NY Food Truck Lunch: Asian Meatballs From Marky Ramone's Cruisin' Kitchen
Perry, the man behind New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City food trucks.
A new food truck hit the city streets Thursday - this one with an authentic punk rock connection.
Marky Ramone, the Ramones' legendary drummer, has officially opened his brand new food truck for business.
We first learned about Marky Ramone's Cruisin' Kitchen last fall when they did events on Long Island & New Jersey. They now have a NYC mobile vending permit, and will be in the city permanently.
You may wonder what the punk rock legend is doing operating a food truck. We were, too.
It turns out Brooklyn's own Marky Ramone is also a chef, and has his own marinara sauce available online and at 10 different stores in the Tri-State area. They also sell it on the truck for $7 a jar.
Marky has hooked up with chef Keith Album, who created all the dishes served on the truck, and serves them himself.
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On the side of the truck it says "More Balls Than Most," which describes the menu.
Marky Ramone's Cruisin Kitchen serves 4 different types of meatballs: Italian (beef), Asian (pork), American (turkey) and Mexican (chorizo) meatballs. Each one has an applicable sauce and condiments for the cuisine. An order is $7, and you can get it either "in a boat" or on a roll.
I decided to try Asian meatballs "in a boat."
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There were 3 very large meatballs, topped with Napa slaw and garlic hoisin sauce. Chinese noodles (the kind you get with soup) were on the side.
The meatballs were made from ground pork, and were cooked so the outside was nicely browned, but the inside was still moist. There were chopped water chestnuts mixed into the meatballs, which were spiced well too.
The Napa slaw was made with Napa cabbage, carrots and garlic green peas, a Taiwanese dried pea that was firm, not soft.
I really liked the garlic hoisin sauce. You can taste the Chinese 5-spice powder in the sauce, which hops up the flavor of the hoisin sauce.
About the only downside in this dish were the lackluster noodles. I realize you need something on the side to go with the meatballs and slaw, but there has to be a better choice than these noodles.
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Other than the noodles, I was very happy with this dish, and definitely want to try other items on the menu. Big, browned pork meatballs with an Asian sauce is a delicious lunch when done right, which this was.
With this being their first week, Keith wasn't sure where they would be parking each day. The best way to find Marky Ramone's Cruisin' Kitchen is on Twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.
Keith did tell us they probably wouldn't hit the high-traffic areas of Midtown and the Financial District until he can get help on the truck. It's not easy finding someone with a NYC mobile vendor's license, and Keith was doing it all by himself, other than taking orders and handling cash.
