703 Edgewood St NE
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
202.321.6966
website
The bright red People’s Bao food truck can be found in places all over Washington DC, touting itself as the first food truck in the city to specialize in these Asian buns. With a mission to “democratize good food” The truck is extremely intentional about its impact and quality. They source ingredients fresh and local, they cook buns to order, they compost and take care of things at the end.
It’s a very short and sweet menu, emphasizing the traditional stuffed steamed buns rice bowls and a couple of other things. Good things to try:
- Bao: These wonderful steamed buns turn out something like sandwiches, and after they are filled with a thick pork, sticky sauce and some greenery. You can probably eat two or three in a sitting depending on appetite. Classic pork is probably my favorite just because it’s so true to form, that pork is wonderful and crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The sweet sauce counteracts the saltiness, and then the leafy veggies. I could eat these every day.
- Rice bowl: These creations are the signature dish of the food truck when you have an appetite. Each is served with a meat or protein of your choice, with some mapo tofu, cooked spinach, and if you other things mixed in to create a slightly warm but very filling and rice-based lunch. True true recipe, the tofu is a bit oily and that is just something to keep in mind, but it doesn’t really overwhelm the other flavors. In fact, the rice usually sopps up some of that and all the food mixed together comes quite pleasantly. The classic pork option again shines here, because the crispy crunchy pork juxtaposes well with the soft rice and tofu.
Well it has a website, the most reliable place to find out where the truck is going is probably social media, and specifically Twitter. The truck is available for large events and corporate gatherings and therefore it’s got a good book of business in private places, but it can be found in many public areas as well. As is the case with many other DC trucks, you probably will have to plan a little bit if you’re trying to find it specifically because it can sometimes be in places where parking is not easy to come by.
Good food really is plenty in DC, so good food trucks really have to up their game. This one definitely does that. Easily on par with some of my favorite other restaurants in town.
Recommendations
- Getting a couple of that was really good to go, the well these are wrapped up they can get leaky so eat them quickly.
- There are vegetarian options if you like them, though if you are a healthy vegetarian you might want to try and avoid the mapo tofu.
- Check Twitter to find out where this truck will be.
Another Food Critic 