Bon Me | Bold, Fresh, and Fun Vietnamese Cuisine

New Year’s Resolutions are the best of the worst. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve promised to go to the gym and eat better, just to be stuck on the couch eating a whoopee pie. (or two, or three…)

Luckily this year, Bon Me makes eating right so much easier. New vegetarian additions to the menu alongside with brown rice chicken bowls and edamame sides (a new permanent item!) makes eating healthy taste better than ever.

But there’s nothing like the power of teamwork when attacking these New Year’s Resolutions, and Bon Me is here to help via our social networks.

Starting on Tuesday, January 17th, our “Solution to your Resolution” photo contest will be in effect. Share your favorite healthy meals with others by posting a picture on our Facebook page, and gather some inspiration from what everyone else is chowing down on. (Or feel free to snap a picture of Pat, he’s pretty inspiring too.) At the end of the month, we’ll pick one lucky winner and award them with a prize meal for two of two entrees, two drinks, one tea egg, and one dessert!

So lace up those running shoes and run on over to Dewey, BU, or Copley. The solution to your resolution has never been more clear: Bon Me = Bon You.

The tricky fine print: When posting your photos on our Facebook page, you’re giving us permission to share your photo with other customers, as well as use them in any other publications or advertisements to highlight our food. Yay!

I love Thai tea, it’s smack-you-in-the-face sweetness, the aromatic blend of spices, and the pretty floating effect of cream on tea– it’s a favorite of our kitchen staff as an afternoon pick-me-up.

We brew our own Thai tea, simmering a blend of spices and then steeping two kinds of tea in the spiced water.

The orange- brown color of our Thai tea comes from the spices and tea leaves – not the bright orange color that comes straight from food coloring.
You can actually see the little bits of spice and tea leaves at the bottom of a glass of our Thai iced tea.

Selwin loves his Thai iced tea!

For a very short time, Bon Me will have head cheese on the truck!  Say what?!  Head cheese, you know, meat gelatin terrine made from the head of a calf or pig’s head? That’s right, we made meat gelatin in the Bon Me kitchen, courtesy of Kristen, who raised the pig and has been an employee  with us since day one.  This was our first attempt at headcheese:  We butchered and cleaned a pig’s head, simmered it for a long time with spices and a few aromatics.  Then we pulled everything off the bone and placed it into a third pan with a little of the broth that the pig’s head simmered in.  Into the fridge it went, and now we have a loaf of headcheese in all it’s gelatinous, piggy glory.

Before, after, and in between pictures.  (Warning:  some of these pictures may be a bit “graphic” for some of you out there, so here’s your chance to not look.)

last step: ladling piggy broth over head cheese

Kristen working with the pig's head

this is how it all started

Starting Monday, October 31st, we’ll be at Dewey Square three days a week for lunch, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays! We’re really excited about the new location, and hope to see you there. The truck will be found on the Greenway, right outside of South Station.

Our current schedule can be found below, mark your calendars! (Bonus points if you hit us twice in one day!)

Mondays:
Dewey Square: 11am – 2:30pm
Boston University East: 3:15pm – 8pm

Tuesdays:
City Hall Plaza: 11am – 2:30pm
Boston University East: 3:15pm – 8pm

Wednesdays:
Dewey Square: 11am – 2:30pm
Boston University East: 3:15pm – 8pm

Thursdays:
City Hall Plaza: 11am – 2:30pm
Boston University East: 3:15pm – 8pm

Fridays:
Dewey Square: 11am – 2:30pm

Saturdays:
Copley Square: 11:30am – 5pm

People have asked us many times about how we got started in the food trucking industry.  Let me tell you, it’s quite a story.  Starting this week, we will be regularly blogging about how we got from here

to here:

This time last year we’re just joking/dreaming about running a food truck!

We at Bon Me pride ourselves on caring about our environment through numerous ways, such as serving our healthy food in containers that won’t leave a large carbon footprint.  However, we figured it was time to go even more global.

Starting October 16^th, Bon Me will make a $1 donation to The Good Belly Project for each customer that tweets a picture of food that they’ve bought from the truck.  The Good Belly Project is a social media campaign that helps support relief efforts for the famine in East Africa. The event will run through November 6^th, that’s at least 22 chances to help make a difference!

Photos should be taken with the popular free photo-sharing app, Instagram, which can be found here: www.instag.am. Tweet your photos to @bonme, and be sure to use the hashtag #goodbellyproject so that your tweet will count. You can find out more about the Good Belly Project, as well as track the progress of the cause at www.goodbellyproject.org.

We’re very excited to be serving great food for such a great cause, and hope to see you and your photos right there with us!

When you are ordering at Bon Me have you ever heard: “Ordering two nudes, one double spicy, the other no cilantro.” And thought “What? I don’t think I ordered that.” Yep, that is the front counter person letting the truckers know they need to make two rice noodle salads, one with jalapenos and one without cilantro.

If you order a rice noodle salad with tofu and orange mustard you just ordered a “Nom-Tom” to someone in the truck.

A spicy ginger lemonade? — GIN.

Thai basil limeade is a TBL to anyone who’s worked on the Bon Me truck.

“On the fly” is when we mess up an order and need to remake it super fast and super correct.

We have definitely called out VIC not realizing that it was an order for Viet Iced Coffee and that the customer’s name was written on the side of the ticket.

On the topic of nomenclature and language, Bon Me is still looking for a good name and abbreviation for the half green tea half GIN drink.  If you have a suggestions let us know!

Q: So, Rachel, what do you do? Your office must be close to Government Center since you frequent the Bon Me truck at lunch.

A: I work for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a Program Coordinator. (Rachel is not representing the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in this interview.)

Q: Why did you come to Bon Me today?

A: Well, I was hungry and I saw the tweet about the Korean Chicken Special, and I said “Hey, that sounds kind of awesome”.  I got my coworkers to join me today.  I think that because I am always talking about Bon Me they thought it sounded pretty good.

Q: What is your favorite menu item?

A: I really like the noodle salad.  I like both soba and rice noodles and the new orange mustard dressing is really good!  I loved the Vietnamese Blondie Bars you used to have.  Those were awesome.

Q: What about the food at Bon Me has you coming back for more?

A: I love that is is quick and it’s not bad for you.  It’s filling too.  I like that you use local stuff and that it is healthy.  Everyone who works at Bon Me is really friendly and
also I can’t resist Ralph. (Ralph is our good luck cat.)  Brodie (Rachel’s guide dog) loves cats and Ralph is the only cat that loves Brodie back!

Q: What is your favorite Bon Me creation?
A: Soooooo ba w/tofu & shitake mushrooms, topped w/sesame dressing & sriracha

Q: Why did you decide to work on a food truck?
A: It’s a good complement to my graduate studies in Gastronomy at BU (focusing in cultural politics and food systems). I am interested in the business side of food systems and new business ideas for a more sustainable future. This seemed like a good opportunity. Plus, Banh Mi is just really delicious.

Q: What do you do when you are not on the truck?
A: If I am not doing schoolwork or volunteering for Slow Money, I cook when I can, play ultimate Frisbee, watch hockey, or just generally meander throughout the city. I’m also a big fan of napping.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about your job?
A: Everyday is really interesting and it’s never boring on the truck. The people are great and it’s nice making food that’s really high quality and that I am actually proud to serve. The cultural capital of saying “I work on a food truck” is pretty nifty as well.

We are doubling our hours this week.

Starting on Wednesday July 13, 2011 (yes, this Wednesday) the Bonmobile will be parked on Commonwealth Ave near the BU East T-Stop from 4:30 PM until 8 PM. Now you can get your evening fix of Spicy Ginger Lemonade — an addiction we wholeheartedly support and adore!

Saturday we will be serving it up hot on Boylston Street near Copley Square from 11:30 AM until 8 PM.