Strada Cucina

After checking out the Charleston food truck scene online, I discovered Strada Cucina has been making a home at the YWCA on Coming Street, only a few minutes from my office. According to their Facebook page Strada Cucina’s mission is to «sling a mean beef» and provide «delicious, Italian inspired sandwiches made with fresh ingredients sourced from the South Carolina Low Country.» The menu sounded great so last Thursday I decided to give them a try. Based on my three trips to their tasty food truck in the past seven days, I can safely say they’ve met those goals.
My first experience at Strada Cucina involved their Italian Beef Sandwich. This succulent sandwich is made up of shaved roast beef, provolone cheese and spicy pepper relish on a seeded hoagie. The roast beef was perfect, fresh and tender. The seeded hoagie was a great base for the sandwich, sucking up the juices from the beef and relish but being hearty enough not to fall apart or turn to mush. The pepper relish tasted great, provided a nice crunch but I didn’t find it to be that spicy.
The next day I decided to give their Rosemary Ham and Soppressata Piadina a shot. The Italian flat-​bread (homemade by the Strada guys) also comes with provolone cheese, fresh arugula, pesto, roasted tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. The flat bread was grilled and came out piping hot. This sandwich is two handfuls of delicious. All the flavors meld together perfectly, while still highlighting each ingredient with every bite, and you’ll need several napkins because the thing is messy, I mean that in a good way.
Finally that brings me to one of today’s specials and my favorite Strada Cucina sandwich yet, the Pork Loin and Rapini Ciabatta (slow roasted pork, sautéed Rapini, provolone cheese on Normandy Farms Ciabatta). The pork on this sandwich is so tender and full of flavor it almost melts in your mouth. The fresh Rapini adds a welcomed crunch and tang while the ciabatta was toasted perfectly and amazing in its own right. I’m seriously tempted to go back tomorrow for another one just in case it doesn’t turn into a regular menu item.
All three sandwiches satisfied my huge appetite with their generous portions. I believe I’ve read that they will have some special sides on occasion, depending on what’s in season. Right now they do have a couple of chip options as well as several beverages to choose from. Strada Cucina easily offers up a great lunch for $ 10.00 or less and it’s worth every cent.

Had this at the mini food truck rodeo at the school I work at. Was going to get Geechee Island, but they sold out of a lot of stuff, and I saw the size of the sandwiches Strada was pumping out. I got the Chicken cutlet sandwich and it was great. A generous portion of lightly fried chicken breast, fresh mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes, vinaigrette, on cibatta bread. Since I’m a big boy, it usually takes a good bit to satisfy my hunger. This sandwich alone did the job. I saw they did a beef sandwich as well, which was pretty big too. I’ll probably get that one next time.