Menu Creation on the Food Truck: Spring 2015

Campus Executive Chef Tom Barton here with a behind the scenes look at the Hungry Hungry Husky's new menu for this spring. The food truck is a great place for us to have a little fun and experiment with emerging food trends and with the international theme of the truck we are especially interested in exciting menu items from around the world. This spring's menu features your favorite H3 items – our Famous Mac & Cheese and the Thai Basil Bowl (now with chicken or new sriracha glazed tofu) – as well as two unique tastes from two different sides of the globe: Mexican tortas and Korean chicken wings.

Latin food, and especially Mexican food, has always been popular but with the explosion of places such as Chipotle, more and more attention is being brought to these types of foods. While not as widely accepted as the burrito or quesadilla, the torta is a staple of Mexican cuisine. The sandwiches are made with freshly prepared ingredients served on sliced telera, the traditional round torta bread.

We are offering two types of tortas on the food truck, each with their own unique layering of flavors: the Cubano and the Vegetariano. The Cubano combines Mexican flavors with elements of a more traditional Cuban sandwich such as the mustard, pickles, and sliced ham. The pork component of a Cuban sandwich is typically roasted pork but we added a Latin flavor by using a slow roasted pork carnitas. A great complement to the Cubano is the Vegetariano torta featuring "smashed" black beans, fresh cilantro, and a smoky chipotle spread. The star of the sandwich, however, are the mushrooms that we sear in a piping hot pan and toss with a lime-infused roasted garlic. At our taste test before launch, we couldn't stop eating them right out of the pan – they are that good!

We are also featuring Korean-style chicken wings dubbed the "2X Wings." Traditional Korean-style wings are twice fried but after testing the recipe a few times we discovered that simmering them in chicken stock, then cooling them, tossing them in seasoned flour, and finishing them in the fryer produced a crispier wing. Once fried on the truck, the wings are then tossed to order in your choice of three unique sauces: Teriyaki BBQ, Sweet Sriracha, or Zesty Lime Garlic.

So far we have received some great feedback on these items and – now that the weather is warming up – we hope you'll stop by and try out these great flavors from around the world! Be sure to follow Northeastern Dining on Twitter where we post the truck's location every morning.

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