Cirque Cuisine

How I heard of this place: We went to the Trapeze School New York in the Washington Navy Yard, and it showed up to feed us. We’re sure glad it did!
Type of cuisine: «A brilliant new food truck concept that brings healthy food to you. Delicious and affordable wraps, snacks, salads and organic gourmet foods. Drop that hot dog loaded with toxic additives and flag down the Cirque Cuisine truck and do something good for yourself and your body today.»
Ambiance: «We are making rounds in downtown DC and the surrounding areas. Our website is under construction but will be up and running shortly with updates and locations daily, via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and all the social network vices uh.devices.» Their website might have a way to go, but their food is sure ready for the masses. Find the truck, order something, eat it anywhere.
What I ordered: We were given the option of «pork or vegetarian» and I chose vegetarian: thin crust goat cheese pizza topped with balsamic caramelized onions, fresh arugula and quartered figs. Chris, of course, wanted pork and was offered the same with prosciutto. No options on this prepared circus-​lesson intermission, but no one was bothered.
What I loved: The arugula. Fresh, peppery, crisp, green arugula.
Why I loved it: The staff were so friendly, happy and helpful. They were definitely in a place where they enjoyed their jobs, they loved the work, and were happy to be making our evening.
Cost: Good question.

Quality, tasty and healthy food from a food truck! I’m definitely a huge fan. This is definitely one of the few trucks around that’s worth the price. Whenever I come here I always say I’ll order something different but as soon as it’s my turn to order I always end up with their Quinoa Veggie burger. I love love meat but I keep getting their veggie burger. It’s just so good!!!

I only ate here twice. Loved it twice. I love how the menu was different. Loved the freshness. Loved being full but not heavy. The folks there are fun and lively. Originally stopped at truck on l’enfant plaza cuz it said organics and local. Def need to find their schedule. corn fritters are great… I even ate a avocado salad and I don’t care for them… lol

Get the grilled tofu it it’s on the menu. Out of this world, even for non-​veg eaters.

Big flavor (HUGE!). Small sandwich.
I passed up a couple of favorite trucks to try Cirque Cuisine, based on some inspiring Unilocal reviews. Folks were friendly, there was no line (at 11:30am), and I was excited about my order: a fig — prosciutto — provolone — caramelized onion grilled cheese (squee!!!)… but I probably didn’t hide my disappointment well when I was handed a rather small sandwich (considering the $ 11 price tag).
The flavors were truly excellent, I just wish I could enjoy them for more than the three minutes it took me to (slowly) nibble at the sandwich. If there had been a little side salad or even a pickle, I would have felt much better about the price.
I will definitely try Cirque again the next time they come around — but I might see if they are offering a plate that includes a side. Or I’ll just try again on a day when my hunger isn’t so severe that I’m scouring Food Truck Fiesta by 11am.
But seriously… so so yummy.

Wow. Just wow. I was so not into this food truck when a coworker suggested we go, but I went along to be a good sport. Man, was I wrong. Three words: green goddess wrap. This is hands down the best wrap that I have ever had in my life. I can’t even write a review because there are no words. My coworker had the tomato and leek tart and that was divine too. Go now!

After today, there is no doubt that I will ALWAYS choose this food truck over the others. My husband tried them out Monday and raved about them. I’ve seen them around in Franklin and Farragut, but always opt for something else not so healthy. Today, when I saw they’d be in Franklin, I figured why not?
My coworker and I both ordered different things. She got the Green Goddess wrap, which I also was going to get until I saw the Heirloom Tomato and Leek tart. My husband got their Mediterranean Grilled Chicken plate when he went earlier in the week. Everything was phenomenal! My coworker loved her wrap, and my tart was out of this world! I never thought that something as simple as tomatoes, leeks, cheese, and puff pastry could be so good… but it was!
An added nice touch — they must have put a bunch of tarts in the oven, and while in line, about 3 of us ordered them, so there was a small wait. They were so nice in keeping us informed of how long it would be, and offered to substitute some people’s orders if they were on a time crunch. I waited no more than 5 extra minutes, and they gave me a cherry cobbler for my patience.
I wish I could always get a cherry cobbler for waiting an extra 5 minutes. It was delicious! Thanks to Cirque Cuisine, I don’t feel like I need to crawl under my desk and take an after-​lunch nap right now. I’m really looking forward to trying some new things!

It’s officially food truck mania in DC. And although the city isn’t quite as food truck-​friendly as Portland or Austin, there still seem to be more and more food trucks appearing every day. I see them outside my office window lining up in the early hours of the morning hoping to get a spot for the lunch crowd, but yet I almost never consider them as a lunch option. For one, I haven’t had the best experience with food trucks in DC. They just don’t seem to have healthy vegan options like other cities. So when I was in my trapeze class one day (yes, I do trapeze) and discovered that one of my instructors owned a food truck with his girlfriend and that they served organic vegan food, I knew this was a food truck I had to check out.
So on a Wednesday, I headed out to Franklin Square to the line of food trucks. As I passed by some nasty mystery meat trucks and others that appeared to also have a few vegan options, I came upon the bright purple striped Cirque Cuisine truck. The name is inspired by Sean Swartz’s career as as circus performer and the cuisine is inspired by Jessica Shields, a CIA-​trained chef. Together, they started a food truck to serve healthy organic food in DC with a vegan option each day.
The menu changes regularly so I had no idea what to expect. To my delight, the vegan item of the day was Tofu-​Charred Veggie Tacos and they were even marked as vegan. At $ 10, I thought the price was a bit steep for a food truck lunch, that is, until I actually saw the lunch. The plate they gave me of three corn tortillas loaded with blackened chipotle-​mango tofu with charred onions, peppers and zucchini topped with pico de gallo, salsa rojo and verde, cilantro, and crisp radish was as good as it sounded. I have never seen such fresh delicious food from a food truck in my life.
I also ordered their fresh made Honeydew Cucumber Mint Limeade, which was deliciously fresh and refreshing.
I enjoyed my meal so much that I came back a few weeks later and ordered the Quinoa Veggie Burger. Oh my goodness, was this good. It was a thick housemade patty made with quinoa, sunflower seeds, and other good-​for-​you stuff topped with tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, and lettuce on this amazing grilled multigrain bun with sunflower seeds. It was served with a mango-​jalapeño sauce that really made the meal.
I am so impressed. Yes, my lunches with a drink cost $ 14 in total and no, I wouldn’t buy an expensive lunch like this every day. But, once every couple of weeks, I plan to splurge. This is great, healthy, organic food and I am proud to spread the word about this one. Bravo Sean and Jessica! Keep the vegan specials coming!

I love the concept for this truck… fresh, organic, and creative choices. Food that is elevated, but not too stuffy for a food truck.
I had the Argentinian Steak Tacos. The skirt steak was flavorful and cooked to medium well. The toppings were perfect: vinegar based slaw, grilled corn, peppers, onions, fresh cilantro, and chimichurri. I paid $ 12 for 3 tacos… they tasted great but were not too filling. I could have gone for another taco or a side of corn salad. Also the only drinks they had were their fancy-​sounding juices, i.e. strawberry hibiscus or watermelon. If you want a bottled water, you’ll have to go to another truck. Not a problem if you want to try something new :)
They got 4 stars because some guy (assuming it’s the manager or owner) walked up and interrupted my order because he needed to put some special orders STAT. This ended up delaying my order prep even though I was the only other person waiting.
The first time I went here, I got the chicken caesar wrap… which had bacon so automatically awesome. I just appreciate the fact that they cooked the chicken fresh and did not use precooked or low-​quality chicken breasts. It was slightly salty so maybe I’ll ask for the dressing on the side next time.

This is pretty awesome for a food truck — salmon in a phyllo crust quiche, quinoa salad with pistachios, mixed green salad with walnuts and black berries. Everything is full of flavor, attention to ingredients and variety of flavors. Everything was fresh. I found them to be my favorite truck last year and this year is looking promising!
They must have worked out the process — one person takes the order, with your name, payment and handles beverages.
I highly recommend this truck as a standout from the others.

I had some kind of lemon grass ginger skirt steak with asian slaw etc combination. Let me tell you it was awesome. I had not choice but to give this truck 5 stars even though I wanted to give it 4 for the long wait on my food :(. However, not just for a food truck but overall the food was superb, steak was tender and I was given large strips. The flavors of the asian slaw, cilantro and whatever else was too good to be true at least from the side of the road off Mass ave lol. Please put a «slow food,» sign out, I will still go for the great food. However, I’d like to know when I’ll have to wait more than 10 mins almost 25 minutes for my food at a food truck.
Matisa

I really just want to give 5 stars to everyone standing in line at this truck. They were so nice and civil, I was a bit shocked. Basically, the process of picking up your food at this truck is kind of a mess, because there is no process. They don’t ask for your name, so when they call out a menu item that 4 or 5 people have ordered, it’s fair game for anyone whose ordered that item, unless you are like the people I was standing in line with, who say, «I ordered that, but I think those two girls were here before me» and proceed to ask the other folks standing in line if they ordered said item. Though this was nice to see at the time, imagining people doing this over and over seems a little bit odd. A truck as busy as Cirque Cuisine may want to refine their pickup process.
Since I’m not actually here to review people’s manners, I loved my lamb dawg! I hate hot dogs, and usually try to stay away from anything with dog in the title, but my love for lamb trumps my hatred for dogs, so I couldn’t resist ordering one of these. It was definitely a good decision on my end. Also, the veggie burger I saw another customer holding looked amazing. I’m not even a vegetarian, but I want to try one of those ASAP.

I rarely have time to write reviews on Unilocal anymore, but after my unbelievably delicious lunch from Cirque Cuisine today, I felt I would be doing DC a disservice by not posting.
I ordered the kale & white bean stuffed sweet potato, served with grilled apples and brussel sprouts. It was just enough (maybe I should have just eaten half) and really fresh, delicious, healthy ingredients. I have a feeling I’ll be raving about it all day.
Until today, I really didn’t know that food trucks could serve delicious AND nutritious meals like this one.
YUM (also the service really did come with a smile and a sense of humor)

I will go back to this truck and get something different. I went late and they were out of the kale sweet potatoe.
I ended up getting the sandwich: hot tukey, apple, brie, arugula, honey mustard aoli. I’m giving this sandwich 3 stars.
I’m pretty sure this was white bread, it tasted like it was from the bag. It was grilled, and too much butter, i thought.
I really wanted this sandwich to wow me, but there was nothing impressive about it.
A whole grain bread, less butter, and maybe a relish (apple/​cranberry?) would have been better. The brie was melted perfectly. Could have done without the aoili, i felt like there was enough fat from the brie.
The sandwich was almost 9 $ and wasn’t quite worth that to me.
I really want to go back and try the chilis and some of the other stuff they other.
The service was fast and they were really kind. I will update my review when i go back. I have a feeling they’ll do better next time!

Potato-​leek-​kale cakes. AMAZING. They’re the one thing that drew me to this truck after randomly passing through Franklin Park. They’re the one thing that will bring me back (and to try other things of course). Get the bacon-​shallot sauce, it’s worth it.
Two small gripes: maybe overpriced by a dollar or so (oh sales tax), and I rarely see it around Farragut Square. But I am officially a fan.

Ok I tried this truck again now for the third time, and it’s time for an update. This is a great truck. The ingredients are fresh and they give you service with a smile. The only downer is the price still (vs quantity), however I think relative to the many other trucks around, it’s worth the quality and taste. My belly could use a little less quantity anyway.
(Hope you guys get your walk in fridge)

It’s rare that I can prove myself both right and wrong in the same occurrence, and while that didn’t exactly happen with Cirque Cuisine, it pretty nearly did, or at least enough so for me write an update, one of the few I’ve ever bothered to do. Part of that initiative comes from one of the owners, Sean S., who I’ve had to block on Unilocal due to his never ending spew of «compliments» asking me to write an update. Seriously, I have never in 5 years of writing on Unilocal been so harassed by a business owner who feels like he is entitled to something from his customers. His initial inquiries were wracked with attitude, but I was willing to let them slide in order to try the food again (which he initially offered me to come back and try for free, but after he had received enough positive Unilocal reviews I guess he no longer felt the need… fine by me, I always feel guilty accepting free food, but it does show more of his character). I saw lots of promise in the menu format as I initially noted, and I had definitely wanted to return once they got the opening bugs worked out, but I don’t need constant reminders, even if my review did «keep them up all night», as he indicated.
So I finally returned to the truck, and truth be told it was a much better meal than what I had previously experienced, and had this guy simply left me alone I likely would have written a rather praise filled 5 star review of this truck (even at $ 14 a plate now it’s still pretty good food from a C.I.A. trained chef), but over the course of my recent 3 week vacation he continued to hound me for an update, even though I assured him repeatedly that it would be forthcoming upon my return.
So, Sean, here’s the update you begged incessantly for… your chef gets a 5 star for her work on the grill (see updated photos for the nicely baked cod she prepared), you’ve earned a 1 yourself for the awful mishandling of your PR, average them out and my rating remains the same. Please remember that we are your customers, not your employees. After we walk away we do not owe you anything, and Unilocal is merely a service that is provided as a feedback tool for businesses. Even my girlfriend doesn’t send me 10 compliments about a single review, so dial the stalker nob down a notch.

WOW. I absolutely luv this food. I’m incredibly picky and cook at home 95% of the time because I can’t stand the crap that’s served at restaurants. Unfortunately, the DC area doesn’t offer a ton of organic options so I usually end up brown-​bagging it. I happened to be in the Lefant metro plaza area & saw this truck, so of course I had to give them a try. They had this fresh mango juice that was soooooo yummy. I actually went back an hour later & bought more :) For lunch, I had the baked cod with salad. everything was bursting with flavor. my taste buds were in heaven. Oh, and the presentation was so nice.
Overall, Cirque Cuisine blew me away… plz, plz, PLZ give this food truck a try if they’re in your area. You will pay a little more but you’re getting food that’s really fresh & good for you. plus, it tastes amazing.

I had no intentions of getting lunch at a food truck today, but I was so intrigued by the White Tuscan Bean and Shrimp Salad from Cirque Cuisine I had to try it. The salad was delicious; very fresh and light for a warm day in May. The shrimp were plump and tossed nicely with the cannelloni bean and argula.
Truly cuisine from a truck… I will be visiting again.

The last thing I expected today when I went out to get some lunch was to have Colombian Arepas. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t expect to see my mom or grandma inside making them the way I’ve had them all my life, but it was pretty damn good.
I had the Arepas with the pulled pork and the Tostones, which were definitely great in their own right. But as a Colombian native I do have a couple of criticisms: First, in Colombia we don’t have Arepas stacked with all sorts of meats and sauces, It is invariably slathered with butter, salt and a thick slab of queso blanco. Second, tostones are made with deep-​fried flattened green plantains, not sweet plantains.
All authenticity issues aside, they are not claiming to be «Authentic Colombian Cuisine» so, and how they treated the food and where they took it certainly deserves the 5 stars I’ve given them. The pork was cooked beautifully with the perfect amount of seasoning and dressed very nicely with 3 colored sauces (green white and red). All 3 sauces (Mexico’s flag?), the combination of the layers of deep flavors, the sweet — and — savory quality of the tostones made with the sweet plantains, it was all lip-​smacking goodness.
My only regret was not trying their Aguas.
Presentation-​wise, they use plastic containers which I find better to handle than the ones the other trucks use (styrofoam), and the lids make this huge lunch dish very easy to refrigerate for a later reprieve of flavors — not that I’ll know since I ate the whole thing -.
Definitely worth a try!
NOTE: It seems from their previous tweets that their menu changes weekly which is a great concept given the nature of food trucks. I’ll definitely follow them and see what they have in store the next time they come to Union Station.