Lil Dan's Food Truck Review

If you're ever around Love Park on a week day, make sure you check out the food trucks that are frequently out and about on the southwest corner of the park. Be sure to check out the schedule on Chowspotter, which details most of Philly's food truck schedules.

So on a recent Friday, I decided to check out Lil Dan's, which offer specialty Italian-style sandwiches.

These sandwiches are served on delicious and fresh Amoroso's rolls. And on my quest for a perfect Philly-based philly cheese steak, I was hoping to try Lil Dan's version. Unfortunately, they were out of cheese steak that day. But they had a bevy of other options.

The Godfather ($8)
Freshly breaded chicken cutlet, with a touch of mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, aged provolone cheese. Topped with fresh bacon on a seeded Amoroso roll.

After checking out the reviews on Yelp, I knew I had to try the Godfather. Three chicken cutlets were crisply fried, but were a bit dry and frankly, tough to chew. Seemed pre-cooked to be sure, which is understandable during a lunch rush. However, I would have appreciated a fresh fried batch of juicy chicken. There were a couple of strips of nice smoky bacon, which added a bit more heft to the dish. The pickles added a nice vinegary tang to the sandwich. while the aged provolone added a nice salty funk. Still, I would have loved to have a bit more melted cheese all over this sandwich. The seeded roll was a nice touch. Overall, a substantial sandwich, but I was expecting more.

The Brookter ($7.50)
Breaded eggplant topped with spinach or rabe, roasted peppers, and provolone cheese on a seeded Amoroso roll.

You could also get this as a parm sandwich, but I was looking for some unadulterated eggplant. I was surprised to find that the 'breaded eggplant' was in fact mostly pure roasted eggplant, but that was fine with me. The roasted peppers melded nicely, and the broccoli rabe added a garlicky bitteriness to cut though the funk of the salty, aged provolone. Still, some textural contrast would have been nice here. In fact, this sandwich was advertised as being on a seeded Amoroso's roll as well so perhaps a toasted sesame roll could have been key here.

Of course, if Level Up is offered, who am I to say no to some free credit? Make sure you sign up - there are no fees involved and it's a quick and easy way to pay, while racking up credit for future purchases. Overall, Lil Dan's has some nice sandwich options for lunch and while there were a few missteps, I found their sandwiches to be satisfying and filling,

http://www.lildans.com/