Yesterday I visited the Clover truck for lunch. What an expedition! Before I get to the food, let me tell you about all that went into getting it.
I have an internship way downtown in Boston and go to school way out in Newton, and take public transportation for all of it. Two days a week I have class at 3 p.m., and I leave work at 1:00 so that I have enough time to get from point A to point B (and yes, it can take that long to get from work to school. I abhor adore the MBTA). Anyway, yesterday I got to work early and left early so that I could stop by the Clover truck, which is out of my way but (in my opinion) worth it! Awesome plan: leave work, go to South Station, get food, go home to photograph the food and pick up my books/computer, and go to class. Brilliant…or not.
I get to the truck (which is near South Station) and there is a long line, which I expected. It was a nice day so I didn’t mind waiting. I was probably there about 25 minutes total. I ordered the BBQ Seitan sandwich (specifying vegan…the normal menu item contains cheese) and rosemary french fries (I really didn’t need these but they smelled so good while I was waiting that I couldn’t resist!).
Speaking of not being able to resist, the fries were gone by the time I got on the T. The reason for this is twofold: 1) I am like a vacuum cleaner when it comes to hot french fries, and feel no shame about this, and 2) the T took forever to come. I’m used to this with the Green Line (which I ride every. single. day. Pity me), but this was the Red Line, folks. The MBTA really does need to get it together.
Anyway, the point of the story was not just to show what a pig I am, but also to explain why there is no picture of the fries, and to segway into the next part of the story–I was now in a damn rush.
I got back to my apartment and scramblingly (not a word) threw my school stuff into my bag, then snatched up my camera.
All that was left of my rosemary french fries: rosemary in a greasy wrapper. You can tell that they were delicious, right?
I took the picture of the rosemary while the little battery icon was flashing in the upper right hand corner of my camera’s screen. So I’m thinking “Move quickly!” Snap, and I turn the camera off. I grab the sandwich, position it prettily (so I think) and turn the camera back on. Before I can push the button down to snap a pic, it shuts off. “Change the batteries” flashes across the screen. Noooo! I am pretty sure I’m out of fresh batteries, and at this point I’m desperate. I’m thinking, “I really want to take a picture of this, but I also am not waiting until later to eat it. And I’m late for school!” So my first thought was to try the batteries from the TV remote. Nope. Then I started feverishly scrambling around, flinging open cabinets and cupboards and rifling through every box o’ junk we own until–voila! An unopened package of CVS batteries! Score some more!!! And…then I couldn’t open it. I swear to you, this is not made up. I could not for the LIFE of me open this damn box of batteries. Time is ticking by and I finally grab my keys and just go to town on this box. [Eventual] success, and I take the picture. I hope you like it, because it was not easy to come by!
BBQ Seitan, lettuce, onions, tomato on a pita
Here is one where I held it open a little so you can better see the seitan
Despite all of the aforementioned irritation, eating the sandwich was a very easy and enjoyable experience. It was yummy and ridiculously filling. There was way more seitan in there than the pictures suggest; it was all lumped down in the bottom. This actually was a little disappointing for me because the last 7 or 8 bites were just seitan, sauce, and a scrap of pita…but I find that this always happens with pita sandwiches, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the sandwich being poorly made or anything. I just personally like to have a bit of everything in each bite. It was very tasty though. I’ll definitely be back to that truck soon. And now that I’ve had the rosemary fries, my curiosity is satisfied I will have to buy them every single time I go.
Verdict: I love the Clover truck. I have only been there twice so far (the other visit will be recapped in a future post) but both times I enjoyed the whole experience, not just the food. The people that work there are really nice, even when they’re swamped with customers, and you can tell they love their product. Oh, and it’s super-cheap!!! Highly recommended. Take note, however–the truck is 100% vegetarian but many of their items are not vegan unless you ask. The good news with this is that you can literally just say “I want the __ sandwich, vegan,” and they know what to leave off without you having to rattle off the adjustments to be made.
Thumbs up!!!
A.Cook in the Making 