Nick Lin and Diane Yang serve Taiwanese specialties in Midtown (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
TAIWANESE LUNCH BOX
Monday through Friday, approximately 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
212-695-5995
www.biandangnyc.com
In a few weeks, our offices are moving way downtown, so we’re not sure what we’re going to do without our weekly Taiwanese fix from our favorite food truck, Bian Dang. Originally hitting the street as Cravings in April 2009, Bian Dang, which means “lunch box” in Mandarin, was started by siblings Diane and Thomas Yang, along with silent partner Eric Yu. Diane was not expecting what was an experiment at first to last so long. “We always knew New York City needed a stronger representation of solid Taiwanese food but really didn’t expect to be blessed with so many supportive customers!,” she told me last week. “A lot of these guys have been with us since we opened and now, five years later, they’re still coming back for lunch every week. The food truck game has changed dramatically over the past five years, forcing us to constantly reinvent ourselves and cater to the changing landscape while also trying to stay true to our roots and our classics. I guess that’s been the real challenge.” The truck used to change locations every day, but now it has found a home at the southeast corner of 53rd St. and Park Ave., where Diana, Taipei-born Joanne Wu, Nick Lin, and others dish out large portions of Taiwanese-style fried chicken and fried pork chops over jasmine rice mixed with intensely fabulous pan-fried pickled mustard greens and minced pork sauce, a family recipe created by the Yangs’ grandmother. The menu also includes excellent meat or vegetarian zong-zi (sticky rice in bamboo leaves), tea eggs, pork buns, beef stew (with tendons!), and several awesome new additions, which are available on a rotating basis: pork belly, basil chicken, and panko-crusted chicken and pork cutlets. All main courses are seven to nine dollars; high-fives are free.
The popular Bian Dang food truck has found a home at 53rd St. & Park Ave. (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Lines can get long, but even though they move fast, you can order in advance through Bian Dang’s Twitter feed. They’ve also recently been expanding, first with the Fishing Shrimp truck, then the Fun Buns Cart, which is owned and operated by Lin and will be back on the streets in May, as well as with Domo Taco and Moo Shu Grill (MSG, get it?); the latter serves extremely tasty moo shus in toasted flour wrappers, three for nine dollars, or in rice bowls; you can choose among five-spice pork, basil chicken, XOXO beef, tofu, Peking duck (for an extra buck), and pork belly, with cilantro, hoisin sauce, cucumbers, pickled carrots, daikon, and ginger scallion aioli. Friendly service and a unique menu have kept us, and many, many others, coming back for more; we’re gonna have to figure out how to extend our lunch hour once we move out of Midtown.