Manhattan street carts
I heard great things about 53rd and 6th. Is it all it's cracked up to be? Any other suggestions?
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I've been eating lunch at a halal cart twice a week for 4 years on the upper east side and have never had a bad one! (I order the same thing because it's just too good to not order!). The place is in front of Hunter College on 68th street between Park and Lexington. Order the chicken over rice with onions, I love their homemade tahini and hot sauce on top (if you're nice they'll throw in a couple falafel balls, as well!)
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Some of my favorite carts are 28th and Madison (he goes to 25th at 6th at night), 28th and Broadway, and 30th and Broadway. All have great lamb and chicken platters. The Madison/6th truck gives you a huge amount of food for $4, the 30th cart has great rices and cooks in vegetables w/ the meat well, and the 28th guys have great fries and are really friendly. I'm not a fan of white sauce, so can't comment on the quality of that aspect of things.
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re: joeyz
TongoRad
Apr 2, 2008 05:34 PM
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but this seems like as good a place as any to comment on this cart (Madison at 28th)...
Prices have gone up by a buck, but still a heck of a lunch. The thing to get is the combo platter for even a little extra ($6)- quite fragrant basmati (though there are three rices to choose from) with chicken, lamb gyro, doner, falafel, and fries. The white sauce is tasty, and the hot sauce is respectably spicy.
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re: MIKELOCK34
Mike: Thanks for posting that article.
The tricky thing about the stree vendors is that they tend to be around for business-hours only... am I right? (Mon through Fri: until 5pm)
So if you're hankering for street food late on a weeknight or on a weekend, they're much harder to find...
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jfood
Apr 4, 2007 10:11 AM
Kwik Meal (47 and Park) and Rafiqi's (52 and Park) for the last two days.
R - Lamb and Sausage combo $5 (although the sign says $4.25) . Nice amount of lamb from the Gyro cooker and a wee bit of sausage. Excellent and the white sauce on top was pretty good, but could use a little more umph. I would not go with the sausage combo again since there was so little it did not make a difference. I will definitely return.
KM - Lamb over rice $6.25. Little chunks of lamb over lots of rice with a little lettuce and tomato and yogurt dressing. They place some of the green sauce on top of the meat (i do not think it was their famous hot sauce, because it was not). The meat was tender and nicely seasoned, the rice and salad were what they were. Yogurt sauce was nice. I felt they sorta skimped on the lamb, though. Not a whole lot for $6.25 from a street cart.
Major score in line at KM today since Lindt hired a bunch of kids to give away their new gold bunny chocolates and the cart was under scaffolding. They kept coming up to me with a handful. I must have scored 20 of these things. BTW they are very good, but hollow.
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re: eatfood
Rafiqi's is essentially a chain of carts that are all over the city. The original Rafiqi's was listed as "best street food" in a New York Magazine article a few years back and I guess he went ahead and built carts and placed them in more locations. There are 4 carts that I know of. The food is okay not great. The lamb taste like the same stuff as at all the other carts all over the city but the hot sauce is better than most. It's not as good as the cart on 56th.
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Jaunitas Pizza truck, best square pizza, 47th St. near Park... it is too, very fresh, like grandma used to make!
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Yes, but don't forget Quik Meal - on 45th and 5th I think? I forget the exact intersection, but the lamb gyro is fantastic...if you do a quick search on the board you'll probably be able to check the cross streets.
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re: theannerska
Kwik Meal is great but is not a lamb gyro. They sell chunks of lamb (or chicken) either on rice or pita. If you like it spicy, ask for the nuclear green sauce. Great taste but very hot and they only put it on if you ask for it. If you don't, you'll get the standard, and good, jalapeno sauce. They are located on 45th and 6th and also on 45th and 5th. There used to be a third cart on 46th and Madison but I haven't seen it recently.
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re: jfood
E Eto
Mar 1, 2007 10:24 AM
You're concentrating too heavily on the chickpeas. It's the gestalt of the whole package. The fruity chili sauce, their white tsatziki-like yogurt sauce work really well with the spicy chickpeas (dried out or not). Perhaps it's too bold for you. Keeping with the nearby street food scene, I find these falafels better than the "traditional" ones at places like Moshe's or Kosher Deluxe. I do like the falafels at House of Pita though.
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re: E Eto
jfood
Mar 1, 2007 11:33 AM
I'm a simple kid from NJ. I'm not looking for fusion, gestalt or the meaning of life in a falaffel. I want it fresh, tasty, cooked properly and served with a nice tahini sauce, some lettuce and tomato, and value (hey it's street food. Three little overcooked spicy balls with what you tell me is a fruity chili sauce and a pseudo tahini just confirms that the Emperor is alive and well at 45 and Park selling falaffel and clothes.
I will try the Lamb and Rice next time. Seems to be consistently good reviews. The construction worker next to me the other day was raving about it and I doubt he was looking for any gestalt with a side of fusion, just some good old-fashioned street food.
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re: jfood
E Eto
Mar 1, 2007 12:36 PM
However simple your tastes are, I think there's a place to appreciate a delicious, though inauthentic version of a falafel from a stand. I find it to be one of the best things that they offer at Kwik Meal. It's OK to admit that you don't get it. There are plenty of those who do.
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re: E Eto
jfood
Mar 1, 2007 02:40 PM
Double E, I am a simple kid, but I have excellent tastes, thank you. I do get it, I just do not think the Kwik Meal falaffel is that good. Its overcooked, etc. as mentioned above. I am not looking for gestalt or fusion in simplicity or in a falaffel from a street vendor.
As Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".
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re: theannerska
NAtiveNewYorker
Mar 23, 2007 06:11 PM
The chicken and lamb at Kwik Meal is too tough and gristly. I've tried it twice now. The "falafel in a pita" is very good. Avoid the lamb, chicken, and rice (white and bland).
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If you like dirty water dogs, theres a cart on the corner of 52nd and madison that sells em for a buck per. the hot dogs are simmering with a tomato, a lemon and some onions. for some reason this combo makes em taste really good. the larger spicy hot dog that the guy sells for 1.50 is even better. i like mine with hot sauce, ketchup, mustard and onions.
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guttergourmet
Feb 28, 2007 05:07 PM
The 3 greatest carts are : Daisy May's for a bowl o red chili; hallo berlin for any wurst combo with potato salad, red cabbage, sauerkraut, sauce and mustard; and Tony Dragonas for chicken souvlaki on a pita with tsatsiki
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re: jfood
guttergourmet
Mar 1, 2007 11:22 AM
spring through summer there's a daisy on park and 47th-in winter over on 6th and 49th?-Most of the time hallo is on 54th and fifth and tony is always on 62nd and Mad-try his burger too-charcoal grilled.
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re: jfood
guttergourmet
Mar 1, 2007 06:10 PM
Double-G? Now I'm going to have to reserve that domain name too (in addition to guttergourmet.com).
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re: guttergourmet
Tony's is the absolute best - the kind of street meat!!! Huge sliced chicken cutlets, not the bits and pieces of meat as at most other carts. He even made into the New York Magazine's Cheap Eats issue with a rave. Utterly amazing, delicious, generous, clean, efficient and compares favorably to many restaurants. Try the grilled chicken platter and salad.
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I recently tried to Dosa Man in Washington Square Park and loved his food! It's vegetarian, so dont go if you need meat in your meal. The Dosa Man himself was so friendly -- the whole experience was great.
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re: davisready
Not surprising...a dosa! When I went I told him that I'd never been, so I'd have whatever he thought was best and would be the best first meal from the Dosa Man. He gave me the Pondicherry masala dosa filled with curried potatoes and a onions, peppers, tomatoes, and other veggies I think. He said it's the most popular item. I also tried a samosa, which was very good, although it was very filling and was a bit much with the dosa.
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re: emgoodman
NAtiveNewYorker
Mar 28, 2007 10:26 AM
Just had two dosas today. Didn't like either of them. As a gyro adict, I guess prefer, for my street sandwich, a thick starch exterior (a pita) to a thin exterior (a crispy thin crepe). I do love French crepes, but somehow it didn't translate for me into Indian.
Tried a number of the fried bits that he stacks up behind the grill. Only the samosa gets an A+.
I'm in the minority, so YMMV.
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the cart on 53rd and 6th is very good. one of the only places where you can get good, cheap, late night grub in that area. lines are generally horrendous, although sometimes when the weather's bad you don't have to wait so long.
on weekend nights, expect to wait an hour or more. lots of really loud, drunk, annoying college kids waiting on line, cutting in with their friends, being really rude and obnoxious, and sometimes starting random conversations with you (although that can be amusing). on a weekday night, i've waited as little as 5 minutes and as much as 45. really depends when you go. btw they're open from about 7-7:30 until 4 or 5 am everyday.
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Gluttonous Prime
Feb 28, 2007 10:55 AM
53rd and 6th does have tasty food, but IMHO, it's not worth the wait. There's a Sammy's Halal cart on East 4th and Broadway that serves much better stuff. Sammy's also has a cart in Queens and recently won the Street Vendor award.
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re: eatfood
Ike
Feb 28, 2007 03:19 PM
Not actually on a corner, but on the south side of E. 4th just east of Broadway, between Broadway and Lafayette. I had a gyro pita from there a few weeks ago and it was good, but nothing mindblowing IMO. I've had equally good or perhaps slightly better gyros from carts near Broadway and Houston, but the problem with them is that there are too many of them and I get them all confused. (Some are on Houston just east of Broadway and others are on Broadway just north of Houston, but aren't always there. One of those guys definitely hasn't been around recently, perhaps due to winter.)
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re: Ike
eatfood
Mar 1, 2007 08:20 AM
From what I've noticed, the guy on Houston, east of Broadway, only shows up when the weather is nice (like yesterday). He's been missing a lot recently b/c of the cold weather it seems.
The guy on Broadway north of Houston just hasn't shown up much at all this winter. I haven't' seen him in a while.
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re: eatfood
Ike
Mar 23, 2007 06:28 PM
Oh, and to make matters even more complicated, sometimes there's more than one cart on Houston just east of Broadway, or more than one on Broadway just north of Houston. Maybe that's in the summer. On the hottest day last summer, when it was literally about 100 degrees outside, I got a really great pita from one of the guys on Broadway just north of Houston, but I think two guys were out there that day. Heaven only knows which one it was.
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NAtiveNewYorker
Feb 28, 2007 09:02 AM
It IS all it's cracked up to be. Somehow all the basic ingredients (shaved meat, white sauce, hot sauce, rice, and pita) work better for them than for any other meat+rice stand.
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mangiabeve
Feb 28, 2007 07:45 AM
jimmy's on 47th st just west of 2nd ave... good dishes, clean stand, greek cook. average price $6. never got sick. has chicken, souvlaki, gyro, steak, burgers, all w rice and salad... then he has chicken burgers, meatball heros and a lot more.
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re: desertruger
NAtiveNewYorker
Mar 21, 2007 09:15 AM
Yes it is. Just had a perfect Gyro there today. Nicely chopped meat, warmed pita, good sauces (white and red), perfect size.
They pulled a "Katz'" They gave me a taste of the meat as they carved it. Useless...but nice.
Thanks for your tip. I went because of your 2/28/07 post.
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re: desertruger
Good and bad: Rafiqi's hot sauce is the best, chicken is good, lamb is fatty but flavorful.
The worst is the assinine server on 52nd/Park who tried to give me a previously-rejected, cold box he already served. I didn't think anything of it at first and then I sat down and it was a complete mess of all the sauces and meats. Gross. He didn't say a word when I took it back and wanted a fresh one.
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