THE LIFE VICARIOUS

ChilltownLunch kind of sort of maybe totally underway.

Our new New Jersey centric food and dining blog, Chilltown Lunch, is mostly up and running and there's a week's worth of posts ready for you to read and all about free drinks, Halloween decorations, taco trucks on TV, 15 cent hamburgers, drinking with the New York Giants and Bayonne politicos who ruin street fairs and hate America.

Read ChilltownLunch here and follow it on Twitter @chilltownlunch here.

ChilltownLunch update, taco truck news, Taste of the Giants.

ChilltownLunch will be launching next week in beta with a full recap of next Monday's 3rd annual Taste of the Giants at Giants Stadium. Tickets are still available for the charity event featuring dishes from restaurants like Blue Smoke, Little Owl, Market Table and STK. It's an expensive occasion, $250 - $400, but VIPs are served by the players, and anyone attending has photograph and autograph opportunities with the team. Plus it's a last chance to run around on the field before the stadium's torn down. As always we'll bring you a full report of the players favorite NJ eateries.

In other news, The New York Times Sunday magazine this past Sunday was focused on food and featured a great article on the cult following of Mexican Coca Cola. If you're looking to try it in Jersey City, it's available from The Taco Truck.

If your loyalty lies with the Lucinda Truck, they've introduced a new $2 vegetarian taco and they're taking phone orders as well as they up the ante in lunchtime competition.

New taco truck competition at Exchange Place: The Taco Truck.

Parked atop Food & Wine favorite Lucinda Truck yesterday afternoon was The Taco Truck, a new Hoboken based truck that after a year of hype made its debut at Exchange Place just a few feet behind their local competition. We learned the truck will be in downtown Jersey City by day and at the Hoboken PATH station at night, although last night they opted for Columbus & Marin which is now home to @lucindatruck, @thetacotruck, @thekrave and @laspicetruck.

(Scrolling menu, recycling center, pork tacos with guacamole and green salsa.)

What makes The Taco Truck stand out other than their cutthroat nature and lack of Mexicans? The menu - which scrolls on a video screen on the side of the truck - undercuts the other trucks on price, (two tacos for no more than $4.50) has an expanded menu of soups, salads, tortas and tamales and even sells Mexican Coke ($2.50) which we only ever find in Hell's Kitchen and Washington Heights bodegas, and they offer Twitter specials. (Like the first ten people to mention Twitter today getting free tacos.) And when you've finished eating and are left with just the wrapping, box and logo tape, there are trash, recycling and compost bins parked outside.

And for the latest Jersey City food news don't forget to follow us @chilltownlunch as we work to debut our new Jersey City dining website chilltownlunch.com next week.

Bayonne & Jersey City dining news: Kapitan, closures and KAWS.

KAWS has introduced two new Food Friends to the long-running series of food art on his blog.

Ian (sometimes-Topper) Kapitan, who left the ever-evolving Iron Monkey to open Jo's Bistro in NYC last spring has left there too and returned to his roots at the Light Horse Tavern in Jersey City.

Bayonne's newest eateries have had a tough month in a small town with limited dining options. Good-bye again to Queen Latifah's beloved Bayonne Chicken & Waffles, Christopher's Deli which replaced Royal Crest, the decades old sandwich shop, with Cuban food. (Maybe the tombstone signage depicting the new owner's deceased son who lost his life fighting overseas wasn't the most appetizing idea.) The business is for sale for $40,000. And across the street from it on 38th and Broadway, the gourmet waffle shop that's spent months promising to open in weeks has finally removed its signage.

Good news however, Bayonne floated the developers of the future Bayonne Crossings strip mall a (basically zero interest) $23 million loan to open a Longhorn Steakhouse and Ruby Tuesday's which will be joining the planned Lowe's and Wal-Mart next fall.

Last but not least all our bridge and tunnel dining coverage will be moving to a new blog and Twitter this October.

American Masala fried chicken and grand opening details.

Next month we'll be launching our first legitimate food blog devoted to the Jersey City / PATH commuter dining scene - written by more than just us - but until then you're just going to keep reading about how much we love the local dining scene on The Life Vicarious. Today it's another American Masala post because the fried chicken at lunch is just that good.

Their lunch offering is no longer a special but a menu staple and a bargain at $8. Two chicken breasts and one leg, each coated in a batter so burnt brown, in its cracks betraying a black skin that would convince any customer he's opening a box of Popeye's purchased while the chairs were being turned over on the tables. And they couldn't be more wrong. The leg was so tender meat fell from the bone. A little pressure lifting the breasts and juices erupted to the surface. And every item on the plate was seasoned to complement their accompaniments. The ribbon fries are now tossed with moist nuggests of garlic replacing the peppers apparent in the chicken (only downside is the garlic clinging to your fingers as it's impossible to eat the crisp strips with a fork as it will only crack them.) The accompanying salad is large enough to serve as appetizer or palate cleanser.

Also worth noting, the restaurant is having its grand opening on October 8th - yes the same night at the opening of the NYC Wine & Food Festival - from 6pm - 8pm. There will be a St. Germain and champagne toast, 25 cent wings, $1 lamb sliders and $2 beers, live music and a raffle for dinner for two.

Jersey City dinner and dessert news you can use.

 (Happy hour, cocktails, dinner, new at American Masala. Click to enlarge.)

American Masala, after some struggles and despite no signage, has their kitchen in order once again. Dinner is served until 10pm and features their fried chicken with salad and butternut squash nightly, happy hour is from 3pm - 7pm at which time cocktails are only $5. Their website is basically wrong about everything but their address at 95 Greene.

Another new truck is now parked outside the Grove Street PATH station at Columbus and Marin. Joining Lucinda and the Krave Korean BBQ is the Louisiana Spice truck, even if it was only present for about five minutes at 5pm last night before disappearing. (They need to make better use of their Twitter which you can follow here.) The Louisiana Spice truck has no online menu but tweets what's coming and is the only truck offering dessert. But not for long, the Lucinda truck will begin serving dessert in a few weeks, and all they'll say is it won't be Mexican.

American Masala comeback, Automata shuttered, tacos at Grove.

American Masala has been undergoing some changes. The happy hour menu was wiped out, the lunch menu was reduced (no more beef burger) and there's still no signage while the Magic Johnson deli with which it shares an address continues to expand theirs. But having just come from lunch there it's a comfort to find Josh Thomas still in the kitchen and to receive word the restaurant will be open all day long through 10pm beginning September 8th. They'll be serving dinner and the urban legend that is fried chicken will again be on offer.

Less good news a few doors up, Automata Chino, the rock bar counterpart to Iron Monkey (which is need of a chef since Ian Kapitan's departure) is now shuttered for having an unsound structure.

And good or bad news depending where you live, the police have banned all food trucks from the Newport area meaning if you want your late night fill of Mexican, Korean or Indian you'll have to make your way to Grove Street where the trucks are currently parked outside the new PATH station entrance. The truck's permits have been reinspected since the city learned, through records subpoenaed by the FBI the arrested health officer Joseph Castagna (who just resigned) sold 100 more permits than is allowed. One truck was told by the police they're not even supposed to be operating until the legitimacy of permits is sorted but this is Jersey City so of course they all remain open and we're better off for it. And if you're wondering when the trucks will return to Newport, City Council President Vega was working on changing the parking laws there to accommodate the trucks but since his own arrest he's been powerless to act on their behalf.

American Masala scales back, Arby's out, Christmas at Godiva.

We tried to have an early supper tonight at American Masala, Joshua Thomas and Suvir Saran's Jersey City burger joint. But no luck. Food is now only served from 1130 - 230, and while they serve cocktails at happy hour the bar snacks have been scrapped. Also, their well regarded fried chicken is no longer a lunch special.

At Newport Centre Mall, Jersey City's only Arby's and Dippin' Dots are both out at the Food Court. Also, all last year's Christmas chocolate is now available at the Newport Godiva for 1/3 off because their warehouse closed so there's no better time to begin your holiday shopping.

Related:
American Masala: Have a happy hour, no umbrella necessary. (06/26/09)

Jersey City taco trucks, Oktoberfest and Ian Topper Kapitan.

Jersey City beer garden Zeppelin Hall is celebrating Oktoberfest early, September 18th - 27th. (Just dress appropriately.)

Our personal favorite taco truck (one of four now in the neighborhood!) Lucinda Truck has lowered prices to reward regulars. Fish and steak tacos have dropped from $3.50 to $3. There's also a rewards program, but something is off about it. Ten orders, not ten tacos, gets you one free.

Also lurking around Newport is Krave, the neighborhood's new Korean taco truck. You can follow them on Twitter or, pointlessly, on Tumblr. We have no comment because despite all of their online outreach we've never seen the truck.

Finally, we got word from former Iron Monkey chef Ian Kapitan that he's no longer involved with Jo's Bistro, a loss to both Jersey City and Manhattan.

American Masala celebrating at Beard House this October.

Good news for struggling Jersey City burger joint American Masala. On October 24th the James Beard House will be celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights with a dinner prepared by the American Masala crew, Suvir Saran, Hemant Mathur and Joshua Thomas. This is the first time a Jersey City restaurant will be responsible for a meal there. (Although Jersey City chefs have cooked there before.) Tickets are $125, but if you want a real feast before then, $100 buys the entire menu at the restaurant, 33 items in all.