1. Temple Teppanyaki
TEMPLE TEPPANYAKI
Location: 13th Street, south of Norris.
There's an amazing array of food trucks on Temple U's campus, including more than a few Korean offerings. We chose this one, honestly, because the six people standing in line all looked Asian, so we figured they might know something we didn't.
Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cooking that uses high heat on a flat griddle – not unlike what you'll find at the neighborhood Hibachi (although no one's flipping the cutlery here). So, given the truck's name, we decided spent six bucks for the chicken teppanyaki with sauce.
It's a good deal. A hefty Styrofoam box crammed with diced chicken, sprouts, carrot, broccoli and a few other veggies, cooked with olive oil, ginger and a enough garlic to kill a vampire. It's all served over fat noodles. Make sure you get the optional hot chili paste sauce, despite the cashier's warnings that, "This is gonna be too spicy for you." How would she know?
The downfall here is that they spritz the teppanyaki with a sauce that's about three notches too salty. With all the other flavors competing for my taste buds, that final spray turned something that could have been special into a meal that was just okay. It did, however, compel us to buy three bottles of water.
Score: 72/100.
