Philadelphia native Juno Park, who opened Busz Sushi & Dim Sum on Oct. 28, is no amateur in the food industry. Having worked with and around food in delis and restaurants for years, he knows his way around a kitchen — particularly his latest wheeled and trailer-hitched one.
The former founder and owner of Noshery Gourmet Cafe at Avenue North, which he started in 2008 and sold three years later, has gone mobile. His chain of Busz food trucks, which can be found on Norris Street between 12th and 13th streets in front of Tyler School of Art, have found increasing popularity among the community on Main Campus, among students and staff members alike.
“We focus on quality, not quantity or options on the menu,” Park said while taking a break from managing the two trucks he operates. “Our burger truck does burgers right. We have a wood-burning grill to get that authentic char-grilled taste. And we use handmade dough for all of the dumplings we sell from Busz Sushi & Dim Sum.”
Dim sum is a popular Chinese-style dish that normally consists of a dumpling packed with fillings and cooked in an assortment of different ways. The customary style is to steam them, but they can also be fried. Busz Sushi & Dim Sum offers a wide selection of filling options to choose from, such as chicken and mushrooms, seasoned pork, vegetables and the best-selling chicken curry.
The food truck also offers traditional-style makizushi sushi, usually consisting of fish or vegetables, or a mixture of the two with rice wrapped in nori, which is the Japanese name for edible seaweed. Busz Sushi & Dim Sum’s menu boasts more than 25 options of makizushi rolls, varying from a simple tuna and rice roll to their signature Northern Liberty roll, a combination of shrimp tempura, avocado and spicy tuna, all wrapped in nori. Every roll at the new Busz is made to order — the sushi is never premade and refrigerated, Park said.
Park and his employees masterfully create these rolls with professional speed, making it seem easy — but Park assures it is not. To create the “perfect roll,” a bamboo mat called a makisu is used as a tool to ensure a flawless cylinder, every time.
Park said he picked the current locations of his Busz trucks so that they were in close proximity to each other and Wingo Taco, which specializes in tacos and is owned and operated by one of Park’s friends, Nam Kim.
Park said he did this because he wanted to create “a food court environment for students, where they have choices of food made with high-quality ingredients and can expect high-quality service.”
Park added that food trucks like his are helping to revitalize the street food of Philadelphia, and that a college campus is the perfect location for them.
Park is hopeful that sushi being prepared the same way it has been for centuries, with fresh ingredients and experienced chefs, will offer variety to a typical student’s rushed lunch break.
Along with this truck, the Busz brand continues to expand; another Busz truck is set to open near Temple Towers later this year.
Mike Russo can be reached at mike.russo@temple.edu.
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