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NYC Food Truck Lunch: Health Chef Salad From Health Chef Inc

Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.

If you read this column regularly, you'll know that we've been trying to eat healthier lunches for the past few months, with one big exception. Now along comes Health Chef Inc to make our lives easier in this department. According to the person taking our order (who appeared to be the boss), it was only their second week in business.

The menu is not exactly what the truck's name implies. The first item listed is a burger with cheese/bacon/side of fries options and the second item is a Philly cheese steak. We're not sure in what universe these lunches are considered healthy, but if you find it, let us know. We'd love to move there!

There was literally one salad on the menu, which is what we ordered. It cost $7, with an additional $2 to add grilled chicken breast.

If you're looking for a traditional chef's salad like you get in a diner (ham, turkey, egg, cheese, etc), that is not what you'll get. That's not to say lunch was bad. In fact, it was pretty good. It just wasn't a chef's salad in the traditional sense.

For this chef's salad, they grilled a sliced, seasoned chicken breast with green bell peppers and onions. It was then served over mixed greens. Tomatoes, roasted red peppers and Italian dressing were added on top. You could have oil and vinegar, if preferred (or no dressing if you're hardcore). The menu said cucumbers were supposed to be included, but they were nowhere to be found.

Between the seasoning on the chicken and the Italian dressing, the chicken breast had some nice flavor. The Italian dressing, the juices from the chicken, and the onions and peppers all upped the flavor of the salad as well. The mixed greens were a good selection, and made for a comfy bed for the other ingredients.

Chicken Salad
(credit: Perry R.)

Health Chef Inc is pretty mainstream and won't change the food truck scene in NYC. You probably could have guessed that by the inclusion of "Inc" in their name. They're the food truck equivalent of a decent corporate cafeteria, which isn't necessarily bad, but certainly not groundbreaking.

For now, you'll have to keep an eye out for Health Chef Inc. They don't have a Twitter account, a Facebook account or a website, which is inexcusable your second week in business. Social media is the primary way a food truck can be found and spreads the word.

If you run across Health Chef Inc, you will likely get a solid lunch for $10 or less, but at this point in time, you can't find out ahead of time where they will be for lunch. That makes it tough to succeed.

Health Chef Inc Truck
(credit: Perry R.)

 

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