New York Street Food

West 46th St between 5th & 6th Ave regularly has one or two food trucks parked towards the 6th Ave end.  Today Korilla is there, and I passed the Aamir cart on the way to Korilla.  It smelled so good, I changed my plans in mid-block, and I’ve had Korilla plenty of times.  Always looking for something new to try.

Even though the sign says Aamir Halal Food, the menu is much more Indian, which is where the fragrant aromas came from.  Indian food is always so aromatic.

Aamir has regular halal fare (falafel, chicken and/or lamb over rice), but there is also Indian food like chicken or veggie biryani, sweet chili chicken, samosas and Today’s Lunch – chicken tikka over basmati rice ($6).

There were a couple of things that happened on line that I want to share with you, so click through for that, as well as a review of Aamir’s chicken tikka over basmati rice.

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Carnegie John hard at work over the summer

Long-time NYSF readers know how much I love Carnegie John’s food, who I believe serves the best chicken over rice in midtown.  Newer readers, pay close attention.

Carnegie John’s cart is on West 56th St, just east of 7th Ave (right behind Carnegie Hall), where it has been for over the past 10 years.  Before that, John learned the business at the knee of Tony Dragonas, who was a Vendy Award finalist in 2005, the very first year they were held.

There are a few things that set Carnegie John apart from the chicken over rice at most other street vendors. See what they are after the jump.

Today’s Lunch is chicken over rice ($6.50) from Carnegie John’s.

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Yesterday was the last day of the year for Bistro Truck, so I headed up to the Columbia Food Pod to get one last meal to hold me until 2012.  (Bistro Truck will be part of this week’s MasterCard free lunch giveaway on Thursday, but with a limited menu.)

I spoke with Yassir for a while yesterday about his plans, some of which I can tell you and some of which he asked me to keep confidential for now.

First, Yassir is going back to Morocco next week for a little while.  He will be looking for “inspiration” from the street vendors there, and will also be working on a couple of projects while in Morocco.  When Yassir returns, he will be fixing up the truck, revising the menu, and he has another surprise in store that I will tell you about when he is ready for it to be public.

After our conversation, I had chicken tajine for lunch ($10).

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Even though food trucks get all the press these days, there are some great food carts in NYC too like Biryani Cart, Bapcha and lots of other ones.  I’m always on the lookout for a food cart that stands out from the pack, and today as I was walking by the NE corner of 7th Ave & 49th St, I saw the Fouda Food cart.

The grill looked pretty much like most of the other halal carts, but there were 3 types of rice, and above that, 3 containers of fresh, brightly colored veggies.  I didn’t care so much about the sausages on the left, but next to that were broccoli, carrots & falafel balls, red & green bell peppers and sliced onions.  You can see the colors are much more pronounced than at most halal carts, which usually means freshness.

I ordered chicken over rice with white sauce and hot sauce ($5), and he threw in a falafel ball for me to taste as well.

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I needed to be near Herald Square for lunch today, and happened to see Adham’s halal cart on the north side of 35th St just west of 6th Ave.

I can’t remember where I  I saw that name before, but I do remember someone recommending Adham’s cart.  I didn’t have a lot of time today, and Adham’s was right there, so I ordered a chicken over rice platter for $5.

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