Grease Trucks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grease Trucks are a group of food truck vendors located on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University at New Brunswick, New Jersey. They are known for serving "Fat Sandwiches", a sub roll containing an ensemble of ingredients such as steak, cheese, chicken fingers, french fries, mozzarella sticks, jalapeño poppers, and more. The Grease Trucks have become an integral part of student culture at Rutgers, serving as a meeting and hangout spot.
In August of 2004, Maxim Magazine named the "Fat Darrell," a sandwich invented and commonly served by the grease trucks at Rutgers University, the top sandwich in the nation. [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The grease trucks were once parked along College Avenue, most clustered near Scott Hall but some were as far north as Brower Commons. Students and visitors alike could obtain a quick, hot, inexpensive meal during events and between classes. Since the trucks also sold cold beverages and ice cream pops requiring refridgeration, almost all of the trucks either idled or ran gasoline generators for power. In the early 1990s, in an effort to reduce pollution & congestion along College Ave, grease trucks were prohibited from parking along the thoroughfare. Subsequent, Rutgers provided a corner of the faculty parking lot at College Ave and Hamilton St. for 4-5 grease trucks to park with electrical hookups. The trucks would rotate within the lot, so that no one vendor would receive a competitive advantage based on location within the lot.
[edit] Grease Trucks Cusine
The history of the Grease Trucks Cusine began long before the trucks themselves. It started in 1979, when a student at Rutgers served a sandwich known is the "Fat Cat" which consisted of two cheeseburgers, french fries, lettuce, tomato and onions. This sandwich would remain the #1 selling sandwich at Rutgers University until 1997 when a student named Darrell W. Butler created the "Fat Darrell," which consisted of chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, french fries, and marinara sauce. [2]
The creation of the Fat Darrell was seemingly accidental. Butler says in his own words: "Like the typical college student, I was pretty much broke. I had been craving chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks and french fries all week long but I knew that I didn't have enough money to buy all three. I talked the guy behind the counter into putting them all onto a piece of bread for me. I guess it sounded like a good idea because the next 10 or so people all asked for the same thing."[2]
This boosted the notoriety of the Fat Sandwich to a national level. Since the creation of the Fat Darrell, fifteen to twenty other Fat Sandwiches have been formed. The popularity of such sandwiches led to the formation of the "RU Hungry" food trucks run by Abdul Eid, the man who assembles the sandwiches, and serves these and other foods till 2AM. Since then Fat Sandwiches remain the most popular food on campus and have served over 100,000 people.[3]
The Grease Trucks were named the number one post game activity in the country by Sports Illustrated On Campus in 2005.
[edit] List of Fat Sandwiches
- Fat Bitch
- Fat Buddha
- Fat Darrel
- Fat NonPro
- Fat TPA
- Fat Fuck
- Fat Cat
- Fat Sam
- Fat Krack
- Fat Koko
- Chicken Fat Cat
- Fat Mojo
- Fat Night
- Fat Vavavoom
- Fat Mimi 69
- Fat Elbow
- Fat Doboy
- Fat Sam
- Fat Mom
- Fat Romano
- Fat Blunt
- Fat Drunk
- Fat Elvis
- Fat Bastard
- Fat Philipino
- Fat Dad
- Fat Moon
- Fat Mouse
- Fat Sheriff
- Fat Vostardi
- Fat Veggie Indian
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Mobile catering
- Street food
- Food truck
- Chicken and Rice
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
