Burger Grease: the Key to One of Philly's Best Cheesesteaks?

John's, Dalessandro's, Pat's, Joe's Steaks... Spot Burgers?

Yes, that's right. One of Philadelphia's best burger trucks also serves up one of the best cheesesteaks in town today. Philly Mag gave Spot Burgers a Best of Philly cheesesteak honor in 2014 and we could not agree more.

The sandwich is packed with a 1/2 lb of roughly chopped, seasoned rib eye inside a long, soft and chewy roll from Conshohocken Italian Bakery. Some might prefer a denser roll, but the softness here enables clean bites and soaks in the cheesesteak juice. We recommend ordering with American cheese and grilled onions.

Spot Burgers' secret ingredient in our minds is burger grease. Firing up the cheesesteaks on the same flat top as some of Philly's best burgers adds the slightest burger flavor you don't get at other dedicated cheesesteak shops. The inaugural bite of our Spot cheesesteak was one of the few "wow" food moments we've had in a while. And it stayed that good until the last bite. Gotta love that such mighty flavor comes out of the tiniest yellow box on wheels.

Spot Burger is looking to open a permanent joint with the help of a GoFundMe campaign so here's hoping they continue to serve up this cheesesteak! For now, follow Spot Burgers on Twitter or Facebook to know where they're headed next.

Cheesesteak from @spotburgers. Delicious and one of the best we've had. The flavor from the burger grease is a real kicker. This is the final #perfectbite.

A photo posted by 22nd&Philly (@22ndandphilly) on May 9, 2015 at 10:35am PDT

Photos of the Week: Two Food Truck Favorites for Winter Weather

We love food trucks, period. But God bless the people who keep their trucks running all winter long. It's COLD out there! We've read about all sorts of truck breakdowns on Twitter this season and don't envy anyone who has to spend hours cooking out of a tiny mobile hut. 

In honor of those efforts, here are a few recent, cold-weather food truck favorites. 

Macaroni and cheese ON pulled pork ON a giant sandwich. Holy crap, this was good. Not only was it good, but it was constructed and wrapped by the owner of Phoebe's BBQ with the most impressive precision, so that not a single noodle nor sliver of meat came loose during transport back to the office. The mac was just the right amount of creamy and the barbecue sauce had just the right amount of punch. Admittedly, I ate this with a fork because it's obviously quite sizable and I didn't need the extra carbs. But it made my day nonetheless. Follow @PhoebesBBQ for truck location and tweets from its South Street storefront.

Another hit from last week... sweet & sour fried chicken tacos from Taco Mondo, ordered with a chicken and cheese empanada on the side. My initial visit to the Taco Mondo truck didn't leave me impressed with their basic pork tacos, but that was during it's first few weeks of business. Fast forward to today, and these guys were something special. The scallion, pickled veggies and sesame seeds on top balanced out the tangy, slightly hot sauce over fried dark meat, with more sauce hidden underneath. The empanada was still crispy after a 10 minute walk, with a hearty portion of chicken/melted cheese enclosed and tasty dipping sauce on the side. Follow @TacoMondo for its location.

Photos of the Week: Mobile Food

For this week's Friday Food Photos, we bring you our latest finds on the mobile food scene...

For additional pictures, check out our Facebook album of Wyebrook Farm. It was a fun day trip out to Chester County for two awesome burgers and a day at the farm. Their cafe is closed for the season but keep it in mind for next spring or fall.

Big fan of the Turkey Meatball Bahm Mi from the Just Jackie's food truck this week. Could have used a few more honey ginger meatballs but the garlic, lemon herb mayo on top was a great combo with picked carrots, jalapenos, cabbage, cucumber and cilantro. Many food truck sandwiches end up being delicious gut bombs, but this was a lighter (and still delicious) alternative.

3 Food Photos of the Week

Here are three pics we snapped in the past week(ish) of food we liked. HAPPY FRIDAY!

Barbecue chicken egg roll from Foo Truck. The roaming foo-wich shop occasionally offers a little somethin' extra/fun on the menu, in addition to their traditional lunch pita/wrap hybrids and kickass red velvet cake balls. On a recent Friday at The Porch at 30th Street, Foo Truck sold this amazing treat - it was like barbecue chicken pizza in an egg roll. Two of my favorite things. If you see it on the menu again, GET IT.

Hot Bagels & More in Margate, NJ, was the perfect Sunday morning savior after a night out in Atlantic City and on the beach bar circuit. Also found in Somers Point, Northfield and Brigantine, NJ, it was a refreshing change from the giant bagel void in Philadelphia. Below is an egg bagel un-toasted with chive cream cheese.

I've been a NatureBox subscriber for about 6 months now. For $20 per month I get a new selection of 5 no-fake-anything healthy snacks sent right to my office. So far, it's maybe 60/40 success rate on snacks I liked vs. didn't like. These cranberry macaroon granola chunks were the best so far. Check out NatureBox if you're looking for something different but healthy. I found a number of other bloggers who researched what it would cost to buy similar snacks at Whole Foods and vouched that the $20 price was an alright deal. Plus it's just fun to get a monthly package of surprise food.

South Philly Taco Toss Up: El Jarocho vs. Tacos El Rodeo

Best tacos in Philly--hands down. All tacos come with pickles veggies and avocado. I haven't encountered this anywhere else. Moreover, everything is inexpensive and simply delicious. And they're open late (around 11:30 PM or until they run out). Can't be beat.

The comment above is from reader Jake who suggested Tacos El Rodeo as place we had to visit. A comment like that leaves little choice but to tackle a good ol' taco toss up - El Jarocho vs.Tacos El Rodeo.

El Jarocho has been our taqueria king since our first visit in 2011. It was also our only blog post to include an ode to the great footballer Chicharito, who plays for Manchester United. But I digress...

I jumped on my bike and headed to South Philly to eat three al pastor tacos (pork typically shaved off a vertical spit), my favorite type, at each joint.

Tacos El Rodeo

Tacos El Rodeo is actually a food truck and always located at 10th and Washington. You can't miss the colorful, muraled truck. An added touch I like is the collection of milk crates on the sidewalk so you can sit and enjoy your tacos.

Tacos El Rodeo's side mural

Outdoor seating

The "trompo" is Tacos El Rodeo's version of al pastor with a sweeter taste. I think the server said pineapple is included. I got it with "everything," which also includes tomato, lettuce and avocado. Three tacos are only $6 total!

Local 215 and Chewy's at The Porch at 30th Street

Last up in our series on food trucks at The Porch at 30th Street... Local 215 and Chewy's.

Duck and pork buns from Local 215

Local 215 

This truck is all about locally-sourced seasonal foods. At right are a duck bun (braised duck with cucumber pickled radish, baby greens, cilantro and chili aoili rolled in housemade Laffa bread) and a pork belly bun (slow braised pork belly, chili aoili, and baby greens also in Laffa).

I paid $7 for the two, plus $3 for a huge side serving of polenta. The buns' contents were very good, but the bread was kinda dry. Polenta was pretty standard. Ignore the Subway wrapper, I promise it was somebody else's.

Local 215 will be back at The Porch on Fridays in August with other entrees like pork shoulder, lamb
sausage and roast turkey. Twitter: @Local215

Taco Truck Takeover at The Porch

Next up in our quick review of food trucks at The Porch at 30th Street: TACOS! For more on The Porch and why we think it's awesome, see our intro posts on What's to Eat at The Porch and two other trucks, MacMart and Jimmies Cupcakes.

Mesa Fresh

This new food cart serves well-stuffed burritos, ensaladas and tasty tacos. For $6.75, I got two yummy barbacoa pork soft tacos with pickled red onion, ancho sauce and salsa, plus a small handful of white corn chips and fresh salsa (the 75 cents was added for cheese). It was plenty of lunch for me and frankly one of the cheaper food truck options these days. Three tacos with chips are $8. Tacos come in a soft or hard shell, with the typical menu of options: chicken, al pastor, carne asada, pork, ground beef or veggie. No fish.

Friends gave the burritos - meat and veggie for $8 and $6 respectively - a thumbs up. The cart is an extension of the retail Mesa Fresh locations in Wayne and Springfield, PA, so maybe they have their act together pretty well from that in-store experience. Twitter: @MesaFresh

Love the sign - "This is what our salsa looked like this morning" At right, a Mesa Fresh soft pork taco with cheese.

Taco Mondo 

Less exciting, unfortunately, was the new taco truck from the Street Food Philly folks. On my first try, the fish tacos with some sort of slaw on top were over-fried and lacking in flavor. Friends didn't love their tacos either, so we haven't been back.  Anyone else had something good there? Street Food Philly, on the other hand, is great, serving a rotating menu of sandwiches, salads and of course parmesean truffle fries. It's often found on Drexel's campus at 33rd and Arch. Twitter: @TacoMondo

Not so delicious fish taco from Taco Mondo

Mesa Fresh and Taco Mondo are not on the Porch schedule for the rest of this summer, but follow them on Twitter for other locations. Like all the trucks are doing these days, I'm sure we'll see them at festivals and night markets galore. If you're near 30th Street, Penn or Drexel and have a taco craving, seek out the dependably delicious Cucina Zapata at 31st and Ludlow for a short rib or Cap'n Crunch fish taco.

Food Truck Reviews from The Porch: MacMart and Jimmies Cupcakes

Here comes our first post in this week's quick n' dirty series on the food trucks we've tried lately at The Porch at 30th Street and other locations. Why not start with two of the world's greatest foods? Mac n' cheese and cupcakes.

Photo from http://midtownlunch.com/philadelphia/

MacMart 

What's more fun than a mac n' cheese truck? She's gotten a lot of buzz since launching this winter, deservedly so. I loved the BBQ Mac with BBQ chicken chunks, smokey BBQ drizzle and cornbread crumble on top. Sorry, no photo because I was balancing too much stuff and couldn't risk spilling on a dry clean only work outfit. But trust me, it looks and tastes great.

What's to Eat at The Porch at 30th Street? Food Trucks of Course

There was a point last year when I felt like I knew all the food trucks in Philly. People asked us for opinions and we actually had one. Today? Not so much. There are so. many. food trucks on the streets of Philadelphia now, it's tough to keep up. I'm told we pale in comparison to other cities, but don't care. Philly has more than its fair share of great mobile food.

Porch photo borrowed from http://universitycity.org

I have the privilege of working close to The Porch at 30th Street so each Wednesday and Friday my co-workers and I can catch up on some of the new and old (by "old" I mean, like, a year) food trucks that visit for lunch.

The Porch, by the way, is one of the absolute best concepts brought to life in Philadelphia lately. Food, entertainment, nice places to sit, zumba classes, special events, gorgeous flowers... right next to 30th Street Station. Kudos to the University City District, with significant support from the William Penn Foundation, for pulling it off.

Six Great Hamburgers in Philadelphia

The hamburger is one of the most hotly-contested food categories in cities across America. After reading Food & Wine's new list of the Best Burgers in America, and feeling disappointed that none from Philadelphia made the list, we decided to share just a few (there are many!) of the awesome burgers we've had recently right here in Philly, but didn't get to write about yet. Some are well known, others less so, but perhaps you'll find one you haven't tried before...

Delicias, a New Venezuelan Food Truck in University City

The food blogger gods are on my side in 2012... a new day job has me working in University City rather than commuting an hour away from the food haven of Philadelphia each day. That can only mean one thing: more lunches to write about!

Midtown Lunch recently highlighted Delicias, a new Venezuelan-themed food truck at 34th & Market near Drexel/Penn. These awkwardly warm winter days have been perfect for venturing out at lunchtime so I gave Delicias a try.

Choripan Sandwich - look at allll those onions!

The chorizo sandwich, called a Chorpian ($5), was great. It's a long, soft, toasted roll with several pieces of sliced, medium-spiced chorizo, covered in homemade pico de gallo and caramelized onions. Admittedly, I picked off a handful of onions so I wouldn't totally stink up the office, but there were still plenty left to enhance the flavor. The pico de gallo had a nice kick but not more than my sally-pants could handle.

Also key in food truck lunch excursions, the Choripan traveled well back to the office. It had a good 15 minute walk to survive but the tight foil wrapping worked well.

The 2011 22nd & Philly Scarpetta Awards

Welcome everyone to the first-ever 22nd & Philly Scarpetta Awards!

Why the Scarpettas? On the About 22nd & Philly page, we detail why we started this blog and how we define a good food experience: "at the end of the day, if Bradd cleans his plate with a piece of bread, you know it was a good meal." Little did we know there is an Italian phrase for using bread to clean your plate, Fare La Scarpetta. We learned about the word from Anthony Bourdain's show, The Layover, when he visited Rome.

What better way to characterize our own "Best Of" awards for Philadelphia?

The Scarpettas are based on the eateries we visited in the past year, food quests, local events, readers and friends we’ve met, among other considerations. It's our way of pointing out some of our favorite - and least favorite - discoveries within local food scene during 2011. Either our plates were clean, or something was left to be desired.

And the 2011 Scarpettas go to...

Recap of the Chinatown Night Market

This past Thursday, Chinatown played host to the latest Night Market in Philadelphia. It's a relatively new concept organized by The Food Trust that exploded quickly when hundreds of people unexpectedly showed up to the first Night Market in East Passyunk in 2010. Since then, Night Markets have been held in University City, Mount Airy and now, Chinatown.

Philadelphia's Night Markets are several blocks of food trucks, tents and tables offering a global selection of ethnic foods. They offer a great way to try some of the newest or most locally-famous food trucks that you may not get to during the day. We picked our targets based mostly on the lines and what we hadn't eaten before.

Bradd and I took our first shot at live blogging an event during the Chinatown Night Market, so if your reaction to any of our last few posts was "what the heck are they talking about," that was it. I have to hand it to journalists and other bloggers who do this regularly because it was a lot of work! It was fairly thrilling at first (in our heads) but after a while, you kinda feel like you're looking at your phone more than all the cool stuff going on around you.

Regardless, I'm glad we did it and now you can peruse our thoughts on more of Philly's food trucks in the posts below. Cut us a break on grammar and photo placement - our iPhone and Android devices have great Blogger apps, but it's still tough to juggle your phone, food and best writing skills in the middle of a crowded street. Scroll down for some additional photos of the event, too.

If I can offer a little wisdom to newbies at future Night Markets: 1) You have to go into it expecting crowds and lines, but if you take your time and explore in small groups, it is manageable. 2) I don't see why people bother waiting in the insanely long beer lines. If you really need a beer, swing into a local bar or discretely pack a few of your own, with cups. 3) Don't approach it feeling like you have to try 10 different trucks. Many of the portions were a decent size so I, at least, was full after a just a few stops.

In our bizarre order to consumption:

Night Market: Strada Pasta

Just had the sage and butternut squash lasagna with gorgonzola sauce from Strada Pasta. Wow, really rich flavor and perfect for the season. First really seasonal item I've seen at the Night Market so far tnight.

Not sure I could handle a big plate of it, but food truck portion? Yes please. Nice guy too, said he uses all local ingredients. Craig LaBan must have been to Strada's table right before us, because he tweeted that the squash ravioli was a "sleeper gem."

Night Market: Hardena Resto

"Hey, check it out. A PSU tent." And that is how we ended up at Hardena Resto. It is an Indonesian place in Point Breeze. We got the beef cubes cooked slowly in coconut milk and spices with rice. Would pass for some late night food or a PSU tailgate. Beef was tender, but something was amiss with the flavors.

Night Market: Crepewalk

Crepewalk's veggie crepe from the Chinatown Night Market. Onion, red/green peppers, spinach, broccoli, cheese and feta sauce...

Ohhh the feta sauce, you made my night. Good crepe made even better with a delicious light sauce. LOT of onions, probably could have skipped a handful and gone with more peppers.

Here is the chef at work and some food shots. Sorry for the partially eaten shot but crepes don't look like much on their own!

Night Market: Zsa's Gourmet Ice Cream

Ordered the chocolate truffle ice cream for $3. The little crunch was a nice touch and the chocolate flavor was rich without being over done. Ideal portion size. There were about ten flavors to order.

Also got the vanilla ice cream sandwich. It was rock hard initially but softened quickly. I thought it was quite good. The vanilla mixed nicely with the cinnamon chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Night Market: Vernalicious

Interesting new food truck at the Night Market. Bacon BBQ, banh mi and german sausage. Bacon was solid albeit slightly undercooked. Chicken banh mi had a nice kick, but needed better bread. Combined the bacon and banh mi for a few bites. Good combo

Night Market: Nomad Pizza

we are live blogging from the Night Market in Chinatown tonight. First attempt, testing it out on an iPhone and an Android. Check out this vendor - Nomad Pizza. They have a portable wood fired oven.

Sandwich Quest: Philly's Koja Food Truck

Who should start Game One for the Phillies - Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee? The reality is that it doesn't matter because you would be more than content with either taking the mound. Both pitchers are that good.

This is how I think about the question of which sandwich was the best so far on our Sandwich Quest. I emphasize so far because we still have many to try, such as Nick’s Roast Beef, Shank’s and McNally's Schmitter, to name just a few.

Japanese/Korean Koja Truck

The lasagna Bolognese from Paesano’s has been the clear front runner for quite some time. But then I went on my University City food truck tour, where I devoured the ridiculously good bulgoki steak sandwich from the Koja Truck. Some call it bulgogi, but Koja has bulgoki on its menu so we'll go with that name.


Which is better you might ask? I don’t know. Heads I win, tails I win. I could eat either sandwich at any time and be happy.



The debate is only fitting because both were on list of the best new sandwiches in the U.S. from Endless Simmer, the genesis for our sandwich quest. Endless Simmer, you’ve done your research!