So, it's no secret that food trucks are definitely becoming more and more popular in Houston and I definitely can't get enough of them! They basically force you to try foods you normally wouldn't see on your basic 4-walls restaurant menu. They also make us Houstonians who are addicted to A/C to get outside and enjoy fresh air!
This past weekend was my birthday and my sister and her husband offered to take me to lunch. I am the worst at making most decisions let alone where I'm going to eat for my birthday. That is, until I heard about the Rice Box Food Truck. It's important to know that Chinese food is one of my all time faves so I was automatically drawn to this truck.
Now, I have never seen the movie Blade Runner but I am told this truck looks like the one from the movie. Until last weekend, I thought Blade Runner was the movie with Wesley Snipes where he fights vampires. Boy, I was wrong (thanks Michael for updating me). Anyways, there is no way you could think this truck serves anything else besides Chinese food. It's red and comes complete with hanging paper lanterns & golden bull statues. It would be like stepping into another land except for the traffic rushing by on Westheimer.
Alright, now on to the best part: THE FOOD!!!! I ordered the General Tso's Chicken and my dining counterparts both ordered the Sweet & Sour Chicken. We were informed prior to ordering that the Rice Box is a chicken truck, they do not serve pork. Now, I'm a pork kinda girl but I actually didn't mind the absence of it. The wait wasn't bad at all, maybe that's because we were one of the first customers of the day. If you are at all worried you won't be full after eating your lunch, you can stop worrying right now cause the portions are huge. Coming from a girl who likes to eat and who can put away a surprising amount of it, I could not finish my meal! Each entree comes with a heaping serving of white rice, then a layer of what I think is cabbage then your chicken with sauce and an eggroll. Btw: all the sauces are made from scratch so if like that atomic red sauce on your sweet and sour chicken, this is not the place for you!
Ok, back to the food. The eggroll, while not being the best ever (I'm more of a spring roll gal), was actually tasty besides the fact that it was crazy hot. But I ate it anyways! The General Tso's was the perfect level of spiciness. The chicken was in small enough pieces so you don't feel like a wild animal trying to eat your prey. Before I even dug in, it was the smell that got me. It just smelled perfect. There is no other way to describe it. I was probably full about 3/4 of the way through but I persevered until the end! The rice was perfectly cooked, not too mushy or sticky. The cabbage layer gave the meal a little bit of much needed crunchiness as well.
I would love to tell you that I sampled my companions dishes but by the time I came up for air, they had already devoured their portions. I'm gonna take that as a good sign though. It must have been delicious!
Now, I know I said the food was ready quickly, I'm not sure if this is the best place to go if you only have an hour for lunch. Unless you can get there relatively fast, it might be better to enjoy on the weekends.
I would recommend this place to anyone who enjoys Chinese food. Even if you aren't the biggest food truck fan cause you still equate them with the roach coaches of the past you should still try it, at least one time.
The truck serves lunch from 11-3 at Anvil on Westheimer in Montrose almost every day.
