It’s hard Rice Balls? Well, to be totally original these days, no matter what the field. One Korean taco truck begets three within a matter of months. One grilled cheese truck is joined by two others in a similar time frame.
Mike ‘n’ Willies is mining a similar vein as Mexicue, with tacos and sliders of American and Mexican dishes. The latest twist is a rice bowl, which all of the Korean taco trucks now serve as well.
At Mike ‘n’ Willies, you get rice, black beans, and any protein they offer (beef, pork, chicken, fish, etc) for $8. We got the short rib rice bowl.
The question is how does it stack up to the rice bowls at Mexicue?
Walking back to my office, lunch was pretty heavy. That meant a nice amount of rice and beans were included in the dish.
But it wasn’t just rice and beans. There was a nice serving of shredded short ribs in a bbq sauce that was not quite as sweet as when we got the short rib slider almost a year ago. The short ribs were very tender, and topped with a little crumbled cheese and shredded lettuce.
The rice was nothing special, but the black beans had a nice kick, and were still pretty firm.
We don’t usually like to directly compare vendors, but in this case, we kind of have to. They are too similar to ignore.
In a nutshell, the rice bowls at Mike ‘n’ Willies are a better deal at $8 vs $9.75 for the Mexicue burnt ends chili rice bowl we had in March 2012, but you can also taste the difference in price. The extra $1.75 Mexicue charges is apparent from the extra sauce (cilantro lime crema), and the tortilla strips used as a topping instead of shredded iceberg lettuce.
That said, Mike ‘n’ Willies is a good, solid rice bowl at a lower price. You can find them on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.
