A Food Truck finds a way to combine NBC Universal’s Green Week and Meatless Mondays

Today, Monday, November 15, kicks off NBC Universal’s Green Universal Week, and at the same time, another Meatless Monday is upon us. NBC has invited The Green Truck to aid them in their promotion by driving around NYC and giving away a free vegetarian lunch.

Today’s free lunch special will be The Mother Trucker, a vegan burger with avocado, tomato, sprouts, and tempeh bacon. The burger itself is made up of mushrooms, zucchinis, broccoli, squash, and onions, sautéed down with olive oil and tomato paste. If a vegan burger isn’t what you are looking for today, the truck does offer a number of other vegetarian specials. Customers can select from a varied menu which also includes a breakfast burrito with a tofu option, and instead of iceberg lettuce, they serve dark leafy greens which provide more nutrition for your diet.

The Green Truck can be found in New York as well as Southern California. The truck runs on vegetable oil, bio-diesel or battery power, and the packaging and servingware (containers, bags, napkins, utensils) are all made from biodegradable products. “We basically use all alternative fuels and we actually recycle those fuels to power the business,” said co-owner Kam Miceli. Their motto: “sustainable, local, organic, veggie-powered, solar-powered cuisine.”

“It’s a healthy alternative to the ‘roach coach,'” said Michael Klima. “A lot of people eating vegan or raw believe they are living a healthier lifestyle and they feel better,” said Michelle Dellapena. The Green Truck’s site has a GPS tracker so you can locate the truck.

If you are anywhere near 30 Rock this afternoon, we suggest you take a trip to The Green Truck, and help celebrate Meatless Monday’s with one of their Mother Trucker Burgers. Not only will you be supporting a great cause, but you will be able to save yourself a few dollars.

You can find The Green Truck at their website, or follow them on Twitter.

Please do your part today and join the Meatless Monday movement? Signing up is fast and easy! Follow them on Twittter. 

Mobile Cuisine Magazine looks forward to continued coverage of Meatless Monday for our readers!

 

Tavern on the Green; New York’s new Food Truck Hub

On Friday, the previous site of the New York City icon, Tavern on the Green, became the newest location for New York’s food truck industry.

Rickshaw Dumpling Truck Photograph by weapong @ Flickr

Tavern on the Green, which closed its doors for the last time in 2009, was one of New York’s finest restaurants which received acclaim and was continually an award winner for excellence and best ambience. The Tavern site was used as the location for the finish line of the New York City Marathon, and even during the 80’s was featured in a Folgers coffee advertising campaign to see if it’s Upper West Side customers could tell if the coffee they normally served was replaced with Folgers  instant.

A ribbon cutting ceremony, led by Adrian Benepe, the New York City Parks and Recreation Commissioner marked the opening of a $2.5 million gift shop and tourist center. “The park has long lacked a centrally located visitor center,” Mr. Benepe said, adding that with 35 million visits a year, the park is the largest tourist attraction in the city.

The location where the former Crystal Room stood is now a landscaped terrace holding 80 new tables and 130 chairs. Visitors may now dine from one of the four food trucks that have been permitted to sell their fare at the site. The current truck lineup includes;

Ladle of Love: Soups and salads

Pera: Turkish cuisine

Rickshaw Dumpling

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream

Each of these vendors will pay the city from $45,000 to $100,000 over the next two years, to receive the proper permitting for selling here. Within a few months, the parks and recreation department, expects to start extending similar invitations to additional food vendors to widen the food options currently available.

According to Mr. Benepe, the city’s parks “are playing catch-up now, in a city of food and foodies, We’re trying to bring into our parks the same variety that New Yorkers find on the street corners of the city.”

In addition to their food options, the sale of alcohol may be allowed in the terrace area soon. Earlier this week, three of the four trucks appealed to Community Board 7 for the right to serve hard liquor. The plan from the operators of Pera would include vodka, gin, scotch, as well as wine and beer to be sold from their truck. Rickshaw Dumplings wishes to serve sake and beer at this location while Ladle of Love would like to offer seasonal mixed drinks in addition to beer and wine. The final vote from the board will take place on November 3^rd.

“I’ve been here for dinner when the Tavern was a special-occasion place,” said Nancy Zelenetz, 53, of Scarsdale. “This is more alive. I thought the dumplings were delicious. Eating here used to be like a commitment.”

The city still has plans to open a full service restaurant around this location, but in the mean time, the food truck industry has just had another avenue opened up to it allowing them to show off what they have to offer.