Tyson Bees, Magic Carpet - University City

A double dose of food truck/cart reviews today as I hopped onto the 36 trolley towards University City and UPenn campus to see what the kids are eating these days.  My first stop is at Tyson Bees on 33rd and Spruce St.  A Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican fusion food truck. There has been some recent concern over the food quality since a split between chef Tyson Wong and his partner.  Wong moved on and the partner now runs the truck.  Did losing the man behind the food change things for the worse?

1) Korean Short Rib Taco, Pork Bun, Thai Tea - $8

Concerns over the quality taking a nose dive are overblown.  I found these to be the pretty much the same as what I remember when Tyson was still involved.  The pork wasn't as fall apart tender as I recall but I would still face 5 of these no problem.  The taco was excellent and really the only reason I didn't get another serving was to save room for my second cart meal.  

First time trying the Thai tea... despite the vibrant coloring the taste was weak.  They put too much ice in and what little tea was included was watered down.

Magic Carpet is a well reviewed, Vegetarian, Middle Eastern, cuisine cart located in the food truck block of 36th and Spruce St.  If you're walking towards the direction from 36th to 37th street this would be the first cart in the long line of food carts here.

Two windows help keep the line moving which is nice because the lines here queue up quick.  The menu is pretty impressive so it took me a minute to get my bearings on what I wanted. They have platters and sandwiches that include a diverse array of vegetarian foods such as tofu, veggie chilli, eggplant.

1) Fallafel Sandwich - $5
I thought I would go basic and try their regular fallafel sandwich.  Unfortunately, it just was not very good.  The pita was weak, falaffel balls were bland and the whole of this sandwich was disappointing.  I had no desire to finish it so half of it went into the trash. After hearing the high praise bestowed upon Magic Carpet it was disappointing.  I would try this cart again but not the falaffel sandwich.

Overall LTE scores [7/10] Tyson Bees, [4/10] Magic Carpet 

A mixed lunch today, first course was good but second course failed to deliver.