A few weeks ago we announced the results of the 2012 Vegetarian/Vegan Food Truck of the Year award. The competitors represented most areas of the country and the votes from our readers poured in from across the country. The Cinnamon Snail out of New York and New Jersey received 40% of the vote to pull out a victory over the other competitors.

gochujang burger

The Gochujang burger from the Cinnamon Snail

Many of our readers are familiar with The Cinnamon Snail and it’s owner Adam Sobel. We have covered the truck’s adventures and even profiled them.

To continue our coverage we spoke with Chef Sobel to discuss his truck and what has been happening over the last couple of years.

Mobile Cuisine: We first profiled you a couple of years ago, what’s happened since then?

Adam Sobel: When you last featured the Cinnamon Snail, we were still a mostly one person show.  I would wake up at 2:00AM, bake pastries and donuts, stock the truck, and drive to Hoboken.  I’d serve all day, doing both the cooking and cash handling, drive home, do prep, hopefully get

2:00-4:00 hours rest, and get up to do it all over again the next day.

As we became busier, and I could afford help, we expanded the number of days we operated from 4 to 6. About a year ago was the first date the truck ran without me on it with a crew I trained. Today we have a huge army of people prepping throughout the day, cleaning the truck, baking, manning the truck, helping us do catering etc.

We won a Vendy Award last year for our vanilla bourbon crème brule donuts, and as a result are also now sponsored by Makers Mark, who supplies us with free bourbon to make the darn things with.  They are wildly popular and always sell out by the middle of lunch.

We also watched the block we used to park on in Hoboken get so overcrowded with new food trucks that it became impossible to get parking there anymore.  At the same time, evil bad guys and smelly hoodwinks who wanted food trucks gone form Hoboken pushed to changing the towns vending ordinance for the worse.  We saw the writing on the wall, and obtained an NYC permit while the proverbial shit was heading towards the fan.

MC: How has your menu evolved? 

AS: Our menu is always changing a little every season.  Right now, I’m really excited fig season is here, because we will be offering fresh fig pancakes with chamomile blood orange syrup and pine nut butter.

I’ve been waiting all year for fig season!  Also we have some amazing new burgers on the truck.  Our ancho chili seitan burger comes with beer simmered onions and garlic, horseradish cream, arugula, and piri piri sauce on grilled focaccia.  We also have a burger that features homemade Korean chili paste, sautéed kimchi (made from organic local radishes and cabbage), pickled leeks and daikon, 5spice black sesame gomasio, arugula, and sriracha mayo.  It’s simply absurd.  Bonkers, if you will.

MC: How has operating in NYC been? 

AS: NYC has been amazing for us.  It’s like the first two years running the truck were just preparation for this year.  We would have failed hard if we opened initially in NYC.  Now we have taken the time to work out our kinks, build up an ass kicking staff, hone our recipes, build a fantastic kitchen to prep out of, and of course procure only the finest leotards (shhhhh… it’s the secret to our success)!

I feel like now we are able to provide yummier food than before, and am more equipped to serve it quickly and at higher volumes than ever before.   NYC is eating the truck alive daily.

MC: Is there a best area in the city you have found to operate? 

AS: BEST? Well inside the UN secret party room for global diplomats is always ballin.  The foreign ambassadors always be dropping club bangerz like shorty fire burning on the dance floor.

Seriously though, all the neighborhoods we serve rock.  I hope we can build another truck in this next year, so we can serve more people, in more communities.

MC: Are you still working in NJ at all or have you moved to NY completely?

AS: We still serve Jersey City every Thursday at the Grove St PATH station, and we are super loyal to our Red Bank customers (RB REPRESENT!) every Sunday from 9:00-2:00 at the farmers market there.

MC: What is your customer’s favorite item off the Cinnamon Snail?

AS: I’ve been eating our raw jalapeno brownies a lot.  Me and my family are huge fans of our Korean BBQ seitan though.   It’s pretty spicy with seitan that grilled in smoked chili sauce and goes over marinated kale, arugula, and our housemade kimchi on a chili butter grilled tortilla. You eat it sort of like you would eat Ethiopian food.  It’s BerzerK!

We would like to both congratulate and thank Adam for taking the time to speak with us, we know the role of a food truck owner is one of long hours and we appreciate that he took the time out to share his thoughts.

The Cinnamon Snail

Twitter: @VeganLunchTruck

The Cinnamon Snail is the country’s most raunchy mobile Vegan Organic restaurant! Blasting supreme bliss & zany antics all over NYC, & dirty Jersey

Hoboken NJ, Red Bank NJ, NYC · https://www.CinnamonSnail.com