Bing King — Restaurant in Eugene

I've been a jianbing fan since I first tried them at Bing Mi up in Portland. On our way down to the OSF in Ashland, we decided to stop a grab a couple at Bing King for lunch, and boy am I glad we did. These may be the best jianbing I've had - fresh, crispy but chewy, redolent with spice and a little heat. One of these reasonably priced babies is enough for most folks, but I recommend you bring a friend, get two, and share them. That way you can get one with the original and one nanjing. I also suggest you get the crispy won tons in one and the slightly chewier Youtiao in the other. Actually, I'd say get the Original savory style with the wontons and pickled mustard and a Nanjing sweet style with Youtiao.

Aside from the excellent food, a big plus is the owner, Jackson. He's charming and genuine. He actually downsold us when we tried to order fries, saying the two jianbing would probably be plenty for us and we could always order something else if we were still hungry afterward. Be sure to ask him why he has this particular food truck - it's a great story that makes the food even better.

As for atmosphere, well it's a food truck court in a parking lot, but it's outside and the tables are covered and Eugene is a charming town, so I think that atmosphere is just fine.

Thanks Jackson for an amazing Oregon...

Update: Dropped a star for trying to mansplain the restaurant industry to me.... which I work in. Also confirming that it costs $12 - $15, like I said, unless you want to be hungry again in 10 minutes. Original: I'm torn, because the food is good, but not great, and the prices are quite high given the concept. The point of this food is that it is inexpensive and quick to make. I ate FAR TOO MUCH Jian Bing while I was living in China. I went to a few different vendors, depending on the part of town that I was in, that given morning. The most that I ever paid was ¥12, which is about $1.65. (My go-to spot was ¥9.... ¥5 if they had run out of chicken for the morning) That was a Jian Bing with YouTiao and chicken, mild spice, and sweet sauce. It cost me $15, here, for what I was paying $1 for. Mark up makes sense, because costs of salaries are higher, but after having the real thing, it sort of feels like I'm being ripped off. It is quality, and tastes quite close to how I liked it in China, but definitely not a regular...

I didn't go to this place for a long while because the shipping container cart looked a little off, but I was wrong to avoid them for so long. Bing King serves jianbings, which are like these Chinese burritos. For fillings, you can choose either youtiao (which is like a airy fried dough) or wonton (like crispy chips). I pick the youtiao everytime, I can't get enough. You can also add protein, but that's optional, so the jianbings are vegetarian by default. The Sichuan chicken fries are also very, very good. They're slightly spicy, tender chicken fries, leagues better than chicken fries from say, Burger King. The bings themselves are very filling, so if you get a bing and chicken fries, you might not be able to finish it all. For Eugene, this cart serves fairly unique food. I don't know of another place I can get bings. It's my favorite lunch time...