The Cravings truck!!! parked on Liberty between Trinity and Broadway. I’ve been reading about this truck on Midtown Lunch since they first hit the street food scene about 2 months ago now. Unfortunately, they’ve never parked far downtown enough for me to comfortably be able to go and come back within my hour… until yesterday, that is! (I realize when you read this, you’ll be like, ummm, no, but bear in mind I write these posts and schedule them for future posting…) They parked right across from Sam’s Falafel (whose line was ridiculous!), which is totally walkable for me – still a lil far though, try coming down to Coenties Slip between Pearl and Broad, why don’t you? No one will bother you there… 🙂
If you notice above, as I arrived around 1:20pm, there was no line. I was sad for them but happy for me & my tummy!
The menu – apparently they do not serve dumplings in Midtown anymore. Someone suggested it might be because of Rickshaw Dumplings, though they park down here occasionally as well, I don’t know. Notice the price changes – the chicken was only $6 until July 1st.
My coworker opted to get the fried chicken leg, which he seemed to like.
Me?
I got pork, of course. I love pork.
I have a confession to make… I don’t know, what kind of horrible Asian(-American) am I… my first banh mi was from the banh mi cart, despite having heard about them for years, my friends have been eating them for years, blah blah blah. I knew what they were, but I just never went out of my way to get one, and it’s not like it’s the type of food you tell your friends “let’s go get banh mi” and then you sit and eat because there’s no tables in the place my friend likes best. Whatever.
And the confession here is that despite having gone to many, many Taiwanese restaurants over the years and watching my friends get ‘pork chop over rice’ as their meal, I have never eaten pork-chop-over-rice. I used to eat all of my (ex-)boyfriend’s pickled mustard greens, but I was always the girl ordering beef-and-tomato-over-rice (Taiwanese style, don’t order this at a Cantonese place, you’ll get something totally different), Laifood/66, holla! Ahem, anyway, so I’ve never had this dish, it slipped my mind completely as I’ve grown out of going clubbing then hitting up Chinese food joints at 2am and all that (if you know what Laifood/66 is, you’ll understand the correlation… otherwise, just understand I no longer do those things). In fact, the last time I went there, I definitely ordered beef-and-tomato-over-rice, introduced my now-boyfriend to the joys of that dish, and taught him how to use chopsticks effectively all in one swoop. (He now uses chopsticks better than I do.)
So I have nothing to which I can compare it.
Mmm, porky goodness. All I can tell you is that it’s quite delicious. The pork chop was fried well, with a crispy sheen to it, and there were two huge pieces shoved into my container. The pork sauce mixed in with the rice and pickly greens was delicious, and overall, everything was totally awesome. I can’t believe I haven’t been eating this for years (oh, wait, it makes sense: I quit eating pork for a period of like 4 years at one point, never mind, I understand now – some b*face poisoned me and I couldn’t get over it).
The only thing I don’t like is the price. I know one can say “But you’re not in Chinatown” or whatever, and sure, I’m not, but I’m not saying “It’s cheaper in Chinatown.” I’m simply saying I don’t know that the above platter is worth $7. $6 sounds reasonable.
Either way, if they return to this area, I’ll definitely be trying the chicken over rice… and maybe a tea egg.
Yvo says: A little on the pricey side, but I suppose if they had prices ending in 50c they’d have to fumble around with making change. Like a tea egg for 50c would be a much more reasonable price, as would the box drink I bought (which, admittedly, is often sold for $1 in the bakeries). An extra scoop of sauce for 50c is reasonable, but $1 is pushing it. The pork chop over rice is pretty damn tasty though!
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Christine says
The pork chop looks amazing. It also doesn't help that they threw in some pickled mustard greens.
I'm in love with them and can't stop thinking about them since my last trip to Toronto. We had Taiwanese styled niu ro mien served with a side of chopped up pickled mustard geens. Ugh… so delish! (Lucy and I will be posting about it soon)
I think I'm going to grab something to eat before I start to drool… >_<
Nicholas says
pork [stretch]saaaaauuuuuuucccccceeeeeeeeeee[/stretch]
if only there were really stretch tags 😀
RecipeOfTheWeek says
Yum! Thanks for posting this! I wish more of these trucks would reach down to the financial district more often because the banh mi truck always has a ridiculously long line. I don't believe in waiting 45 mins for a sandwich. grr… However, I did see the rickshaw dumpling truck made its way down last week too. Perhaps this is just the beginning! 🙂
Danny says
Yea the price is what gets ya at the end because there are places in Chinatown for $4.75. The thing is, where else by your work are you going to be able to get this for lunch? It pays to have a monopoly on pork chops downtown!
Anonymous says
You need to try…May Wah Fast Food on 190 Hester right by Mulberry Street, near Little Italy…It looks the same, and it's got awesome TEA EGGS!
Anonymous says
BTW — May Wah delivers if you spend over a certain amount, so round up a few co-workers and call them up…if you order before 11AM, they'll deliver ANYWHERE in Manhattan! (212) 925-6428…you can have what you had above for just about $5!!!!
Anonymous says
I was just about to comment about trying May Wah Fast Food (now known as Wah May, I believe…). I remember indulging in the pork chop / chicken leg over rice at May Wah as a kid every now and then (it's not recommended for everyday eats since it's not exactly health), and your pictures bring me back to my childhood. Haven't had one in years… I need to go for a fix soon!