New York Street Food

(credit: NYSF)

We went over to midtown’s Food Truck Central last Thursday for lunch. Food Truck Central is not an official designation, but on 47th St between Madison & Park, on Park Ave between 47th & 48th St, and across Park Ave towards Lexington, there were about 10 food trucks. That doesn’t even count the Mister Softee and Frozen Yogurt trucks.

On Park Ave by 47th St was a new food truck we had not seen before called Bread & Olives. They describe their food as Authentic Lebanese Cuisine, with falafel, shawarma, hummus and the like as their mainstays. After eating lunch, we had some correspondence with Janah, the chef and owner (?).

We ordered chicken shish tawouk in a deluxe platter, which comes with fries and hummus for $7. You can also get it over rice for the same price, or in a sandwich for a buck less.

(credit: NYSF)

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(credit: NYSF)

When that craving for chicken over rice hits, you need to know the best place near where you are at the time. There are halal carts on just about every corner of midtown and downtown, and you need to know which ones are better than the others.

We were recently by 3rd Ave & 52nd St when the craving hit, and we spotted an XPL cart. There’s another XPL cart on 3rd Ave around 48th St, and an XPL truck on Park & 48th, but we were by 52nd St & 3rd.

If you can find a good chicken over rice vendor, it’s easy on the wallet. This lunch cost $5, which is about average for halal cart chicken over rice.

(credit: NYSF)

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Has it really been 3 years since we’ve been to the Chef G. Halal & Healthy cart on East 55th St. It used to be called 100% Halal & Healthy Food, along with a sister cart on 54th & Park, but it looks like Chef G. has struck out on his own since we last went there.

Back then, the cart was on the NW corner of 55th & Park, but with the construction of a new office tower, Chef G. has been forced to move across Park Ave to the east side of the street.

No worries! It seems like most of his regulars still know where to find him, with a regular stream of customers coming and going from the cart.

We were originally turned on to this cart by Eric B., a NYSF reader who thought the food here was better than your average halal cart…and he was right!

We’re too small a website to cover every corner of the city, so please tell us if you know of any street vendors who excel.

We wanted to try the salmon over rice, but Chef G. told us it takes 10-15 minutes to cook, and we had a scheduled conference call to make. That’s how we ended up with grilled chicken and roasted veggies over rice for $7.

(credit: NYSF)

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As a small operation, we don’t have the luxury of reporters scouring the city for us, finding the best street food vendors. What we do have (besides our love of great street food) is people who want to tell us about their favorite places to eat on the street.

This NYSF Guest Post comes from Antony LaBozzetta, who loves the K Brothers Halal Food cart near his office in Chelsea.

(credit: A. LaBozzetta)

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(credit: NYSF)

We were in the Midtown South area recently and needed to get lunch. We’ve seen the Buona Journata truck a couple of times in the past, but never pulled the trigger. The truck is on the SE corner of 28th St & 7th Ave, across the avenue from FIT.

While the truck’s name is Italian (for “good journey” we believe), the truck itself doesn’t look like anything special. They have a fairly standard breakfast cart menu and a halal cart lunch menu. There were several people around the window though, which is usually a good sign.

With this being our first time at the truck, we asked a couple of guys what they suggested, and one had just ordered a chicken gyro and the other had ordered chicken over rice. We decided to get the chicken over rice, which is what every halal vendor is judged on. It cost $5, which is cheap for chicken over rice.

(credit: NYSF)

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