When I was in L.A. last week, I got friendly with the guy in front of me on line at the Border Grill truck. We enjoyed talking about food and food trucks, and he asked for recommendations for when he was coming to Ngueew York in a few months. It turned out he was in L.A on business too.
If you recall, he got the ceviche cone that looked really interesting, and I asked him to let me know how it was. When he sent me a short writeup of the ceviche cone (which he loved!), his writing was colorful and fun. I asked if he would like to write for NYSF, and he was into it.
This NYSF review is from Benjy, a young guy from Detroit who I met in L.A. during lunch last week. In his own words: “I’ve always had a love for food, and I’m passionate about trying different types of cuisines, experimenting with regional and seasonal ingredients, and trying anything that any local says I “have to have” while I’m in their city.
Whenever I travel to NYC or LA, I’m inevitably told I must hunt down certain food trucks. I love the food truck movement – I love that it keeps me guessing, and that it is constantly evolving. Who knew they could prepare so many dishes so well from the back of a truck? For so long, the only truck I chased was the ice cream truck that circled my neighborhood when I was just a chubby little sugar addict looking for a fix. It’s nice to see that as my tastes have matured and grown more sophisticated, so have the food trucks.”
Benjy and his colleague went back to the same spot the next day and had lunch at the Canter’s Deli Truck. Even though I had a reuben at the Canter’s Deli truck on my trip to L.A. in January, Benjy had a different meal, and his writeup is fun to read. Click through to check out Benjy’s take on a delicious tuna melt from the Canter’s Deli Truck.
“Jonathan and I returned to the Alameda St. food truck hangout for lunch, and this time we brought our boss, Scott. Upon arrival, the three of us did a quick reconnaissance: there was an Italian deli truck (Rosa’s Bella Cucina), an ice cream truck, and the Canter’s deli truck. Canter’s won us over instantly, that was the easy decision.
The hard part came when trying to decide what to order from the famous sandwich slinger. Separately but simultaneously, we all settled on tuna melts. It was the right decision: the peppery tuna, accented by a slice of swiss cheese, poured over the sides of the crispy rye bread to the point that I had to scrape the sides of the crust with a fork before biting into the sandwich.
Once I really dug in, I didn’t come up for air until the sandwich was done, and even then I was licking the butter off my fingers (who needs napkins?). The crunchy, garlicky pickle was my dessert, and the tangy vinegar complimented the sandwich’s flavors perfectly.
My only regret today was not getting there earlier, because by the time we finished our Canter’s meals, the ice cream truck had moved on and I couldn’t make more calorically-irresponsible decisions. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow…”
Thank you Benjy for sharing your Canter’s Deli truck tuna melt sandwich with our readers. If you’re in L.A. and love deli, definitely check out the Canter’s Deli truck or the deli itself, which has been a fixture in L.A. for over 75 years.
If you have eaten a great street food meal and would like to share it with our readers, please email perry@newyorkstreetfood.com. We would be happy to post it. It doesn’t have to be in New York. Just make sure to take a picture or two of the truck and of the food to go along with the writeup. (No shills please.)
