Photo by Adam Wallcavage
diner
College is more than a mad rush of classes, parties and bland,
dining hall slop. There's also plenty of wisdom to be gleaned
by scarfing down lunch truck fare. So with an eye back to those
Halcyon years, we set out like a couple of Neddy Merrills* - swimming
the grease pools of Philadelphia campuses. Our crack research
team put everything through rigorous testing, including checks
for taste, flammability, MSG content and the ever-important, flavor-retention-after-sitting-all-day-in-a-backpack.
Here's our guide to carts whose $3 specials are steals and those
where one would fare better by tossing back an ipecac cocktail.
Since it's a small school with a large commuting population, La
Salle is fully serviced by a two-cart brigade. Those in the know
opt for Theo the Hot Dog Man at the corner of 20th and Olney over
the bland fare at the Chinese Wagon down the street. Why? Theo
sells smokes. He also sells the daily papers. If that's not enticement
enough, there's Theo's constant companion, the Can Man, who tows
the recyclable bounty of the streets on a jerry-rigged bicycle.
Talk about dining in style! Temple University's "food cart mile" - the two-block stretch on
13th between Cecil B. Moore Avenue and Morris Street - is like
Chinatown on wheels. At least half of the trucks there were pandering
to lovers of lo mein. But within this kingdom of Chinese cookery,
there are several different styles, including Hunan-Szechuan,
Peking and its cuddly cousin, Panda. Hunan-Szechuan was the hands
down winner for its excellent curry tofu ($3). Peking's chicken
tofu vegetable ($3) eked out Panda Express' spicy Kung Pao chicken
($3) for second, but Panda took the bargain booby prize with its
four (stale) fortune cookies for a paltry quarter. All carts seem
to load up on the MSG, which kept our staff of crack assistants
placid and inert on the ride home. Being a zombie is fine if you're
about to sit through a three-hour lecture, but if you actually
have to be alert after lunch, watch out! Penn is Philadelphia's center of multicultural grease. Here, a
United Nations of food trucks offers delicacies from around the
world: Middle-Eastern to Indian, Greek to cheesesteak. Though
Penn is trying to rid itself of these "parasitic" entrepreneurs
and funnel its students into a proposed university-run food court,
it's these trucks which turn Penn's Spruce Street (between 34th
and 40th Streets) into a NATO convention for noshers. Penn's food
cart scene is driven by personalities, including the Original
Le Anh and the Real Le Anh, who seemed to be locked in a title
bout for the most Anh. It would have been impossible to visit each cart, but here are
the results of the ones we were able to sample. Ralph's on Walnut
Street stands out from the slew of cheesesteak carts. The bright
red truck will catch your eye, but the authentic South Philly
steak and chicken cutlet sandwich speak volumes on their own.
Rami's, on 40th between Walnut and Spruce, serves up nearly authentic
Middle Eastern fare. Rami's hummus with pita ($3) is exemplary,
as is the vegetarian platter ($4), which includes falafel, baba
ghannoug and tabouli. Both also stood up to an hour-long walk
between purchase and eating. A lamb gyro ($3.50) didn't fare so
well, becoming soggy after the trek, while the lamb was a bit
dry and mealy. Le Anh's Chinese on Walnut produced mixed results.
General Sao's chicken was spicy-zippy, but a bit slimy; shrimp
with cashews was excellent, the shrimp of excellent texture, the
cashews firm and tasty. We only wished there were more of it.
When nationalities mix, the human gene pool can only benefit.
Such is the case with Taco Pal on Spruce. Operated by two kindly
Indian gentlemen, the Taco Pal cart serves up Mexican fare for
a low, low price. Tacos ($1) are a bargain. While Drexel's engineers-to-be are busy designing structures that
will outlive us all, Taco Lou's edible creations will break down
within a matter of hours, leaving us "running for the border."
Taco Lou, half chef, half philosopher, operates out of a mysterious
camper at 34th and Powelton. Taco Lou's isn't technically a lunch
truck; open primarily during "off-hours," think of Taco Lou as
an Oracle of PhilaDelphi for late-night bingers. - Pete Brown and Brian Howard
Keep On Truckin'
La Salle:
Temple:
Penn:
Drexel:
Please remember, foodcarting is not a spectator sport. We don't
advise such an ambitious sampling on your own, at least not in
the same day.
*Neddy Merrill is the main character in John Cheever's short story
"The Swimmer." This Merrill chap goes pool hopping throughout
his upper-crusty neighborhood, accepting drinks from all of his
neighbors along the way. The whole thing becomes a microcosm for
his life as he basically drinks his life away.