Into the Mouth of Corbo: Taim Mobile

On a recent trip to visit my buddy Frankie over at Cupcake Crew, he told me of his new friends in the truck next door; Dave and the guys at Taim Mobile. Taim offers up delicious falafel and everything to go with it. Since my introduction to falafel a few years ago, I've been trying a lot of different places to see what can really be done differently than just balling it up and frying it. I can say now, that I am an idiot. There is so much more to it that that. Some of the street vendors I have encountered just take their ice cream scoop to the vat of green stuff sitting on the side and dropping it into the fryer. It always comes out dripping of grease and is flavored by burnt oil. Taim does not follow these same rules. But let's not jump the gun just yet.

The first big option you need to decide upon is whether you want a falafel sandwich or platter. Being this was my first visit, I had to go big and get the platter which comes with falafel, hummus, quinoa salad, Israeli salad and your choice of a white or wheat pita. I placed my order and had my food in hand in under 5 minutes; which was very impressive seeing that there were 2 people in front of me waiting. I was handed my bag and set off on my hike back to work where I layed out my lunch. The guys at Taim really know the meaning of healthy portions. My eyes opened wide at the amount of food that sat in front of me as my mouth began to water. And this is when I knew these guys were not like the other falafel places I had been; set aside in their own little brown paper bag were the falafel balls. They weren't just thrown into the platter, they were kept crisp and apart like the true star of the meal waiting for their big entrance. So it was up to me if I wanted the falafel dipped in the hummus or place in the pita or just eaten plain. The platter was broken up into three sections: the large division contianed a pool of (obviously fresh) hummus, adjacent to two smalled sections of the two salads. Finally, I unwrapped my whole wheat pita and was very happy to see that this was no ordinary pita pulled off of a supermarket shelf. It was fresh and teased with some olive oil and herbs on top.

As a whole, the meal was delicious, but what made this so great is that all of the individual pieces stood strong on their own. The hummus was so fresh and delicious and although it looks very oily, it does not taste so. The quinoa salad was also great. It has dried cranberries, chick peas, herbs & preserved lemon. All of the textures worked really well with each other. Unfortunately, my aversion to tomatos kept me away from the Israeli salad but it is tomato, cucumber, parsley & lemon mint dressing. (The cucumbers tasted good!) Last but definitely not least is the falafel itself. At first glance, you might think that they are over-cooked or burnt, but crack them open and you'll reveal a light (and vibrant) green inside. The crust adds just enough bite and chew and the flavor is great.