Meltkraft Review

This is for a series of posts for Reading Terminal Market including: The Rib Stand, Hatville Deli, By George! Pizza, Pasta & Cheesesteaks, Olympic Gyro, Iovine Brothers Produce, DiNic's Pork and Beef, Meltkraft, and Wursthaus Schmitz.    

When I heard about a new grilled cheese joint at Reading Terminal Market, I knew I had to check it out. So I made my way to the back of the market and stopped by Meltkraft, which makes its creations from artisanal sheep's milk cheeses sourced from Valley Shepherd Creamery in Jersey.

They even make mozzarella in-house, daily on Tuesdays through Sundays.

They have a specialty fresh mozzarella sandwich in addition to a 

good variety of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Of course, you're free to get on a line to the right where 

you can grab a wheel or two of their delicious cheeses.

Or quench your thirst with a Boylan's hand-crafted soda.

But I was there for their grilled cheese. 

So I got on the line to the left and ordered three of their sandwiches.

Each sandwich comes with a good amount of ketchup-flavored kettle chips, which were delicious - a sharp tang with a vinegary punch. A nice way to break up the heaviness of grilled cheese. 

The bread itself was decent - a bit thin for my taste, but housed the respective ingredients quite well. Perfectly buttered, I appreciated the grilled texture from the panini press.

Valley Thunder ($8.75)
Valley Shepherd "Valley Thunder" cheddar, Bubbe's brisket and baked macaroni & cheese

This is one of the heftier offerings - the melange of tender brisket, creamy mac and cheese, and sharp artisanal cheddar make for a coma-inducing bite. For the price, I was hoping the sandwich had 50% more height to it, but a delicious grilled cheese nonetheless.

Brielle ($7.50)

Brie, cranberry chutney, caramelized onions and pine nuts

This is one of the more interesting offerings - a play on sweet and slight salty. The tang of the cranberry chutney was a nice foil to the heft of the caramelized onions and the creaminess of the Brie. The pine nuts offered a nice textural balance as well.

Today's Mozz ($7.50 + $.50 add-on for soppressata)

Just made fresh mozzarella on baguette with roasted tomatoes. 

Naturally, I had to try the fresh mozz and of course, I had to get the soppressata addition. The mozzarella wasn't salted so you can easily taste the purity of the cheese. The thick slices copiously covered this sandwich, with the salami adding a nice heft to the sandwich. The roasted tomatoes added some necessary punch as well. The fresh baguette was crusty, airy, and held the sandwich together nicely.

Overall, if you're looking for great grilled cheese, be sure to stop by Meltkraft. Just head to the back of Reading Terminal Market and follow the scent of butter and cheese. Heck - the ketchup-flavored kettle chips are worth the trip alone. You won't be disappointed!

http://valleyshepherd.com/meltkraft

Lucky Old Souls Burger Food Truck Review

If there's one food truck that I have really wanted to try, it was Lucky Old Souls Burger. Unfortunately being a working stiff and someone who prefers to use the corporate gym during lunch, it's hard to stop by Love Park during LOS' hours, which are between 11AM and 3PM. If you're unsure about the days and times - be sure to check out ChowSpotter, a great resource for food trucks in Philly! 

So how did I get the opportunity to finally try LOS' delicious grass-fed beef? I've been blessed with the opportunity to work from home on Fridays. So I left the apartment and walked a few blocks to Love Park where I noticed that the line was five or six people deep. That resulted in a ten minute wait, which was fine with me!

LOS exudes a cool and hip aura which is evidenced all over their truck. 

This ain't no ordinary food truck!

After taking a look at their extensive menu (especially for a food truck!),

I couldn't help but order a bunch of items off the list.

The Special ($9.50)
Local grass-fed beef burger, caramelized parsnip hash, Lancaster jack cheese, house-cured bacon, house-made mayo

I opened up this bad boy and inhaled the deep flavors emanating from the high-quality burger and the sweet and savory parsnip hash.

Burgers here can be be cooked well, medium, or rare. I opted for medium - it actually came out exactly how I wanted it - almost medium-rare. The buns are amazing - perfectly pillowy and not at all soggy - a great vessel to house all the ingredients and sop up the resultant juice.

The parsnip hash? That was gangster. Sweet, deep, rich. The sweetness was balanced by the heft of the burger, the crispy smokiness of the house-cured bacon, and the spicy jack cheese. This burger should be a regular on LOS' menu. A must-order if you see it.

L.O.S. Burger ($9)

Lancaster County grass-fed beef burger, house-made bacon, smoke cheddar, pickled tomatoes, sauteed onions, L.O.S. sauce

This monster of a burger put LOS on my radar before I even ordered a burger from them. The first thing I noticed was their beautiful bacon - thick, crunchy, not at all greasy. The onions were nicely sauteed and not overly caramelized. And rightly so - this burger was already rich! The special sauce had some to kick to it and brightened up the burger. But the star of the show for me? The pickled tomatoes - genius! These were thick, crunchy, vinegary, tangy. I don't understand why this isn't done more often.

House-made Veggie Burger ($5.50)
Seitan, chickpeas, brown rice
 

An admitted carnivore, I can't help but occasionally go to the dark side. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I love a good veggie burger. And let me tell you - LOS gets this right as well. This was the first time I've had seitan and I've got to admit - vegetarians don't have it too bad. This was actually a 100% vegan burger as well and the melange of seitan, chickpeas, and brown rice was delicious. The burger itself had a nice spicy kick to it and was not dry at all. The only thing that could have improved this was a little cheese (sorry Vegans) and some of that delicious bacon (oh well Vegetarians). But the patty itself - no need to change that.

Hand-Cut Fries ($3), Bacon Mayo ($.75)

At this point - I was questioning my sanity and wondering again why I had not visited LOS sooner. I assumed it couldn't get better. Then I tried their crispy fries, cooked in 100% peanut oil. Nicely seasoned with sea salt, these were well done on the outside, but perfectly creamy inside. And then - a revelation. Bacon Mayo! Creamy, salty, rich - genius. I could slather this on everything and call it a day. 

 

The LOS Burger Truck also takes Level Up and credit cards! Use this referral link and you'll get $5 instantly to spend at any location that takes Level Up! And over time, if you spend $50 at LOS, you get another $5 credit. No fees involved! 

 

The only question I have for Lucky Old Souls is - what would it take to stay in Love Park past 3PM? If there are rules and regs that prevent this from happening, can we get Leslie Knope on the line for us? My question for everyone else is - why are you still reading? Go out and track down the LOS Burger Truck! Get yourself a delicious burger or three and for goodness sake's get some bacon mayo!

Lucky Old Souls Burger Truck
Love Park, Chestnut Hill, Headhouse Market
John F. Kennedy Blvd. and Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

http://luckyoldsouls.com/

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/