BUTTERED UP: Red Hook Lobster Pound owner Susan Povich serves up a roll yesterday after her food truck was named the best in America. (
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Brooklyn has clawed its way to the top of the food chain.
The Red Hook Lobster Pound was voted the country’s best food truck by the Web site The Daily Meal, which examined 450 trucks in 40 cities to compile a list of the country’s 101 best.
“I’m so proud of my crew. They’re serving it up right!” crowed owner Susan Povich, 49, whose lobster rolls have become a lunchtime institution.
“Our secret is authenticity, serving the freshest food and keeping the menu simple,” added Povich, a daughter of talk-show host Maury Povich.
Other city vendors made the food-news site’s 101 Best Food Trucks in America for 2013, too, including the East Village-based Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (No. 4) and vegan-food slingers The Cinnamon Snail (No. 8).
Schnitzel & Things and Wafels & Dinges also made the list, which was based on factors such as staff favorites, social-media presence and praise from publications.
Povich said she bought a new grill and refrigerator and stepped up her social-media game this year to improve the business and her famous lobster rolls, which have earned a cult-like following among Big Apple foodies.
“Street food is about having a relationship with customers, and social media is part of that,” she said.
Povich also runs a flagship Red Hook Lobster Pound restaurant on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, but said she depended heavily on her food truck for business this year after the shop was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
Customers yesterday cheered Povich’s $16 sandwich, saying it’s worthy of its top-notch reputation.
“It definitely lives up to it. It’s as good as I’ve had, easily,” said Simon Powell, 28, who was munching a Maine-style lobster roll at the Van Brunt Street eatery yesterday.
“It’s awesome, very fresh, good flavor,” he said.
Nicknamed “Big Red,” the truck is a weekly fixture at Williamsburg’s Smorgusburg food festival. Workers also post the truck’s up-to-the-minute locations on Twitter.
Povich and her husband, Ralph Gorham, have been dishing out their rolls — fresh Maine lobster and scallions on a bun — for five summers in New York City.
The Red Hook Lobster Pound ranked 11th on last year’s list.
The truck is adorned with a drawing of a lobster and a slogan: “Best Crustacean in the Nation.”