Did you know? A bustling little village of food trucks exists just out of sight for many on the West Chester University campus. Among the towering sycamores of South Church Street, an average of eight trucks are regularly parked and offering an array of fast, tasty takeaway food. Though intended for the college students, it’s readily available to any folk who care to venture through.
What began simply with Fennario’s (now Fenn’s Coffee) Grateful Bean’s coffee truck in the late 1990s is now a growing mobile culinary scene with menus spanning from breakfast through dinner, and plenty of snack options in between. Besides Fenn’s, some other trucks have mothership cafes or restaurants in the area, such as the Lunch Box Truck from downtown West Chester’s Lunch Box Cafe and Sabatino’s Mobile Pizzeria & Grill, which is co-owned by those who run West Chester’s Sabatino’s Grill and Edgemont’s La Locanda II Go.
Other trucks are entities unto themselves, such as The Pretzelria at WCU, which offers delectable stuffed pretzels ranging from hearty sandwich-like pork & provolone pretzel wraps to $3 “pretzel dogs,” as well as desserts like a Nutella/peanut-butter stuffed pretzel and a salty-sweet cinnamon & sugar pretzel.
Though there are typically around eight trucks in the little mobile food hamlet, the number ebbs and flows. These days, Mediterranean flavors feature prominently. In years past, Ka’Chi brought fantastically mixed-up Korean fare to the table, Dia Doce created a sensation with its arguably perfect cupcakes and Varsity Dawg sold mouth-watering Southern flavors for some time.
Wake-Up Call
For early mornings, the place to go is Curbies Catering Carts, Inc., or Curbies. Cranking out food and coffee by 7:30 a.m., Curbies is akin to Wawa as a morning hub for the hungry and often half-awake. With breakfast sandwiches such as Who’s Your Daddy?, Big Daddy and Who Dat?, Curbies aptly designates its offerings as no-frills with big attitude. For fast and tasty first thing in the morning, it’s a solid source. Add to that a lunch menu abounding with burgers, dogs, “chilli” and sausage, as well as a number of items described solely as “Philly,” and Curbies is a clear-cut and reliably belly-filling destination.
Another early riser with caffeinated provisions is Fenn’s truck, with a great morning selection of premade food and hot drinks, including the aptly named Damn Tasty, a double latte with Irish cream, Swiss chocolate and whipped cream.
Lunch and Dinner
The midday and early evening campus food truck scene is a swarming hive for university students and staff seeking lunch and dinner, and the natives strongly favor Greek Express. The menu features a great array of Greek staples like gyros, kebobs and souvlaki as well as a sizeable selection of hot sandwiches including a Reuben melt, grilled chicken cacciatore and its specialty Athena Burger, served on a pita. Greek Express also has a broad breakfast menu that includes a pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich and Western omelet. During peak hours, a staff of four handles the dozens of orders, shaving gyro meat off a rotating spit and laying out platters with precision, all with notably friendly service. It’s no wonder the truck has long lines of repeat customers.
Of far simpler scope is the NY Halal truck with four main choices: falafel, chicken, lamb, fish or chicken & lamb over rice. All are packaged within a styrofoam cuboid, embellished with a few crisp greens and cucumber slices, then dutifully splattered with your choice of “hot,” “white” or barbeque sauce. Halal trucks hold a highly visible presence in major cities across the U.S., but what’s less known is that the term “Halal” refers not to the dish itself but to the religious classification of its meat preparation, specifically that it meets the standards of Islamic law. Formalities aside, at the NY Halal truck in West Chester, the lamb over rice with a combination of white and hot sauces is a choice delight.
Lulu’s On the Go is a third truck showing marked appreciation of the chickpea, offering falafel and hummus “pitawich” sandwiches, gyros and a chicken Mediterranean wrap.
Another major lunchtime player is Sabatino’s Mobile Pizzeria and Grille, with delicious pizza options, strombolis, mozzarella sticks, steak sandwiches and mounds of french fries.
Further rounding out the options are Mexicali, with burritos, bowls, enchiladas and tacos, and the Lunch Box, which is literally a towering cherry-red box with extensive sandwich choices ranging from croissants to wraps and melts, as well as an Asian portion of the menu with fried rice, pad Thai, teriyaki, penang and other specialties.
When to Check It Out
As the trucks cater to the demands of university students, the greatest selections are available midday, with late morning and early dinners just about as busy. It is for weekday-only visits, and for those willing to park at a meter or nearby lot and walk a couple of blocks. Checking out your favorite truck’s social media outlets ahead of time helps to avoid disappointment if they’re off location for the day or have closed unexpectedly.
As many students carry their food away, back to a dorm room or for consumption en route to class, the comfortable outdoor dining tables are often left open, making a crisp autumn day the perfect time for lunch alfresco in this fun and tasty little village on wheels.
- Photos: Leigh Green
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