Eddie's Meal Mobile

The truck is a '67 Chevy, but Eddie's business kicked into gear nearly a decade earlier.

It was July 1959 when Eddie Sikis (Psy-ches) decided to leave his father's bakery and strike out on his own. He bought the first of three trucks, secured a $10 consumer affairs license (the Department of Health was not yet overseeing mobile vendors), and set up near Corona's Linden Park. (In Eddie's childhood the park had also been this site of the artificial Linden Lake, which continually overflowed and flooded the nearby school, raising health concerns that were quieted only when the lake was filled in.) He's been setting up at his current location since 1965, when World's Fair traffic was still bringing in business and the land across from Eddie's parking spot was still part of a working farm (fresh New York City tomatoes, anyone?).

True, my bacon cheeseburger ($2.75) was made from a pre-formed patty and cooked on the same flattop that kept the coffeepot warm. That's OK, when Eddie's stories add so much flavor of street-vending days gone by.

Eddie's Meal Mobile
Parked at the northeast corner of 104th St. and 43rd Ave., Corona, Queens
Seven days, 10:00-5:00

Comments

[adamclyde]

I think I've passed that truck 10 times while walking down to Tortilleria Nixtamal. Never tried it, but now I'm tempted not so much for the food but for the connection to New York City of yesteryore.

[todd]

One wonders why a hero and a soda warrants an apostrophe in pluralization, but a frank does not...

[George Chang]

I've seen Eddie's Meal Mobile for the past twenty-some years as I past the area. Haven't seen the mobile for quite a while. Did he FINALLY retired???