University City is a food vendor's paradise. Lunchtime lines are a common sight outside the vending carts scattered up and down Spruce Street, by the Pottruck Center, and under the bridge over 38th Street.
However, among the hoagie stands, Chinese food trucks and cheesesteak peddlers on Penn's campus sits a food cart that stands out from the pack -- not just because of its delightful vegetarian cuisine, but because of the woman preparing that cuisine, Helen Yocum.
By noon on any day of the work week, one is guaranteed to see a line running 12 people long outside of the Magic Carpet. This lunchtime dining hotspot specializes in vegetarian Middle Eastern cuisine and is set up at two locations on Penn's campus -- one at 34th and Walnut, the other at 36th and Spruce, where Yocum works.
The two food stands were the creations of Dean Varvoutis, who opened the first in 1984. Since then, the two vending carts have become wildly popular on Penn's campus, offering a unique eating experience for both vegetarians and nonvegetarians in search of an exotic and healthy alternative to the average hot dog vendor.
"The food really fits to the campus," Varvoutis says. "I don't know why it's really taken off and is so popular."
But popular it is.
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Magic Carpet was a natural transition for the vegetarian man who had been working in the food service industry since he was 14 years old and has a Greek family background.
In 1992 eight years after the cart's debut Varvoutis hired Yocum. Yocum had heard about the job from her good friend and neighbor, who at the time was leaving the Magic Carpet to raise her son. The friend who has since returned and now works at the stand on 34th and Walnut mentioned the opportunity to Yocum, who then began to make the daily commute from her home in Northeast Philadelphia to Penn's campus a commute that she has made now for 12 years.
"She should get an honorary degree!" loyal customer and Pathology Department research specialist Gail Massey says while waiting in line to order. "She's such a great person, and she's been working on Penn's campus for so long, she deserves one."
However, Yocum says her now-enthusiastic relationship with her work was not love at first sight.
"When I started, I had no idea what the job was going to be like," Yocum recalls. "You have to realize, I didn't understand anything about the food when I first started here. I didn't understand the vegetarian part, the type of food being served, how to serve people in a vending cart. It actually took me two months before I tried the food."
After sampling the cart's house specialty, Bella Donna -- tofu meatballs -- along with the falafel and various sweets, Yocum was pleasantly surprised and found herself liking the food that she was now dishing up.
"That's when I really got into serving it, because you can't serve something you don't eat, you know what I mean? And if you don't like your job, you're not going to be happy, and I love my job."
And after staffing well-known Philadelphia eateries such as Lee's Hoagie House and Pat's Steaks, Yocum's tenure at the Magic Carpet is a testimony to its quality.
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The love for her work is reflected in her interaction with her customers. What makes customers come back time after time is not just the food, it is Yocum herself.
"She's so friendly," says David Arcidiacono, a loyal customer who works in nursing administration at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "I've never known Helen to have a bad day. It's a pleasure to come to this cart because of Helen. She's the main reason I come back day after day."
In fact, customer and HUP nurse Carolyn Dozier is considering changing her eating habits after meeting Helen and eating at her food truck two months ago. "I am not a vegetarian, but I am thinking of converting because of Helen and the food she serves."
Yocum's warm greetings and helpful recommendations on the day's specialties draw people to the cart.
"She's incredibly nice," says research assistant in the Sociology Department Adena Galinsky, who frequents the stand twice a week on average. "I always get what she recommends. She's honest about what's good that day. Like when she recommends the cookies, I know the cookies are going to be really delicious that day."
Yocum can make such helpful recommendations because she is fully involved in the food service process. Every morning at 7:30, she, along with Varvoutis and other co-workers, begins the day downtown at a commercial kitchen at 15th and South streets. There they complete the cooking and preparation of the day's menu, which always features a different daily special.
Yocum can also take credit for making the dressings that she serves, as well as the hummus, although she will not reveal the exact recipe.
After 12 years of working at the Magic Carpet, Yocum has seen many people pass in and out of her line, but she says that she never forgets a face.
"I've seen a lot of changes on this campus," Yocum says. "Being right here in the center of campus, I've seen kids grow. I see them grow into doctors, and they still come back to the cart. And they do actually come back. I've seen people who have moved out west to California, down to Florida, all over, and they come back and remember me and say, 'You're still here!' And I always remember them, I never forget a face. The weird thing is, I usually remember their order, too."
One such former loyal customer and friend, 2000 graduate Joshua Karetny, made sure to stop by the Magic Carpet to say hello to Yocum when in town for an alumni event. Karetny -- who now attends law school at New York University -- actually took an earlier train into town just to make sure he made it in time before the stand closed for the day.
"When I was at Penn, I used to eat lunch here at least four days a week," Karetny reminisces with Yocum standing by, tears of pride welling up in her eyes. "I miss the Magic Carpet, and I miss Helen. I remember I took pictures with Helen when I graduated, and they're in my album."
"Oh my God, that's right! He did!" Yocum chimes.
"And there's nothing like Magic Carpet in New York," Karetny continues. "We have great restaurants, but nothing like the Magic Carpet and no one quite like Helen."
In her years of serving food to Penn's campus, Yocum has not just worked as a food vendor, but has also focused on creating relationships with those she serves in hopes of brightening their day.
"I always love to see them leave with a smile on their face. I really end up creating a personal bond with a lot of these kids. I watch a lot of these kids grow up," she says, adding, "Sometimes I cry when they leave."
In many ways, Yocum treats her clients as if they were members of her extended family, which already includes her fianc‚, three grown daughters and four grandchildren.
Oh, and Helen's favorite dish? Marinated tofu with honey dijon, although she admits she enjoys just about everything she serves.
