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The Dessert Truck Parks In The Lower East Side
By Daniel Delaney on April 22, 2010
Editor’s Note: Ever wonder what happens in a food truck’s afterlife? Sometimes, if we’re lucky, mobile food purveyors move onto bigger, better things or even go stationary. Our new Cart-to-Counter section will feature exactly these businesses which cross the line from wheels to walls. I’m thrilled to introduce VendrTV’s new column with Dan’s take on Dessert Truck! If you’re not hungry now, you’ll soon be. Have a Cart-to-Counter business you want to tell us about? Email me at amy@vendr.tv.
Full disclosure: I’m a chocolate junkie. I crave rich, creamy, gooey sweets. Brownies? Sign me up. And nothing sends me into choco-lust faster than hot cocoa with sea salt. My standby was The Dessert Truck in New York City, which was an oasis of artisan confections and my personal pick-me-up. At five bucks a pop, it was a habit I could afford to feed. So imagine my heartbreak when I learned the Dessert Truck was shutting down because of permit issues! One August day, they were pushing goat cheesecake in their usual spot by Astor Place. The next day they were gone.
Dessert Truck’s absence left a void where Nutella-filled brioche donut holes used to be. But, thankfully, they weren’t gone for too long. Five months after the city refused Dessert Truck its street vending license, the owners Jerome, Susana, and Vincent opened DT Works in the Lower East Side of New York serving the same comforting goodies we came to know and love from their mobile outfit. While Jerome admits the street-vending experience was more fun, he’s happy with the new store and says they’ve been able to do much more, like expand the menu. Now, in addition to the made-to-order items on the usual menu, they can sell ready-made goods like macarons and “Bonnie” cakes (pictured above right), which is what you’d get if you married whoopie pies with cupcakes.
I’m all for food trucks, but this space is downright cool. From the Edison bulbs to tin ceiling and couch cushions that glide along the wall, no detail was overlooked.
As for the baked good – they’re better than before! Last night, I went for my favorite: Jerome’s Molten Chocolate Cake (pictured below) with olive oil ganache, sea salt, vanilla ice cream and hazelnuts. Damn. Each bite yielded a cacophony of flavors and textures. Rich deep springy chocolate cake that sops up the molten chocolate center which, when mixed with the cool vanilla ice cream, makes your mouth go crazy! My favorite was the glints of briny sea salt that taunt the chocolate into dancing something wild on your tongue. Yum!
Honestly, I could go on and on about the other goodies like the Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bacon infused Crème Anglaise that pummeled Bobby Flay’s ass in a Throwdown, but that’d just make you devastatingly hungry. Instead, I suggest you pay him a visit! Tell him VendrTV Dan sent ya.
DessertTruck Works
6 Clinton Street
New York, NY
Photos by Amy Cao
About the author:
Daniel Delaney is the host and executive producer of VendrTV. When not eating street food, Dan enjoys grinding coffee beans, riding his bicycle, and reading The New Yorker. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
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This is on my to-do list for my next NYC visit!
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