Food Truck: Porky’s

PORCINE POWER Porky's specializes in its namesake meat.

The formula for a good food truck is quite straightforward: a simple menu with slightly offbeat food choices—and, of course, delicious, complex flavors that foodies and plain folk alike can enjoy. Porky’s SJ succeeds in all these areas. The truck serves Asian-fusion pork tacos, sandwiches, wraps and rice bowls; if you’re feeling indulgent, you can get your selection served over tater tots.

There are two choices of pork—spicy Korean, which is subtly spicy and tangy, and Vietnamese lemongrass, which has a hint of sour lemon and a dash of sweetness. In both cases, the pork is tender, juicy and cut into thin fajita-style hunks. The Pork Diddy sandwich ($5) is prepared Vietnamese-style on a French roll with pickled carrots and daikon. It also comes with cilantro and Porky’s special Woo-Hoo, which tastes like a creamy offshoot of Thai peanut sauce. The rice bowl (Sir Oinks-a-Lot, $7) is served over steamed rice and comes with the same toppings as the sandwich, except with hunks of peanuts instead of cilantro.

The tacos (Porky’s Revenge) are only $2 apiece and arrive on corn tortillas with cilantro, onions and Woo-Hoo sauce. For the carb-conscious, they serve lettuce wraps, known as Th-Th-Th-Th-Wrap, for $3 apiece. The wraps feature pickled veggies, peanut chunks, cilantro and, of course, Woo-Hoo sauce.

Porky’s offers tater tots a la carte for $1.50, but for $4.50 they come “Piggy Style,” with both types of pork and sauce. The Piggy Style tots were a slight disappointment. The pork and the tots felt like separate items sharing the same plate. The dish could use something extra to bring them together, like another sauce perhaps. Maybe that something extra could have been a fried egg, which Porky’s does offer for $1. The one nonpig menu item is the deceptively titled Suicide Wings, which I assumed would be ridiculously spicy. They weren’t. The wings were actually sweet, tangy and just a little hot.

I wasn’t the first person to get the wrong impression from the name. Suicide Chicken, the owner explained, was part of the Angry Birds theme that served as an inspiration for the food truck. They are suicidal because they fling themselves at their enemy, the pigs, just as in the video game. I didn’t make the connection because the birds look like rubber chickens. The owner confessed that he might change the name of the wings due to the confusion.

Porky’s
www.facebook.com/porkyssj and www.twitter.com/porkyssj

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