New York Street Food

On my last trip to LA, I stopped by the West LA Din-Din-A-Go-Go, where there were about 10 different food trucks.  Last night, I went to the Los Feliz Din-Din-A-Go-Go, where there were about 7 different food trucks.

This time, it was a little easier to choose which truck to try for dinner, since there were a few I had previously been to, such as Canters Deli, Mandoline Grill and Coolhaus (whose NY truck we just had a preview of last week).

The truck with the biggest line was also the one at the top of my list – Willoughby Road.  Their tagline of Classic Southern Cuisine Redefined sounded great, and their menu looked even better.

“A Stop At Willoughby” is also one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, so anything with that name gets a try.

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It took less than a year, but Mexicue, a 2010 Vendy Award Finalist in the Rookie of the Year category, is the next food truck to be opening a restaurant.

As mentioned in the NY Times, Mexicue will be opening a two-level restaurant by Madison Square Garden and Penn Station at 345 Seventh Ave at 30th St.

Hopefully, this will cut down the lines at the truck for lunch!

Almost (I said almost) makes me wish I had to commute on the LIRR again, as I did right after college.

This will definitely add another option near Madison Square Garden besides Gyro II to eat at before concerts and games.

It will be great to finally be able to enjoy Mexicue’s BBQ/Mexican fusion tacos and sliders with beer!

They even put up a teaser website for everyone to track the progress.

How does a food truck stay fresh in the challenging New York street food scene, where there are new trucks coming out seemingly every week?

If you’re Mexicue, a 2010 Vendy Award finalist in the Rookie of the Year category, you do it by crowdsourcing menu ideas.

Each month, Mexicue will feature a new “monthly ingredient” and ask people to submit recipes using that ingredient.  The public will then vote on the menu ideas, and the winner’s recipe will be featured on the Mexicue menu for a month.

The winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Mexicue, 2nd prize is a $25 gift certificate, and 3rd prize is a $10 gift cerificate.

The recipe should be consistent with their menu, which has a variety of tacos and sliders, and incorporates aspects of Mexican and Southern American Barbecue.

So what’s the first monthly ingredient?

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Ed's Lobster Bar

The World Financial Center is kicking off the spring season with the return of its food kiosks and the opening of a Greenmarket on Thursday, April 7^th.

Food kiosks from Ed’s Lobster Bar and Quality Burger will be back again, and a new Fatty Cue food kiosk will be opening within the next few weeks.  Click here for Ed’s Lobster Bar menu and here for the Quality Burger menu.  We hear that Quality Burger will also be giving away free samples tomorrow.

All food kiosks will open daily at 11am for lunch and dinner, and they will be open through October 31st.

The Greenmarket will be open every Thursday from 11am to 7pm, and will have a season that extends through mid-December.  Participating Greenmarket vendors include: Migliorelli Farm, Red Jacket Orchard, Not Just Rugelach, Meredith’s Bread, Stony Mountain Ranch, MK Orchid Farm, Cranberry Creek Farm, Newgate Farms and Castello di Borghese Vineyard.

Both the Greenmarket and food kiosks are at the World Financial Center Plaza in Battery Park City, just outside the Winter Garden atrium fronting the Hudson River.

Quality Burger

One of the places Mike from Austin Food Carts recommended for my visit was Along Came A Slider.  He said they have real gourmet sliders, and his two favorites were scallop and lobster sliders.  That sounded awesome, and they were at 5th & Trinity, right in the middle of the SXSW madness.

When I got to the truck, I told Tyler, the chef and owner that Mike had recommended his scallop and lobster sliders, but Tyler said they had to cut down the menu for SXSW.  I didn’t realize that some of the more adventurous trucks and trailers were going to cut their menus down for SXSW, but in retrospect, it makes sense.  With such a large number of people, you need to keep things moving quickly.

And the WD Pig ($5) sounded like a real tasty slider anyway.  BTW, WD stands for Wired & Drunk.

Tyler (smiling in rear)

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