New York Street Food

One of the most popular food trucks in the city is still Korilla BBQ.  We have been following Korilla before they were even on the street, and we were there last fall when they won the 2011 Vendy Award for Rookie of the Year.

The shocking events of last summer on the Great Food Truck Race did not seem to hamper Korilla’s popularity.  Maybe because their food is both interesting and delicious.

Korilla wins Rookie of the Year

Whether you’ve been to Korilla BBQ before or not, it can still be a bit intimidating working your way through the ordering system with a long line of people behind you waiting to order.  There are tons of choices, so let us show you the options in advance.

First you choose a vehicle for the food, next you choose a protein, then your rice, veggies, kimchi type, cheese and pico de gallo, and finally the sauce. Whew!

Or you can go with their recommended combinations. Just choose the type of vehicle (tacos, burrito, chosun bowl), the protein (beef, chicken, spicy pork or tofu), and let them do the rest.  That’s what I did.  It gives you a nice variety of toppings that way.

Each taco comes with 2 tortillas. This is important, because one tortilla would likely break from all the fillings.

chicken, spicy pork & tofu tacos (l. to r.)

The proteins are all good, so it’s more a matter of what you’re in the mood for. The pork is spicy all by itself, the tofu is soft and pillowy, the chicken had a good grilled flavor, and the bulgogi beef (which I’ve previously had) is nice and marinated.

The kimchis offered some variety as well.  The red kimchi (on the pork taco) was the spiciest and had the most vinegary taste, the shredded daikon (on the chicken taco) was cool and refreshing, and the cucumber spear (on the tofu taco) had that pickle vibe going on.  As if Korean and Mexican wasn’t enough of a mix, they had to add a staple of Jewish NY, a pickle!

You get 3 tacos for $7, which is a nice amount of food for a good price.  With all the toppings, it can get a little messy, so make sure you eat over a desk or table – or you may end up with a K’illa stain on your shirt.

Find Korilla BBQ on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed here.

You may have noticed a new title for this post.  As of today, I am changing the name of the food truck and cart reviews from Today’s Lunch to Street Eats.

New York Street Food has grown to the point where things are very busy, and I can’t always eat, write and post a review on the same day.  You can be assured however that Street Eats will be posted within a day or two of eating the food, so it will still be fresh and current.

Last summer I went to Bapcha pretty regularly on 49th St between 6th & 7th Ave. They were one of our weekly stops on the New York Street Food Tour, but I haven’t been there since the summer.

For some reason, I had a hankering for galbi – grilled marinated short ribs – and Bapcha has a galbi box for $8.

(more…)

I saw that Kimchi Taco Truck had a new winter special that sounded pretty good – Spicy Beef Soup.  I decided to get the soup as a side dish so that I could try another side dish too.  I’ve previously enjoyed their kimchi arancini (rice balls), and this time I wanted to try the BBQ Nachos.

Today’s Lunch is Spicy Beef Soup ($4 as a side dish or $7 for a meal) and BBQ Nachos (also $4) from Kimchi Taco Truck.

I figured the soup would stay hotter longer, so I tried the nachos first.

BBQ Nachos

(more…)

There has been an explosion of Korean food trucks in New York in the past year or two.  The first one I was aware of was Krave Korean BBQ in Jersey City, then in NYC we got Korilla BBQ, Big D’s Grub Truck, Kimchi Taco Truck, and Bob & Jo – and that doesn’t even count the Korean carts like Bapcha and Gobuki.  Some of them fuse Korean and Mexican cuisine and some have more traditional Korean food.

The latest entrant, Seoul Food, serves both.  They have fusion cuisine like Korean tacos, burritos and sliders – but they also have more traditional Korean food like bibimbap and rice platters – and they even make a Korean version of the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich.

Seoul Food is also taking social media to the next level by giving away food for social media activity.  You can get a free taco by “Liking” them or posting a photo on facebook, or checking in on foursquare.  You can get free fries by following them on twitter or tweeting about the truck.

I went to the Seoul Food truck on Friday, which they told me was only their 2nd day in Manhattan, although I know they had a few “soft opening” days about a month ago, both in NYC and Hoboken.

On Friday there were serious problems in the service department, with long waits, point-of-sale equipment issues, and being out of several items by 1:15pm or so.

There were about 10 people in line when I arrived, but it took 20 minutes to even place my order, and another 15 before it was ready.  We will make sure to try them again soon to see if the service issues have been sorted out.  Please let us know what your experience was like.

As for food, we ordered a banh mi sandwich with sweet & spicy pork ($8.50 plus tax), and got a free taco for liking them on facebook, for which we selected kalbi (short rib).

(more…)

It’s been a little while since I’ve been to Big D’s Grub Truck, so I stopped by to see if anything new was going on.  Talk about perfect timing!

Dennis (Big D) had just introduced a new menu item – rice platters – to go along with his Korean tacos, grinders, dumplings and fries.  It was so new, today was only the 2nd day it was available, and it wasn’t even on the printed menu.

There was a handwritten sign in the window saying “rice platter $10 with free soda”.  You also get a choice of meat to go with the rice – bulgogi beef, ginger chicken, spicy chicken or spicy pork.

Today’s Lunch is the spicy pork rice platter ($10 with a free soda) from Big D’s Grub Truck.

(more…)