Philly Love: The Food Cart

April 27, 2009 • 12:46 pm • POSTED BY tim beitz

It’s no secret Philly loves food. It’s now less of a secret that I love food. Mmmm… food. Yet for ever day I fail to bring lunch, I’m forced with the same conundrum: where should I go for lunch? Many days, quite literally, success is found right on the streets of Phiiiiiiiladelphia.

Highly ubiquitous, and frequently overlooked, is the street food cart. In shiny aluminum enclosures, they are a staple of our urban landscape. But it’s not just their appearance promoting uniformity. Encounters with the Philly food cart scene often yield similar choice in cuisine: the egg&cheese&insert-choice-of-meat-here, the fruit selection plus complimentary banana, or the standard cheese steak. The perceived trade-off seems to fall in line with a fundamental graphic design theorem—fast, cheap, or good: pick two. But you’re not one to let fundamental theorems rule your life, are you? I didn’t think so.

While the sum of a fellow city-worker’s food cart experience is probably determined by locality, the dishes available within a few blocks radius can reach globally. And on a beautiful sunny day like this, a short walk is your greatest weapon. Today’s target: falafel.

Located at the corner of 16th & JFK, this seasonal cart brings the best in Middle Eastern cookery. With good reason, there’s ususally a line. I regularly go for the falafel wrap with homous and hot sauce straight up, but also the grape leaves are mighty fine. The falafel balls are crushed and delicious, the lafa is soft, and the portion is perfect for the price.

Mmmmm… Scrupmtulescent.