Let's Play Pretend

We all like to pretend, don’t we?  All right, maybe not all of us, but sometimes I do.  And when I saw this today, thoughts of Paris entered my mind…

And then whaddya know, even a sidewalk café…

But imagine my surprise when I took a closer look at the name on that cafe and saw that it was named Yvonne Yvonne.  Could it be the same Yvonne who had that wonderful food truck up on York Ave. (way before food trucks became all the freakin’ rage) that I used to frequent when Significant Eater and I lived on the upper east side?  The one serving things like Jamaican goat stew and curried chicken, rice and peas and candied yams?  The one I wrote about on eGullet back in 2004…maybe I was confused?

This sign didn’t help me that much…

Until I stepped inside and…

Oh yeah, Yvonne Yvonne and Yvonne’s Jamaican Food Truck are one and the same.  So I had the gentleman prepare me a nice little dish (as the sign says, "Served by them") and for $5.50 I wasn’t in Paris anymore, but I was eating some of my favorite NYC street vendor food, which I hadn’t had in years...

Honey chicken, oxtails, rice and peas and a helping of collard greens, because, well, I’m just trying to be healthy. Or...pretending to.

 It wasn’t Paris, but really, what is?  Anyway, New York is just fine by me...

Yvonne Yvonne is located at 135th St. and Frederick Douglas Blvd.


Yvonne's truck is still at York Avenue and 71st St.  And still good.