Earlier this year we saw Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs and The Black Market Food Truck join the local food truck scene. We’ve heard rumors of more trucks coming to the area but it took about five months to see them hit the streets. This month, Thai Me Up and Hot Off The Press opened their windows for the first time. Last week Tuesday, we tried Thai Me Up at Larkin’s weekly food truck gathering and yesterday we went back again to try some of their other menu items at the first Food Truck Rodeo in the parking lot of the History Museum (which had a great turnout btw). On both visits they had a pretty long line in comparison to the other trucks; it really seems like the public loves a new food truck as much as we do.

Quick Info:

Restaurant Type: Food Truck

Food Truck Cuisine: Thai

Thai Prices: Everything $2-$6

The people running Thai Me Up are the same folks who are behind Amherst’s The King and I. We heard about a truck parked behind the restaurant a long time ago, but it took a while for anything to come of it. The menu for both of our visits was simple but very affordable, nothing was priced higher then $6.

On our first visit we ordered their Thai Ice Tea, Spring Rolls and Pud Thai Chicken. The Thai Ice Tea ($3) came out quickly and was a mixture of heavy cream with a very sweet iced tea; very refreshing on a warm afternoon. The Spring Rolls ($2) came out very quickly as well and were quite good, nothing too revolutionary but freshly made and loaded with vegetables and chicken. The Pud Thai Chicken ($6) took quite a while to come out, at least in comparison to normal food truck waiting times. After seeing several people who had ordered long after me get their food, I asked about the status of my dish. I was told they make large batches of the Pud Thai and they were almost done. All together it was about a 20 minute wait for the dish to come out but luckily it was pretty good. The noodles were a little sloppy but the serving size was big and their sauce had a strong flavor. It was a bummer that it took so long to come out, but I’m hoping with time they will figure out the best way to optimize the food truck kitchen.

On our second visit I decided to try two different items, the Thai Chicken Wrap and Fried Dumplings. The Thai Chicken Wrap ($5) is probably the best item I’ve ordered from the truck so far. On top of a grilled pita they pile chicken, peppers, cucumber, carrots and then cover everything in a creamy spicy sauce. All of the vegetables were really fresh and the seasoned chicken and spicy sauce worked really well together. Next time I go back to their truck, I’m definitely ordering it again. The Fried Dumplings ($3) were interesting and appeared to be deep fried. The exterior was very crunchy and crispy but the inside was still very juicy and pretty damn good; almost like a Thai chicken nugget of sorts. Unfortunately, I managed to pick the item that was made in large batches again, because I had to wait about 20 minutes for the dumplings. This event had a much larger line and they were one of the most popular trucks there, but it was still a bummer to sit and wait for food while watching people get theirs ahead of me.

Overall, great food, but they need to work on getting food out faster, waiting 20 minutes is much too long for food truck. Even with the long waits, I’m really excited to see a new cuisine hit the streets of Western New York. They are still relatively new and have only been out a couple times, but this type of food is great for dinner and late night snacking. They still could use some work on their internet presence, their twitter usage can be a little sporadic and they don’t have a facebook page or website (that we could find). That said, from what I’ve eaten, I feel pretty confident that they will get a large following soon enough.

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