New York Street Food

Freddy Zeidaies, the King of Falafel & Shawarma who won the Vendy Cup & People’s Choice Award at the 2010 Vendy Awards, is ready to cross the East River and open a second outpost in Manhattan.

Last night Freddy posted the following message on his facebook wall:

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I was in the Union Square area for an appointment and decided to stop by Rainbow Falafel for lunch.  They are in a tiny storefront with no seats on 17th St, a few stores in from Union Square.  We made them a member of our Honorary Street Food category in 2010, and wanted to check in again to see if things had changed.

Rainbow Falafel has excellent falafel, but they also have a big spit of chicken roasting behind the counter used for making chicken shawarma.  That was Today’s Lunch, and it cost $5.75.

I don’t often get dessert with lunch, but Rainbow Falafel has several types of fresh Middle Eastern pastries for sale that looked great.  The Bird’s Nest ($3) looked tasty, so I got one for after lunch.

Bird's Nest

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photo: Taim website

I was over by 7th Ave in the Village around lunchtime, and decided to stop by Taïm since I had never been there before (the restaurant, not the truck).  My wife wanted falafel, and you can’t get any better than Taïm, at least according to Serious Eats, who named Taïm as having the Best Falafel Sandwich in New York last year.

My wife went for the regular green falafel sandwich ($6.25), although calling this regular falafel seems like a crime.  I went for the sabich sandwich, which they have occasionally on the truck, but is a regular menu item at the restaurant.

Today’s Lunch is a sabich sandwich ($7.25) from Taïm at 222 Waverly Place, just off 7th Avenue and West 11th St.

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I was near Grand Central for lunch and stopped at the Ambizza Cafe truck that was parked on Vanderbilt Ave by 46th St.  I have seen them once or twice before, but this was the first time I had a chance to stop.

Seeing the truck’s side, it was easy to decide what to get – their sign says “The Best Kofta Kabab in NYC”.  How can you pass up an opportunity like that?

Today’s Lunch is a kofta kabab platter ($7) from the Ambizza Cafe truck.  You can see there was a lot more than kofta kabab and rice on the platter – and they give you a free can of soda too.

(Does anyone else think this looks like Krusty the Clown with a mole?)

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Taim's sabich sandwich

Eater reports that Taïm, the West Village falafel storefront with the Vendy Award nominated food truck, will be moving into the space formerly occupied by Rocky’s Italian Restaurant for the past 30 years in the heart of Little Italy.

According to Eater, Rocky’s was the victim of failed lease negotiations with its landlord.

These days Little Italy is a shadow of what it once was.  It’s mostly tourists and the bridge-and-tunnel crowd that goes to Little Italy these days for Italian food.

New Yorkers know that Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is the place to go for an authentic Italian-American experience.