Several locally famous food trucks stopped by UNC for a mini-rodeo last night, and, though the November chill meant it wasn’t the ideal night for street food, John and I couldn’t resist the siren song of dumplings. We sampled two of Chirba Chirba’s offerings: the Porkedame and Juicy Buns varieties. The Porkedames featured pork, scallions, and edamame in a fresh, homemade wrapper. They were fairly tasty, especially ordered crisped, though the flavor of the edamame didn’t come through that strongly. The Juicy Buns, which resembled xiao long bao, were delicious: savory pork afloat in a warm soup, all encased in toothsome wrappers.
The dumplings cost $9.50 for 10, an amount that could serve as a light lunch. A bit pricey, but they are good quality and homemade, and how often do you get anything close to xiao long bao in the Triangle?
We also tried a hot Italian sausage with tomato basil vinaigrette, a concoction known as the U Talking to Me?, from Baguetteaboutit. The sausage came stuffed in a hollowed-out baguette half, making it easy to eat on the run. Unfortunately, the one we got was still pink in the middle, so we took it home to nuke later. It proved flavorful, with the heat and smokiness of the sausage contrasting nicely with the vinaigrette’s zing. With chips and a soda, the baguette cost $8.50—not a bad deal for a zesty light lunch.
The food trucks seemed very popular with students, which, we hope, means they’ll be back to campus soon.
The post Dumplings and Baguettes To Go appeared first on Matters of Varying Insignificance.