Despite this fever of food trucks in recent years, I find the vast majority of them to be rather average. This was just the case with Gourmet Genie. They were near my work last week, and my coworker and I decided to give them a shot. They’ve been around in the past, so I figured they were good enough for others to warrant a repeat appearance. The menu is pretty vast for a food truck, and everyone knows that I’m terrible at making decisions (my decision-making when ordering food is usually the result of detailed research), so I picked the spicy lamb shawarma because its picture was the closest to my face when I was in line.
Spicy Lamb Shawarma ($9) – Lean Sliced Leg of Lamb, Marinated and Seasoned, Jalapenos, Kosher Pickles, Red Onion, Fresh Parsley & Tahini sauce
As Michael Bluth would say in Arrested Development, “I’ve made a huge mistake.” The lamb was overcooked and chopped into these unappetizing bits (although some bits had a nice char). The main offenders, however, were jalapenos and pickles. First of all, are they even Mediterranean? Anyways, their ethnic authenticity isn’t the point. They just tasted so out of place with all the other ingredients. In fact, those ingredients were all I tasted. Second, I don’t remember if there were any onions in the shawarma. It would’ve been a nice touch. Probably needed more tahini too. The whole thing was fairly bland. All I tasted was the jalapenos and pickles, no joke. I’ve been more open to trying some of the food trucks that come around work in recent weeks, but I don’t think I’ll order from this one unless I’m really hungry and didn’t have my car at work.
Chris Hei grade: C
O Hei There! 