The Purple Carrot

One of the originals and the reigning champion of the #LoveLansing food trucks. Creative sandwiches. Delectable soups. Scrumptious salads. And CAKEPOPS! What more could you ask for?
Menu and location change essentially daily, although there are regularly recurring menu items and locations. Daily menu and location are available on their website:

Service is always top notch — fine dining level service (from Red Haven, their brick and mortar sister restaurant) from a truck.
I recommend adding a soup to your sandwich (or get the half sandwich and coup of soup combo). Ingredients are locally sources and/​or housemade whenever possible, and it shows.

Food has been so salty that I couldn’t be a fan anymore. I feel very sorry.

My favorite place to eat in Lansing! I find the food even better than Red Haven and a great price. I go whenever I can. One time the truck was not where it said it would be on the website. I messaged them on Facebook about it and they gave me a gift certificate for my next visit. Great service and fantastic food. I LOVE IT.

I have been excited to try their brunch, and finally got to do so this morning at Meridian Farmer’s Market. I was disappointed. I ordered the chicken sausage Sammy. The bun overpowered the entire thing. It was huge, grainy, and very stiff and dry. The egg was very undercooked, with super runny whites. The chicken sausage was just ok, nothing special.
We all got the carrot cake pops, and those were very good.
Overall, very disappointed.

I am giving 4 stars, but I haven’t actually eaten here yet, but I invite friends to give it a try and let me know how they like it. I’ve heard very good things, but can’t say first hand. I love the IDEA. Focus on local, seasonal, sustainable food. Featured on Food Network.

So yummy! Everything was fresh and flavorful. The side salad that comes with the sandwiches is so simple, yet so tasty. I love that it supports our local farmers.

I love the concept and they totally do it well. Great quick lunch eats at more than reasonable prices. Some of the items I got were a bit small for me but because they aren’t that expensive I usually get two and mix n match sandwiches/​entrees if I’m real hungry. Great change of place for Lansing … Wish more trucks would open up round here.

Purple Carrot rocks my socks. Reasonably priced soup/​sandwich combo makes a wonderful lunch. I always leave feeling full but not bloated and heavy. They are always innovating which is good, because they are using as much locally as possible. Which is better for all of us!

First time I came here, I got a banh mi that was served on day-​old jimmy johns bread. Resolved never to come back. Then heard them advertise a banh mi with mangalista pork belly. couldn’t resist… came out and tried it. it was absolutely inedible. the pork was so improperly cooked i couldn’t believe it, especially for the price that breed usually fetches. it was like they just sliced the raw pork belly into huge chunks and slapped it on a grill without slow cooking it first. the only reason i’m not giving them one star after these two atrocious sandwiches is because i once had a turnip soup here that was fantastic. like, would not have been out of place as an amuse at any fine dining restaurant.
but that pork belly, wow. still gives me nightmares.

I hope to see more of The Purple Carrot next year. Fresh, exciting menu. Nice to see the area expanding with better food options. Please stick around!

I finally made it out to The Purple Carrot last week when they visited the west side of town. There was a long line of people at lunch time, but I didn’t mind waiting, since that usually means they are good.
They had 2 or 3 people working in the truck, and one person walking down the line handing out menus and answering questions. The menu listed the days menu, I had previously checked it out on facebook as well. There was also a chalkboard near the truck that listed the menu. The prices on the paper I was handed and on the chalkboard were not the same. Add to it that I found out while I was in line that they only take cash, so I was digging in my purse for spare change to cover the «potential price», which ended up being less than I expected, but wasn’t sure based on the conflicting menus.
The menu on facebook described the trout roll as w/​mustard. However, it turned out to be more of a «great lakes take» on a lobster roll, so more mayo-​ey than mustard-​ey. It tasted great and was fresh, just not what I expected. The sandwiches came w/​chips. They had a good deal that allowed you to pick any 2 menu items for one price — I think it was $ 7. My friends had a panini that they said was excellent. My friend also had the vegan «chicken» soup, that had mushrooms instead of chicken. Even though he is a carnivore, he said the «fake chicken» soup was really good.
Overall, The Purple Carrot has excellent, fresh soups, salads, and sandwiches made w/​local ingredients. They are a great addition to the Lansing area food scene!

The Purple Carrot first caught my attention at the East Lansing Folk Festival, when, walking around on a rainy Sunday afternoon, my friend and I kept catching whiffs of something warm, aromatic, and inviting. We followed our noses to the Purple Carrot Truck, where we discovered that the smell was most likely emanating from the Oberon-​steamed brats that were on the menu for the festival. Having just consumed some MSU Dairy Store ice cream, we both declined to get anything, but vowed to track down the truck and return.
I then proceeded to spend the entire next week telling anyone who would listen about this amazing truck. It haunted me. I looked at their website menu and I could swear I could still smell that heavenly scent. My friend and I discussed our regrets about having chosen ice cream that day. I started following them on Facebook. And that was before I’d even eaten anything!
So we tracked the truck down to the Meridian Farmer’s Market on the next Saturday morning. Alas, brats were not on the menu, but I did get to try an eggplant «meatball» sandwich with an amazingly bright and flavorful chutney, while my friend had a chicken salad sandwich with a homemade peach mustard that he raved about. The only minor suggestion I would have made is that I would have preferred my faux-​meatballs warm. Otherwise, it certainly lived up to expectations!
I am nerdily excited that a place like the Purple Carrot is getting well-​deserved attention in Lansing. Others have noted that they aren’t super cheap, but considering both the quality of the incredibly fresh, locally-​sourced ingredients and the originality of the menu, it is exactly what mid-​Michigan needs. I can’t wait to go back!

I was very excited when I saw that this place has banh mi. I LOVE banh mi. Unfortunately, the banh mi here does not taste very much like banh mi. My husband, my friend, and I each had the pork banh mi, and none of us thought it was very good. The bread was not crusty, it could have used more pickled vegetables, and the meat wasn’t particularly tasty. The salad and its dressing was quite good though! I might give this place another try, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

I’ve been following the Purple Carrot on Facebook, and I just got to taste their food this week. It was great! I was really impressed with the quality and freshness. They source local, fresh ingredients– and you could really taste that.
I had the tofu bahn mi and it was amazing! Plus it came with a tasty little salad. At first I was a bit annoyed that a full sandwich and soup was $ 11. That’s a bit high for a small lunch. But I think they have a combo, and that was like $ 7. Next time I’ll probably get that.
I had a cake pop, and they are so adorable and yummy! Also, if you plan on getting food to-​go make sure you have a way to transport it. The plates aren’t meant for travel.

I heard about this truck yesterday from another friend and decided to try it out soon. Fortunately they were going to be on the same side of town I was. The food was quite good — I got the club sandwich. The sandwich was a good size for my appetite — just enough of everything in it. The bacon was really good, too. I really like that it came with a lightly dressed salad of greens. $ 7 for both seemed pretty good for that amount of food.
The service was very personable — they gave my daughter a cake pop, which I tried and was very food as well.
I hope they’re able to expand their menu a little bit more in the future, but with them just starting up, I understand keeping things more limited. It would be nice if they also had a plain turkey sandwich for kids, but again, this place isn’t catering to my every whim and desire, so I understand not having anything for kids. That won’t keep me from going back, either.
I’ll be going back and recommending this to others.