing on my tour de force of food trucks in University City, I present to you the Bento Box Japanese Food truck (located between 37th and 38th on Walnut), which is actually a pretty decent option if you do have a craving for cuisine from the land of the rising sun.

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Today, Nick from My Inner Fatty is breaking is usual truck habits with Carribean food from Gigi and Big R.

University city is pretty much littered with food trucks, with 95% of them either serving Mexican food of some sort, Asian cuisine, or sandwiches. Now that’s all fine and good, but sometimes repetition gets boring (this isn’t a knock on any of the other food carts, I’m just saying…). After wandering down 38th street numerous times, I decided to pass on my stalwarts of Yue Kee, Bui’s, and Steak Queen, only to notice an obscenely obnoxious looking truck parked on the other side of Spruce. Plastered with random captions like “Largest Platters In the City,” “Come Try the Best,” and “Caribbean Soul Food,” I was at the very least, curious.

The truck is called Gigi and Big R’s Caribbean Soul Food (there’s apparently also a physical restaurant and 2 other trucks), and obvious from their given name, they serve Caribbean ‘soul food.’ What does that mean exactly? Well, I wasn’t entirely sure either, but a quick glance at their menu reveals a short list of options. Most of their platters are $7-9 dollars for the small orders, and $11 for the large orders, each coming with your choice of sides. While this seems kind of pricey compared to almost all the other food trucks, I suppose they fill a niche as they’re the only one of their kind on Penn’s campus. You’re paying a slight premium in order to take a break from sesame chicken and cheesesteaks (though on the plus side, the wait time is almost nil!).

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