Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Roadside Gourmet: Schmuck With a Truck

Schmuck With a Truck

Los Angeles, Calif.

What to Order: Oy Vey Wrap

Matthew Koven moved from Manhattan to West L.A. as a deli evangelist, hoping to bring some of that good old-fashioned corned beef on rye to young Angelenos. Criss-crossing the city with a van full of roast beef and deli meats is no easy job. “You gotta be a schmuck to do this,” Koven told JTA in May. He specializes in traditional fare with flair — like the Oy Vey Wrap, a succulent roast-beef-and-potato Shabbat dinner stuffed into a tortilla, and a Reuben sandwich called “Fiddler on the Reuben.” The Schmuck Truck’s menu is enormous, offering muffins and egg sandwiches for breakfast. And don’t worry: You can get a bagel and lox here, too. Just ask for “The Tenth Commandment.”

Check out our round up of Jewish and Kosher food trucks from around North America.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.