Truckin'--the REAL People's Choice

[MarketStEl]

I've noticed -- and participated in -- a lot of really good discussions on this board about Philly food, both highbrow and everyday. Clearly, our newfound rep as a great place to dine out is well-deserved, and in keeping with local roots, we're not a bunch of food snobs either.

Which is why I believe it's time we started talking about Philly's most democratic fare--the stuff served up at thousands of trucks and carts all over the city.

Most of these fall into three broad categories: fruit salad, steak/sausage/hot dog/burger and Chinese. But I've also eaten first-rate vegetarian fare, really good Mexican food and perhaps the best bargain in Korean/Japanese fare in the city from trucks.

Generally speaking, the more "exotic" food trucks congregate around the college campuses (Penn, Temple, Drexel), but I'm sure there must be some curbside creativity at other locations in town.

I will kick this thread off by talking about the three trucks/carts I've mentioned above, two of which I highly recommend. All are on the Penn campus.

Magic Carpet Foods: This was the first all-vegetarian food truck to set up shop around Penn, and it remains one of the best vegetarian places in U-City. Their menu is heavy on the meatlike fare--seitan peppersteak, meatless chili con carne, "magic meatballs"--but all of these foods are hearty enough and tasty enough to satisfy a carnivore like me. You can order most items in either sandwich or platter form; the platters include a tossed salad, rice and pita bread on the side. The owners did try their had at operating an actual restaurant for a while, at 15th and South streets, but business wasn't good enough, so they returned to their mobile roots. They have two carts on the Penn campus, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out they operated others elsewhere. (Magic Carpet Foods: 34th and Walnut vendor plaza and 36th and Spruce streets.)

KoJa Korean/Japanese: I believe this truck got a writeup in the Inquirer's recent "Where We Live" supplement on University City. It deserves the writeup. Their Korean dishes are first-rate, and served with a side of kim chi to clear out your sinuses. It's been a while since I've eaten there, so I've forgotten the Korean names of the various dishes, but I particularly like the sauteed pork strips with a crunchy coating (the term "bul go gi" keeps popping into my head). You can even call in your order ahead of time and it will be ready for pickup when you get to the truck. (KoJa: 38th Street between Sansom and Walnut.)

Taco Pal: This Mexican cart is a clean little affair, offering standard Tex-Mex fare--tacos, burritos, enchiladas and so on. Their ingredients are good quality and the portions healthy enough. Unlike the other two carts, I would not go out of my way to seek this one out, but it is a welcome alternative if you're in the Penn campus area. (Taco Pal: 37th and Spruce streets.)

My travels around Drexel have uncovered a more authentic-looking Mexican truck called Mexi Movil at 33d and Chestunt. This place also offers Cuban sandwiches, something I've not yet encountered in truckland, for $6. I plan to try one soon and will report back to this forum.

Okay, it's your turn now. Let's have your favorites. Or, for that matter, any comments or observations you may have about truck-and-cart cuisine in Philly and environs.

[Lisa1349]

The falafel cart on 19th and Walnut... I have to look for the official name. Wonderful falafel, often includes grapes in the mix, always outstanding, never greasy. The cart has an equal amount of decorations as a restaurant. Hence, over-decorated for a cart.

[Behemoth]

Right now I would officially push over someone's grandmother for a magic meatball. You people are killing me. If you like falafel try Rami's truck on 38th & locust walk. Assuming it's still there, I hope I also used to like Kim's truck for chili chicken. God I'm hungry right now...

There used to be a lot of great trucks that got squeezed out when Penn started rearranging everything. Also, appreciate your fruit trucks while ye have them, for they do not exist in the Heartland

(Philadelphian in exile...)

[KatieLoeb]

King of Felafel at 16th & JFK has always been the go-to Felafel cart for me. Delicious felafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, grapes leaves and lentil soup. Good gyros too.

I really like the fruit salad lady at 16th & Walnut. She always has standalone containers of sliced mangoes in the summertime and bags of cherries and grapes available too.

Can we change the title of this thread to Philly Roach Coach Reviews??

[herbacidal]

The falafel cart on 19th and Walnut...  I have to look for the official name. Wonderful falafel, often includes grapes in the mix, always outstanding, never greasy. The cart has an equal amount of decorations as a restaurant. Hence, over-decorated for a cart.

←

There's an official name?

There's a cart @ 19th and Walnut?

It's been a while since I was regularly downtown at lunch hour, but I don't really remember one there.

That's the corner with the PNC Bank, First Republic Bank across from Rittenhouse Square, right?

[herbacidal]

Which is why I believe it's time we started talking about Philly's most democratic fare--the stuff served up at thousands of trucks and carts all over the city.

Methinks there is at least one previous lunch cart cuisine thread.

Me also thinks me be too lazy to find these previous threads.

Most of these fall into three broad categories: fruit salad, steak/sausage/hot dog/burger and Chinese.  But I've also eaten first-rate vegetarian fare, really good Mexican food and perhaps the best bargain in Korean/Japanese fare in the city from trucks.

Generally speaking, the more "exotic" food trucks congregate around the college campuses (Penn, Temple, Drexel), but I'm sure there must be some curbside creativity at other locations in town.

All true.

I will kick this thread off by talking about the three trucks/carts I've mentioned above, two of which I highly recommend.  All are on the Penn campus.

Magic Carpet Foods: This was the first all-vegetarian food truck to set up shop around Penn, and it remains one of the best vegetarian places in U-City.  Their menu is heavy on the meatlike fare--seitan peppersteak, meatless chili con carne, "magic meatballs"--but all of these foods are hearty enough and tasty enough to satisfy a carnivore like me.  You can order most items in either sandwich or platter form; the platters include a tossed salad, rice and pita bread on the side. The owners did try their had at operating an actual restaurant for a while, at 15th and South streets, but business wasn't good enough, so they returned to their mobile roots.  They have two carts on the Penn campus, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out they operated others elsewhere. (Magic Carpet Foods: 34th and Walnut vendor plaza and 36th and Spruce streets.)

Addendum: They used to operate a stand in the courtyard next to the Anthropologie building at 18th and Walnut.

Last I heard, their 15th and Walnut operates as a HQ & prepkitchen for their carts.

Given the size of the place, I wouldn't doubt if they had at least one other cart somewhere around town.

My travels around Drexel have uncovered a more authentic-looking Mexican truck called Mexi Movil at 33d and Chestunt.  This place also offers Cuban sandwiches, something I've not yet encountered in truckland, for $6.  I plan to try one soon and will report back to this forum.

It's at 33rd and Chestnut, SW corner? That used to be the corner of a hotdog/cheesesteak/etc. cart that I liked a lot. I had thought they moved most of the lunch trucks to Ludlow, between 32nd and 31st.

The only other ones I had seen on campus were in front of the library (33rd and Chestnut) and at the walk of frat signs (32nd, just north of Market).

Also, what happened to Taco Lou being somewhere on 34th, north of Market? He opened a sitdown on 33rd north of Powelton, but I thought he kept the cart going.

I also recall there being some talk about some interesting trucks, perhaps BBQ, on Temple campus.

There's talk about Sweet Lucy's in a BBQ thread also, and don't forget the Carribean trucks in front of the main post office.

Edited November 16, 2004 by herbacidal (log)

[mrbigjas]

taco lou is still there, but i think it's 33rd, not 34th.

is mexicali still at 36th & spruce?

rami is great falafel, but seriously the slowest service ever. a friend of mine had a great business plan, where you'd pair up rami in the kitchen with the bartenders at the track & turf (42nd & chester, now mill creek tavern). the plan was that the you'd order and pay, but the service would be so slow that eventually you'd give up and leave. almost 100% profit there. hahaha

is the prince of falafel truck still up there? it used to be at 36th & walnut, when that was a parking lot. i loved their lentil soup.

in other parts of town, i can't recommend enough the fruit truck at 18th & jfk. they just won't cut up unripe fruit, so really it's a step above a lot of the trucks. but on the downside that means if mango ain't ripe, you ain't getting it. personally i think that tradeoff is worth it in spades.

two things about one truck: i survived for a couple of years as a vegetarian in college with one of my main sources of protein being the $1 egg & cheese sandwiches from the champ cherry truck. this was across from the entrance to houston hall, below 36th on the south side of spruce, and was run by a very pleasant pakistani couple. they're still around, in the parking lot between hup and the penn museum.

the food is definitely nothing special, standard food truck fare with preformed cheesesteaks/gyros, etc. but anyway, in the 'it's gross but i have some odd remembered affection for it' category, they used to do a hot turkey hoagie, where they'd take their usual crappy lunchmeat turkey and throw it on the grill and chop it up like a cheesesteak, then put it with cheese and hoagie fixins. man i liked that for some reason, once i started eating meat again. oh also, they'd throw a pretzel in with every order, even a $1 egg & cheese. so good for a starving vegetarian college student.

(it was almost as good as the $.85 dinner at the 38th st. wawa--you'd order a chili cheese dog, then go over to the soup area and grab a ton of saltines, and eat all the chili and cheese off the dog with the crackers, then eat the hot dog).

but i digress. i miss me some food trucks.

[KatieLoeb]

The problem with the lunch truck situation at Penn is that they've herded them all into several "food truck ghettos" at 33rd & Spruce by Franklin Field, over by the Pottruck Health & Fitness center at 37th & Walnut and up and down 38th Street facing Wharton. Some trucks disappeared after that re-organization effort. It used to be they were all over campus, wherever the cart owner had their license approved for. There were amazing Korean and Thai trucks along Walnut Street outside of the Annenberg School that seem to have disappeared. The one Thai truck had a dish called "Crying Tiger" that was spicy enough to take the top of your head off. Damn that stuff was good!

[mrbigjas]

the thai truck didn't go away from penn's pressure, though, from what i heard back when it disappeared. they had their own personal difficulties that were unrelated--note that their restaurant up at 48th & something that was the thai/italian fusion closed around the same time. penn/ucd influence wasn't out at 48th at that time.

i did like the korean truck at 37th & walnut though.

[MarketStEl]

the thai truck didn't go away from penn's pressure, though, from what i heard back when it disappeared.  they had their own personal difficulties that were unrelated--note that their restaurant up at 48th & something that was the thai/italian fusion closed around the same time.  penn/ucd influence wasn't out at 48th at that time.

i did like the korean truck at 37th & walnut though.

←

The truck was called Jow's Lunch; it had been on 36th between Sansom and Walnut prior to the construction of Sansom Common (now called University Square), the retail-hotel block. The construction of that building was Penn's impetus to move all the trucks off of Walnut, 36th and 37th.

Jow's got a spot in the truck court at the northeast corner of 33d/Spruce/South, right at Franklin Field's southwest gate. That plaza was the most lightly patronized of the four that were set up, and last I was in the area, only one of the trucks assigned slots there was still in business. I'm sure the relocation didn't help--they lost me as a customer because it became more difficult to reach them from where I worked--but I believe the deterioration of Jow's marriage with Su(mumble)--most of the people I knew simply called him Oy--was the bigger contributor to the demise of both the truck and Jow's Garden, the restaurant at 48th and Pine.

I loved the crying tiger dishes. They were the spiciest fare I've ever had--"Folks, don't try this at home" spicy.

[herbacidal]

The problem with the lunch truck situation at Penn is that they've herded them all into several "food truck ghettos" at 33rd & Spruce by Franklin Field, over by the Pottruck Health & Fitness center at 37th & Walnut and up and down 38th Street facing Wharton.  Some trucks disappeared after that re-organization effort.  It used to be they were all over campus, wherever the cart owner had their license approved for. good!

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It's a generalized fight against crowding the street and desotrying the visual landscape.

I'm pretty sure that's why Drexel moved most of its trucks over there, because previously they were just on 32nd Street for a while.

Sure, Drexel's paved over the since closed street and put in giant planters of flowers and seating of some sort, but I think that's just their public reason, something they had to do because they wanted to push the carts elsewhere.

[corvus]

I loved the crying tiger dishes.   They were the spiciest fare I've ever had--"Folks, don't try this at home" spicy.

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The geek lunch gang at 3401 Walnut all miss Jow's too. Our investigations back Sandy's. It were personal problems which caused their flight, not Penn.

I loved the signage next to Crying Tiger on Jow's Lunch Truck. It said "Eat at own risk. No refunds."

I once ordered the 2nd most spicy thing on the menu and it took me two days to eat half of it. It was just too spicy for me. I watched several co-workers crying through their tins of tiger. What fun! Side bets were placed on how much would be eaten.

And no mention of lunch trucks dearly missed should forget our beloved 'Sophie's', which ended up in the same "lunch truck ghetto" as Jow's. They had our favorite cheese steaks, chicken cheese steaks, and strombolis. Whatever happened to them?!

Though he hasn't updated it in a while, Eric's got a page on Penn's lunch trucks here:

http://pobox.upenn.edu/~esnyder/foodtruck_main.html

[KatieLoeb]

I loved the signage next to Crying Tiger on Jow's Lunch Truck. It said "Eat at own risk. No refunds."

I once ordered the 2nd most spicy thing on the menu and it took me two days to eat half of it. It was just too spicy for me. I watched several co-workers crying through their tins of tiger. What fun! Side bets were placed on how much would be eaten.

I'd forgotten about the sign. Jow's was definitely one of my favorite "hurt me" masochistic lunches.

[herbacidal]

Has anyone tried the new crepe truck/cart on Spruce?

I've been going to the crepe stand in Houston Hall that was the successor to the old crepe truck.

Wouldn't mind a cheaper replacement.

[foodE]

Linda and Neil's breakfast and lunch cart at 43rd and Woodland is of the hot dog/hamburger/steak variety. The food is good and cheap, the cart is clean, and if you go just once, Linda will remember you and what you ordered for the next time.

[MarketStEl]

I loved the signage next to Crying Tiger on Jow's Lunch Truck. It said "Eat at own risk. No refunds."

I once ordered the 2nd most spicy thing on the menu and it took me two days to eat half of it. It was just too spicy for me. I watched several co-workers crying through their tins of tiger. What fun! Side bets were placed on how much would be eaten.

<macho>

I just about always cleaned my plate.

</macho>

A more appropriate name for a dish, though, cannot be imagined.

And no mention of lunch trucks dearly missed should forget our beloved 'Sophie's', which ended up in the same "lunch truck ghetto" as Jow's. They had our favorite cheese steaks, chicken cheese steaks, and strombolis. Whatever happened to them?!

←

Good question. Anyone know?

[MarketStEl]

Today's Food Truck Discovery: The Scrapple Wrap.

This breakfast item is on the menu of a Drexel truck, Stan's Hand Tossed Pizza. (Stan purchases frozen pizza dough balls and works them out right in the truck.)

Ingredients: Scrapple (cooked in advance), eggs and cheese, rolled up in a flour tortilla. Price: $3.

Verdict: Not bad at all, and I prefer the flour tortilla to the steak or Kaiser roll as a container. Interesting, though, that none of the other vendors in the 3100 block of Ludlow I've run across yet offer scrapple as a breakfast sandwich option. (Stan also has bacon, ham, sausage and turkey as breakfast wrap options, as do most of the other trucks, some of which omit the turkey.)

Now I'll have to try his pizza to see if it's as good as a stationary pizzeria's. (Choices: Cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, hamburger.)

Edited November 16, 2004 by MarketStEl (log)

[mrbigjas]

the great thing about sophie's was that they had a pizza oven in the truck. also they made grrreat cheesesteaks. of course, being 6'3" i couldn't stand up in their truck as easily as they could. aw, i loved that truck. that one went away a long time ago, though, not just when penn ghettoized the trucks.

the other truck we used to love parked outside the vet hospital on weekend reaaal late night. you could get good greasy stuff at like 3 in the morning from that place.

also, i'm surprised no one's mentioned the 'falafel nazi' at 20th & market yet.

(edited to fix formatting problems caused by posting from a linux text terminal)

Edited November 16, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[philadining]

Sophie's..... now you're making me all teary!

but then I get choked up remembering the LeBus bus.

[KatieLoeb]

Sophie's.....  now you're making me all teary!

but then I get choked up remembering the LeBus bus.

←

I remember the Le Bus bus! Looked a refugee transport vehicle from a Partridge Family road tour.

Do you remember Eddie Eggroll at 36th & Locust, or do I precede you by too much?

[Rich Pawlak]

Sophie's.....  now you're making me all teary!

but then I get choked up remembering the LeBus bus.

←

I remember the Le Bus bus! Looked a refugee transport vehicle from a Partridge Family road tour.

Do you remember Eddie Eggroll at 36th & Locust, or do I precede you by too much?

←

The original Le Bus, Eddie Eggroll! , the white panel truck at 37th and Locust with hot soft pretzels in the morning on the way to class, and (sigh) Al The Fruit Man.

[KatieLoeb]

Ohmygosh!! Al the Fruit Man!!! Rich, I'd almost forgotted about that! <sigh>

Al was a fixture on the Penn campus in the early 80's. He was a real wheeler dealer and had some very pretty produce for sale at his stand.

[Rich Pawlak]

Ohmygosh!!  Al the Fruit Man!!!  Rich, I'd almost forgotted about that! <sigh>

Al was a fixture on the Penn campus in the early 80's.  He was a real wheeler dealer and had some very pretty produce for sale at his stand.

←

Al was a fixture on campus as far back as 1975, when I came to Penn!

[corvus]

taco lou is still there, but i think it's 33rd, not 34th.

is mexicali still at 36th & spruce?

I read about MexiCali in today's DP. One cart is at 38th and Walnut, and the other is on the 3600 block of Spruce.

And there's a store at 40th and Sansom, sorta. The article has the details on why this store opened, then closed, and plans to reopen soonish.

http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/di...T/419c542a5a4c6

I'd also like to put in a good word for Kim's Vietnamese and Chinese food truck next to the Pottruck center (the food vendor plaza next to the gym). Even when it is crowded, you can get ginger chicken very quickly. It's got its own queue, and it's cheap and tasty.

Take care.

[MarketStEl]

I remember the Le Bus bus!  Looked a refugee transport vehicle from a Partridge Family road tour. 

←

Actually, I remember that there were two LeBus buses.

The big one--on Sansom, IIRC, near where the brick-and-mortar LeBus eventually opened--was the Partridge Family surplus vehicle you recall.

There was also a second, smaller bus, which only sold the "famous, gooey LeBus pizza", located on 33d Street behind the Chemistry Building. (Their pizza did live up to its billing, and it was quite good.)

Shifting gears: I can now report on the Cuban sandwich served by the MexiMovil cart, which, it appears, is normally stationed on North 33d between Arch and Cherry streets.

Be sure to get a knife and fork and plenty of napkins when you order one of these, and spread out the napkins in your lap if you're not eating at a table--you're bound to spill some of the contents.

This sandwich contains some of every meat the truck sells--chicken, beef, pork, chorizo, and what they call "Mexican sausage" (whatever that is; perhaps that's chorizo?)--along with lettuce, tomatoes, a fried egg and a hot dog, on a short steak roll spread with mayo. Contrary to what you might expect, it's not all that spicy--just a hint of cayenne and chili. It's pretty tasty, it fills you up, and it's all of $6.

I understand there are some other places in this city that serve Cuban sandwiches. I'd like to hear about them so I have something to compare this to.

The item I would really like to find, though, is the non-alcoholic sangria-flavor soda this truck sells. It's imported from Mexico, so I imagine that one of the Mexican groceries on 9th Street may have it.