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1st Yellow Vendor

Read Queenedix’s previous reviews here.

For those of you who remember the dark days when chicken curry was merely a glimmer in a Fojol’s eye and food carts in D.C. almost exclusively served reheated half-smokes alongside “FBI” t-shirts, you might recall a small yellow cart run by a mother-son team that parked at 15th and L and served Korean food. This cart, the Original Gangster of D.C. food trucks, first appeared in 2007 and seems to have bred a curious phenomenon—in a city without many duplicative competing food truck concepts, there are at least 4 different trucks in the Greater D.C. area focusing on Korean cuisine. Even more intriguing—two of the carts, Yellow Vendor and 1st Yellow Vendor, are often assumed to be related but are actually in fierce competition with one another, and have taken to Twitter repeatedly to make it clear they are NOT affiliated…although their trucks, names, and serving methods are nearly identical. I can’t help but suspect there’s more of a connection, probably even a familial one, which makes the competition between these trucks especially interesting.

Given that this many similar trucks are in business, I decided to investigate the seemingly booming bulgogi market. Since we’ll be taking next week off for Thanksgiving, I reviewed not one or two, but three different Korean trucks in the Ultimate Bulgogi Battle. I checked out the bulgogi/chicken combo, spicy combo, and kimchi at AZNEats, Yellow Vendor, and 1st Yellow Vendor to determine the best option for your next Korean craving.

Yellow Vendor
3 seconds

AZN Eats
2.5 seconds

1st Yellow Vendor
1.5 seconds

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Read Queenedix’s previous reviews here.

Over the past few months, I’ve discovered a challenge in reviewing food trucks: Cost. When I check out new trucks (and readers, feel free to leave suggestions for future reviews when you comment on my pluralizing of traditional European desserts) I try to consider how good the food would be, objectively, to a random hungry passerby on a nice day, but also whether or not the cost is worth the food you receive. This in itself becomes an options-narrowing challenge—recently, I spent $18 on an entrée and side from a previously untested truck, only to determine that the quantity of food, overall quality, and cost didn’t compel me to go back and review the place again. I would think many of you, like me, would be hard-pressed to drop a $20 on a meal that doesn’t even include real silverware or a complimentary piece of bread.

In the hunt for a good, satisfying bargain, sometimes the most obvious solutions are also the best. This week I convened a circle of hungry friends to help me try Big Cheese Truck, the popular purveyor of things grilled and cheesy. Bringing together a group to taste has its benefits, especially with something as familiar as grilled cheese—there’s a lot less to quibble about than when trying a more complex dish. A variety of tasters help me figure out whether I subjectively reallllly love any kind of grilled cheese, or whether the sandwiches are, objectively, delicious. The verdict at this truck is clear: Big Cheese Truck is a new favorite spot.

Big Cheese Truck

4 seconds

I had already tried many of the offerings at Big Cheese Truck before convening my “tasting circle,” but I was glad I gave the truck another shot. On my first few visits, there was always something that made the sandwiches not-quite-perfect, like un-melted cheese in the sandwich’s center. Although it was not offered on the day of the tasting, I absolutely love the “Truffle Shuffle,” which I have seen on the menu and tried only once. Not for the faint of palate, this sandwich is loaded with flavor—black truffles in the cheese, smooth and earthy artichoke hearts on a slightly sweet, dark bread makes for a hell of a sandwich—one of the best ways I think I’ve ever spent $6.50. With the “tasting circle,” I re-sampled other menu items I’d tried before—the Midnight Moon, standard grilled cheese, “Thrilled Cheese,” and “Mt. Fuji.” We also dipped our crusts in Big Cheese’s homemade tomato soup.

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Read Queenedix’s previous reviews here.

Believe it or not, Queenedix is actually one-quarter Italian. And not in the way everyone thinks MTV’s Jersey Shore cast is entirely Italian. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my first-generation Italian American grandfather lovingly picking figs, canning waxed peppers, and making sauce on a warm summer evening. Needless to say, “Ragu” was a four-letter word in my household—I hold Italian food, especially pasta, to pretty high standards. So when a consigliore raved about the manicotti at Basil Thyme food truck, I was skeptical. Family recipes? Handmade pasta? I imagined so many ways the food could go wrong, dreading an experience more JWoww than Don Corleone. But given that my most recent lunchtime experience with lasagna was courtesy of Lean Cuisine, I figured any truck chef who gets up before dawn to hand-make pasta deserves my confidence—and a posthumous nod of approval from my dear old grandpa.

Basil Thyme

4.5 Seconds

Basil Thyme gets it 100% right—from the crusty, browned edges of each substantial piece of lasagna to the amazing depth of flavor. The classic Linda claims to be just like Mama’s—and it absolutely delivers. Layers of fresh pasta, perfectly cooked, are lined with a fantastic, flavorful sauce, complete with chunks of tomato, well-seasoned ground beef, and smooth ricotta cheese. I like to pretend this is the meal Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone was planning the day she accidentally died in Fabrizio’s bomb plot gone wrong. Freshly-grated parmesan tops both the pasta and the salad—another wonderful touch. The Lisetta, pork in vodka sauce, is equally flavorful, although I could have done with a little more meat in my portion. The Giuseppe (points off for misspelling it on their menu) is a wonderful combinationof savory and sweet butternut squash, cooked tender but not mushy, and soft, tangy goat cheese—topped with fried basil leaves. And the cannoli—the cannoli! It changes regularly, but the pistachio version I tried was outstanding. It might be the best food truck dessert offered.

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