Marky Ramone’s Cruisin’ Kitchen

Give it a try.
Went for the pastrami meatball hero (New York pastrami stuffed with Jarlsberg with mustard, dill, kraut, pickle, and rye; $ 8), which ended up being a large hero.
The consistency of the meat was a little more like a hash, especially since the meatballs lost their ballness and became pressed between the bread. I didn’t really taste the Jarlsberg, but overall, the sandwich was pretty tasty.
Only complaint — the bread: meat ratio was a little high.
And the people working at the truck were really friendly, which is always a plus.

Marky Ramone has entered the food truck game and I was thrilled to learn last Friday that the Cruisin’ Kitchen had positioned itself blocks from my Union Square office. Buffalo chicken meatballs are relevant to my interests. The servings were generous and I’ll certainly go back for more soon.
It seemed like Marky himself might be working the truck but no such luck – and when I showed up I realized I wouldn’t recognize him unless he always dresses like a Ramone, nor did I have any idea how old he should be (he’s 55). The guys actually working there were very cool though.
I was disappointed that they went for the easy balls joke on the outside of the truck. To run a meatball business and resist this temptation would be a heroic accomplishment.

Cruisin’ Kitchen is a relatively new player to the Food Truck scene; but despite their later entry, it seems like they have a lot to learn.
This truck, with its windshield badged «More Balls Than Most», serves up four or five different types of prepared meatballs each day. The flavors are mostly generic (think Italian, Asian), and lack any real flare that would make me come back to the truck.
I wanted to find more inside the meatballs to give them character, not just a flick of toppings thrown on them once they made it into their paper tray. The meat was really finely ground, and it made for a very dense, somewhat dry presentation. More sauce please!
The most defining characteristic of my negative experience with the food was waiting for the plates to be put together and being blasted in the face by the roaring exhaust fan, mounted on the side of the truck and blowing straight out toward where customers would stand at the window to order. De-​appetizing, to say the least.
They’re in the neighborhood around NoMad pretty often it seems, so I’ll keep my eye out for them in a few months. Hopefully they’ll change up their game plan a bit, and have a bit more of an offering. Ideally, they’ll also have moved that exhaust fan.