New Year's Eve Hot Truck!

If you attended Cornell University sometime between 1960 and today, you probably know, and love The Hot Truck. Parked below the West Campus dorms every night during the school year, the truck serves up french bread pizza to anyone willing to stand outside in the freezing Ithaca winter for an hour or more. Luckily, most of the customers are drunk enough not to notice the frostbite. I worked at Truck for two and a half years (as did my wife and several friends), taking orders, relaying them to Bob (the founder) and later Mike (the new owner), sliding the subs into the ovens, removing them when cooked, and finally handing them out to patrons. Saying that our group ate at Hot Truck two to three times per week for four years is probably close to accurate (hey, we were drunk, if that works as an excuse . . .). So when we all get together for New Year's Eve, as we have every year since graduation, Hot Truck is always on the menu.

I am in change of putting together the subs, containing everything from pepperoni and sausage, to BBQ chips, mustard and carrots. The standard sub, called a PMP, or Poor Man's Pizza, consists of butterflied French bread (preferably from the Ithaca Bakery), tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, topped with oregano and cooked at 450 until the cheese begins to brown. My favorite sub, the Scooby, is basically a PMP with pepperoni, meatballs, onion, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. After cooking is complete, mayonnaise and lettuce (grease and garden, or G&G, in the Hot Truck language) are added and the sub is placed in a paper bag. It's not clean, neat or healthy, but it's damn good.

Here is a quick sample of what my friends requested on New Year's Eve:
MBC - PMP with meatballs
Ken - PMP with sausage, pepperoni, onion, garlic powder, red pepper flake, G&G, BBQ chips (crushed and placed on the sub after cooking)
Sui - PMP with mushrooms, sausage and pepperoni

To make your own Truck, find soft french bread and slice it lengthwise, keeping the two sides together. Cover with tomato sauce and add garlic powder, hot sauce and red pepper flakes, if desired.

Next, layer on onion, meatballs, pepperoni and sausage, followed by cheese and oregano.


Bake at 450 for about 6-8 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown and the bread crisps up. Top with mayonnaise, lettuce, BBQ (or sour cream and onion) chips, and/or mustard.

Fold the two sides together, place in a paper bag and eat!