By Emily Gasser | Mental Mastication
I’m all for enjoying the finer things in life – a nice chianti, a Chopin prelude, Renoir. Even so, there are times when a quick post-Paces romp in the amphitheater with someone who’s name you think you might know can be even more satisfying than the long, champagne-and-roses-inspired romantic evening with that special someone. It was in that spirit that I headed into the city to explore that ubiquitous and underappreciated feature of the Philadelphia culinary landscape, the lunch truck.
In Manhattan, in midtown at least, you can get a bag of roasted almonds or a pretzel on any corner. In Philly you can do one better: There’s udon with kimchi, burritos, even curried goat and callaloo if you know where to look, and all for less than you’d pay for a sandwich at most places nowadays. Because of the abundance of options, I followed a few rules in my explorations. 1) Only one item per stop. My stomach is only so big, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. 2) Only one truck per ethnicity. I could write a whole book on just the Mexican lunch trucks in University City, and another on just the Chinese ones, and another on the cheesesteak-and-kielbasa stands, and the list goes on. For now I’ve only got 800 words, so once again a limit had to be imposed. 3) Only a few bites of any given meal. Gotta leave room for the rest. (Anybody want leftovers?) But on to the eating.
Not knowing where exactly to find the trucks, I took SEPTA to University City and started walking in the general direction of UPenn. I came upon La Comadre in a little parking lot at the corner of 33rd and South Streets, just past the Penn stadium and next to another truck selling Chinese food. The menu there is simple: soft tacos, burritos, nachos, all for under five bucks. I ordered a chicken quesadilla for $2.75. It turned out to be exactly that and no more: chicken and melted cheese on a tortilla, with no frills. A little on the bland side but surprisingly non-greasy. A promising beginning.
A few blocks later I hit another enclave of trucks on the corner of 34th and Walnut. Seems they tend to clump. There was one selling fresh fruit, another with mostly sausage and pretzels (and, I discovered, some pretty solid hot chocolate), and a one more with a longer menu and a crowd in front. I went with the third option. Their specialty seemed to be sandwiches, with breakfast bagels looking to be especially popular (hey, I got an early start), and, intriguingly, a few kinds of spaghetti. In what I now recognize as a clear dereliction of duty, I passed on the pasta and ordered a grilled cheese on white bread ($2). It was everything street food should be – hot, gooey, greasy, and rich with the unmistakable flavor of fake butter and processed cheese. Deeelish.
It was on 38th St. that I hit lunch truck gold. Between Baltimore Ave. and Walnut St. were nine different options. I skipped Bui’s, Hemo’s, and Steak Queen, all standard cheesesteak & sandwich places, and went straight on to the more interesting ones. First off was Frite American Crepe, on Spruce & 38th. The menu is wide-ranging, from panini to pierogies (sadly sold out til Easter) to the eponymous fruit crepes, all made fresh by hand. The proprietor caught me taking notes, made the connection, and gave me some hand-cut fries and interesting dips to try out while he was making my crepe. All awfully good, especially with the creamy chive dip. The crepe too lived up to its prominent spot on the menu; though I suspect the prospect of a good review might have gotten me an extra squirt of whipped cream. I’m not complaining.
Next truck down was Dulette’s Jamaican Wings, whose menu features such temptations as oxtail, curried goat, and even steamed red snapper, if you have the foresight to order a day in advance. I got an order of jerk chicken, which came with two sides – I picked fried plantains and mac & cheese. The macaroni was great, the plantains a little too greasy, and the chicken a little pink but pretty good, even if they tasted more like Texas barbeque than Jamaican jerk.
The menu at Tue Kee Chinese Food took up the entire side of the truck, covering everything from chicken lo mein to mock sharkfin soup, with a special section for “fast items,” labeled as taking only 5 minutes to prepare. There was a big group of Chinese-speaking men in business suits standing in front when I arrived, which I took as a good sign. My “Beijing spicy noodles” cost only $2.50 for a pint, but I have to disagree with the “spicy” part of the name – a little chili oil but no kick. Next time I’m ordering shark fins.
Quite possibly the best meal I tasted all afternoon was form Hanan House of Pita just down the block. The list of gyro, kefta, and zucchini sandwiches and platters was extensive; I went for falafel with hummus and feta. So good. There was just the right amount of harissa and hummus, and she didn’t skimp on the tomato and cucumber. For $3.75, you’re not gonna do any better outside of the East Village.
My last planned stop was at Koja, a Japanese/Korean truck just north of Walnut on 38th. It’s a little pricier than the others; most dishes fall in the $4-6 range. But my $5 chicken sukiyaki soba involved a lot of food – two fried dumplings, a mountain of noodles, and a little container of kimchi, all pretty tasty. Go on a Friday – they’ve got a Korean version of sushi.
Walking back towards the train station with about 5,000 calories worth of uneaten lunch in my bag, I found I had missed the motherlode. Turns out that Spruce St. around 37th has about 10 lunch trucks, just waiting for the hungry masses of Penn students to descend upon them after class. There was Mexican, three different Chinese places, fresh fruit, crepes, Middle Eastern, you name it. Unfortunately, the shortage of room left in my stomach combines with rule #2 made it impossible to do much more than just gawk. I did get a bite from Magic Carpet, a vegetarian truck with offerings from tempeh salad to curry to burritos. For the sake of variety (and my crippling fear of tofu meatballs), I ordered a jambalaya, which probably would have been great if I liked green peppers. Still, after spending a total of only about $30 for eight full meals, if that’s my biggest disappointment of the day I’m doing pretty well. Score one for the fast and cheap.
Link to (shorter) published version: http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2007-04-12/living/17218
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