The summer has ended, and Temple University classes are back in session. With a new year of class comes a new year of trying out all the different food truck options campus has to offer.

Temple’s food truck culture stands as a bastion of the cheap, delicious lunch and the fall semester brings with it the return of several key establishments. While underclassmen stick to the dining halls, the more well seasoned foodies seek out new and interesting cuisines elsewhere.

  Spirit News took a trip to campus to sample some of Temple’s food truck fare. While there, we found five great food trucks that offer great meals for around $5.

Halal Food

  Seeing how it’s summer, it’s only fair to try Halal Food. They serve shish kabob. The chicken was cooked nicely. The meal came with a heavy portion of yellow rice, a few slices of tomato, onions, a pepper and a white sauce that added color to the dish. To get the full experience of Halal Food, you have to mix everything together. The portions are immense, and the meal comes with a drink. None of the other trucks were able to provide food and drinks for $5, which is why this is one of the first stops you should make if you’re hungry and on Temple’s campus. Unfortunately, it’s cash only.

Burger Tank

  Second on our list is Burger Tank. They locally source their ingredients and cook everything over a wood-fired grill. If you’re into meat, they have an array of burgers to choose from. One item on their menu that is fair game for everyone is the Portobello Burger for $4.25. It comes with fresh basil, tomato-roasted peppers, red onions, parmesan cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. It comes out hot and you can taste the cheese that sticks to the lightly toasted, seeded bun. The onions are sautéed and the tomato complements the sandwich with a hint of juicy perfection. It also comes with peppers that have a charred texture, adding to the wood-fired flavor of the Portobello mushroom. Burger Tank did a great job on this one. They also take Visa, MasterCard and Discover, which makes buying lunch easier if you’re not walking around with cash in your pocket.

The Creperie

  Walking around campus, the number one answer when asking students where to eat is The Creperie. The truck offers an enormous list of crepes to choose from. Sweet dessert crepes start at $5, but their savory crepes start at $5.50. They have everything from gyro to vegetable to buffalo chicken crepes. They also offer the Enzo’s Avocado with fresh avocado, cheese and a Greek Sauce (tzatziki and salsa), with onions, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli and spinach. These flavors come together evenly throughout the crepe. Each new bite is equally as tasteful as the last. It holds together nicely as well.

Mexican Grill Stand

   Another lovely food truck on campus is the Mexican Grill Stand. They were the most modern truck on campus. The truck was cash only, but they’ve adapted to accommodate to different types of payment. They allow their customers to use an app called Habitat Student Marketplace. This app is available in the App Store and Google Play. It can display the venue’s menu and food can be ordered from the app to be picked up or delivered. It also gives the customer the opportunity to pay through the app, so no cash is involved.

  The Mexican Grill Stand has a simple menu, which is also nice when ordering from a food truck. If you’re looking for something quick and cheap, you can’t beat their single tacos for $2. It’s authentic and might be better than Mexican Post on Liacouras Walk. I ordered a Chicken Taco. The cheese, the tomatoes, the chicken, the sour cream — everything went together very well. Some of the ingredients were falling out of the taco, but that’s inevitable and they know it, so they provide you a fork. It also comes with a green hot sauce that pairs with the taco perfectly.

The Sexy Green Truck

   Another great option is The Sexy Green Truck. Their menu is huge. It’s almost a bit scary and somewhat intimidating. But if you have to keep yourself at around $5 picking a meal, it’s easy. Go for the spinach pita sandwich. It comes with fresh spinach, tomato, onion, garlic, olive, feta and pesto for $4.75. The spinach is wadded up into the pita bread like a stack of twenty dollar bills. It’s thick and the feta cheese complements the sandwich, giving the subtle flavors of the pita and spinach a vibrant zap. The olives hop along the sandwich, adding more weight to the pesto and leaving more luscious flavors in your mouth.

   Now that the semester is back up and running, you can check out all of these trucks, and so many more. If you’re in the area, these five trucks have amazing options, and for around $5 that is something the students, faculty and staff at Temple can be satisfied with. •