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:

Freddy wrote: “So King of Falafel & Shawarma Express is ready, now going to wait till the winter is over hope at the end of February.”

Freddy is still being coy about where he plans to set up shop in Manhattan once winter ends.  As soon as we hear, you will hear too.

If you cannot wait that long, you can always visit his original cart, which is only 1 block from the Broadway stop on the N train in Astoria.  We took a quick ride out there last spring, and it was well worth it.  Below is a photo of our lunch that day, which included his oval shaped falafel.  It was delicious!

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

I’ll get back to the Bird’s Nest later, but first let’s talk about the chicken shawarma sandwich.

The sandwich was very thick and stuffed with all sorts of goodies.

In addition to tons of roasted chicken, there was shredded red cabbage, lettuce, tomato, a generous amount of tahini sauce, and at my request, hot sauce.

The sandwich had a nice kick from the hot sauce, and the tahini had a creamy sesame taste.  The chicken was all white meat, and as I said, there was a large amount of meat in the sandwich.

This was a delicious and quite filling lunch by itself, but I still had the bird’s nest.  Luckily, it was fairly light, with layer upon layer of phyllo dough tinged with honey.  On top of the nest were a bunch of pistachio nuts, some chopped and some whole.

The bird’s nest was tasty, but it did get a little dry about halfway through.  With all the phyllo and the nuts, it could have used more honey.

Today’s Lunch from Rainbow Falafel was good.  I really enjoy their chicken shawarma sandwiches, which are a good value at $5.75. I haven’t tried a lot of desserts from Rainbow Falafel, but would probably try a different one next time.  The baklava looked like it was worth a try.

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.

When I unwrapped lunch, I saw this was a jam-packed sandwich – and as vegetarian as it gets.

Inside a warm, soft pita were slices of fried (but not breaded) eggplant, hummus, tahini, Israeli salad (i.e. chopped cucumber & tomato), hard-boiled egg slices, and a slightly spicy sauce called amba that had a lemony, mango taste.  One thing the sabich sandwich did not have is falafel.

It doesn’t get any better than this!  In the past, I was never a big eggplant fan, but the sabich sandwich was one of the things that converted me to liking eggplant, as was the eggplant schnitzel from Schnitzel & Things.

The variety of tastes and textures was exceptional – soft eggplant, creamy hummus, eggs with a citrus sauce, chopped cucumbers – all in the same bite!

Today’s Lunch was not from a street vendor, but Taïm does have a food truck, Taïm Mobile.

The sabich sandwich was tasty, filling, and relatively healthy compared to my usual lunches.  The sabich sandwich is only on the truck occasionally, so if you see it, make sure to try it…or you can just stop by their store in the West Village.

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?)

The main course consisted of two kofta kababs that were just under 8″ long each. Yes, I measured.  That’s well over a foot of kofta kabab.   (There are about a million jokes I could make here, but I’ll leave that up to your fevered little imaginations.)

In addition to the kofta kabab, there was a full complement of yellow rice, hummus (top left), babaganoush (top right), pita bread, and as I said, they even tossed in a large falafel ball and tahini sauce (top center).

The salads come with the platter, but I think they threw in the falafel and tahini because they saw me taking pictures around the truck, and thought maybe I was important.  Lesson: If you want people to think you’re important, take some pictures.

You could tell the kofta was cooked on a kabab because there was a small hole in the center from being on a skewer.  The kofta wasn’t heavily spiced – in fact it could have used a little more in the spice department – but it was good, especially combined with some of the salads and condiments that picked up the flavor.

The best way to eat this was to tear off a piece of warm pita bread, break off a piece of the kofta, and put a little hummus, babaganoush or tahini in the pita with the meat.  Adding a dash of hot sauce made it even better.  Rotating among the salads and tahini gave me a good variety of flavors to go with the kofta kabab.

The hummus was lemony and tasty, although it wasn’t creamy smooth like the hummus at Taïm.  That’s ok, very few are.  It was still pretty good.

The babaganoush was even better, with pieces of eggplant and a surfeit of sweet roasted red peppers.  My favorite part of lunch was eating bite-sized pieces of kofta, babaganoush and hot sauce in pita.

The yellow rice was fine, with some carrots and peas in the mix.

The last thing I tried was the falafel ball, which was larger than at similar lunch places.  It was crispy on the outside and soft, green and herby on the inside.  It even gave off a little steam as I bit into it.

The falafel was a tiny bit dry, but dipping the falalfel into the tahini sauce solved that problem.  The tahini was smooth, and had a great sesame flavor.

Wow, this was a lot of food for $7!  And I was just getting back to normal after Thanksgiving.

Today’s Lunch from Ambizza Cafe was good, with a lot of variety.  With the meat, salads, bread and rice, if you didn’t care for one thing, there was plenty more to choose from – but I did like everything.

It was also an excellent value, especially with a free soda and tax included in the $7.  The only thing I didn’t like was there were no prices on the menu on the side of the truck.  They had paper menus with prices, but everything on the menu was well priced, so it wasn’t a big problem.  On the Mediterranean menu, platters were either $6 or $7 and sandwiches were $4.

Was it the best kofta kabab in NYC?  Probably not, but it was still an enjoyable lunch, made even better by the salads included in the platter.

The menu is large, with all sorts of sandwiches and platters, including hamburgers, roast beef, pastrami, parmigiana and more.  They serve breakfast too.  I’m not sure how everything else is, but Today’s Lunch was good.

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.

Crisp on Wheels has taken the opposite path of many food trucks.  The usual trajectory is for someone to open a food truck, then open a restaurant, as was done by Schnitzel & Things, Souvlaki GR and countless other food trucks.

Crisp on Wheels had several brick-and-mortar locations in the city, and then opened a food truck, which is not unheard of, just less common.

I’ve had a couple of lunches from Crisp on Wheels that were good, and wanted to try something new.

Today’s Lunch is the Acropolis ($8.75) from Crisp on Wheels.

As you can infer from the name, the Acropolis is a Greek-themed lunch.  Olives, feta cheese, lettuce and vinaigrette dressing are placed atop hummus.  Four falafel balls are added in the corners of the platter, and a small container of tahini and a large pita bread are also included.

The first thing I did was to break off a piece of pita bread, which was fluffy and soft.  You get a choice of white or whole wheat, and I went for white.  I scooped up some hummus and lettuce with the pita and took a bite.

The hummus had a light lemony flavor, and was pretty creamy and smooth.  It was very nice with the pita and lettuce, and later on with some olives and feta cheese.  You can see there were plenty of olives and feta in the salad.

I picked up a falafel ball, which was pretty big, and took a bite.  It was crispy on the outside, but still moist on the inside. It has a light, herby flavor, and was even better dipped in the tahini, which was a creamy sesame sauce.

Today’s Lunch from Crisp on Wheels was enjoyable.  It was a little expensive for falafel ($9.53 after tax), but the food was fresh, the quality of the ingredients was high, and the Acropolis was an interesting twist on the standard falafel platter.

You can find Crisp on Wheels on twitter here, or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed, which has more than 80 other vendors.

I’ve had a number of excellent falafel sandwiches from Taim Mobile, but never had one of their platters.  I figured with the rain, lines would be shorter, but it was only a little shorter than usual.  Today’s Lunch is a falafel platter ($10) from Taim Mobile.

Taim’s falafel platter comes with six falafel balls, hummus, quinoa salad, Israeli salad and pita bread.

Taim’s falafel is crispy and brown on the outside, but an intense green inside, with lots of herbs.  They come in a separate bag, but I cut them open and put them into the hummus.

The falafel were hot and steamy and still moist on the inside.  Delicious, and even better with the hummus.

Taim’s hummus is rich and creamy with just a touch of lemon.  Some hummus can be grainy, but Taim’s was creamy and excellent.

The two salads were very good too. I really liked the quinoa salad, which had some chickpeas and herbs, and I particularly liked the dried cranberries, which added some fruitiness.  The Israeli salad was good too, but I’m not a big fan of tomatoes, so I preferred the quinoa salad.

Last but not least was the pita bread, which was thick and fluffy and warm.  It was brushed with sesame seeds and olive oil, and was strong enough to scoop up hummus and falafel without breaking.

When I first got my lunch, it seemed like a lot of food, but after I was done, I wasn’t stuffed like with some other street food lunches.  Taim’s food is healthy and very tasty, but you feel good after eating a full lunch, not overstuffed.

With food this consistently good, I expect Taim Mobile to be nominated for a Vendy Award this year.  With the Vendy Award nominations expected any day now, I guess we’ll know soon enough.

I stopped by Gorilla Cheese NYC recently, but haven’t had a chance to post a review.  They had an interesting lunch special that day – homemade falafel, muenster cheese, tomato and tahini sauce on French bread ($6.50).

James from Gorilla Cheese told me a lot of people think French bread means a baguette, but it’s not.  His French bread is more similar to white bread in shape and size, but it’s a little thicker, and holds up to grilling better than white bread.

I also ordered tater tots ($2.50) and asked for some of his dipping sauces to try, of which there were 4 different types.

The sandwich was perfectly grilled to a golden color, but the secret weapon was the falafel.  It was homemade, but had a bit more kick than much of the falafel out there.  When I say kick, I don’t mean heat, I mean it was well-spiced, not bland.

The falafel was complemented by a mild muenster cheese and some tomato.  Very tasty sandwich guys.

The tater tots were crisp on the outside and soft inside, and as I said, there were 4 dipping sauces – vidalia onion, balsamic glaze, sweet chili and ginger.

The vidalia onion was smooth and creamy, the ginger was reminiscent of the soy & ginger dipping sauce you get with Chinese dumplings, the balsamic glaze had a vinegary bite and the sweet chili is just what it sounds like, a sweet and spicy dipping sauce.  How much you like each of these will depend more on your taste than the quality, because they were all good.

In a short period of time, Gorilla Cheese NYC has become a stalwart of the New York Street Food scene.  Their food is inventive and done well, and they are building up a nice following.

This week’s special sounds pretty good t00 – a beef patty melt: beef patty, muenster, pickles and sauteed onions.

It was a beautiful day Saturday, and there were two new food trucks parked in Hoboken that I have been wanting to try – Two Pitas In A Pod and La Bella Torte. While it’s not always the case, we generally have dessert after lunch, so check back later for a First Look at La Bella Torte.

My wife and I walked a few blocks over to Christopher Street, got on the PATH, and took it 1 stop to Hoboken.  It was faster for us than going to much of Manhattan, not to mention Brooklyn, Queens or any other borough.

I heard good things about the food at Two Pitas when they were at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea.  With two of us, we could try a few more things than if I was by myself.  I asked Athos what he recommended, and he suggested the lamb kefta kabob, classic falafel and Pod fries.  Sounded good.

lamb kefta sandwich

While we were waiting for our food, we could see Athos zesting a bunch of fresh lemons.  When was the last time you saw that on a food truck?

First to emerge was the lamb kefta sandwich ($9.50), which had Israeli salad, grilled onions, tahini, tzaziki sauce, and several pieces of grilled lamb kefta on pita bread.

Being a gentleman, I handed the sandwich to my wife, who took a bite and said “this meat tastes like it’s homemade”.  We asked Athos where he gets the lamb kefta, and he said they buy halal lamb, grind it up themselves, and add their own blend of spices.  Damned if it wasn’t homemade kefta!

It had a little charring around the edges, and was very juicy and tasty.  This is probably the first time I’ve had homemade kefta, and you could immediately tell the difference.

The lamb kefta stood up well to all the other fillings, and this was one of the juiciest, tastiest sandwiches of this type I’ve had.  Yes, $9.50 is a little on the high side for a lamb kefta sandwich, but the meat was homemade, the other ingredients were fresh, and the sauces were very good too.  I always say that I prefer to pay a little more for higher quality food than to pay less for lower quality food.  This was the former.

Next to emerge from the truck were the Pod frites ($4), which were their version of Greek fries.  They were hand-cut, twice-fried potatoes tossed with garlic, parsley, feta cheese and that fresh lemon zest.  You get a choice of 3 aioli dipping sauces – chipotle, charred tomato and roasted garlic.  We got the charred tomato.

The Pod frites were very good too.  This was a pretty big portion, and most of the bites had feta and the various spices.  The frites were cooked just right, with some crispy and some a little less done.  The charred tomato dipping sauce was a brilliant way to have a light, creamy tomato sauce to dip the frites in.  Much better than ketchup, which is what I usually put on my fries.

The last item we tried was the classic falafel sandwich ($5.50), which had 5 falafel balls and Israeli salad, tahini, pickled white cabbage, and white bean hummus.  You can see how overstuffed the pita was – bit it didn’t fall apart.  A little of the Israeli salad fell out on the first bite or two, but there was so much stuff in this sandwich, it really didn’t matter.

The falafel balls were well done, and inside they were a vibrant green color, and spiced perfectly.  The tahini and all the fillings were good, but in my opinion, their secret weapon (besides the falafel) was the white bean hummus.  It was creamy and delicious inside the falafel sandwich.

This was a great NYSF First Look at Two Pitas In A Pod.  The food was very fresh, and they used different spices really well.  This was definitely one of the more enjoyable lunches I’ve had recently.  Athos and Scott have food as good as any other truck out there, and better than a lot of brick and mortars.

It’s easy to find Two Pitas In A Pod in Hoboken or Jersey City, but if you can’t do that, make sure to check them out at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Food Truck Bazaar the 2nd Sunday of every month through October.

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We had a NYSF First Look at Crisp on Wheels in early May and enjoyed a Crisp Africa sandwich that day.  It was time to try another dish from Crisp On Wheels.

Today’s Lunch is a Crisp Mexican Salad ($7.75), which comes with falafel and a choice of white or whole wheat pita bread.

The Crisp Mexican consisted of lettuce topped with tomatoes, corn, guacamole and red beans, 4 pieces of falafel and tortilla chips.  I also got a white pita bread.

There was a lot of corn, tomatoes and red bell pepper, and everything was nice and cold, which was refreshing on a hot day like today.  I’m not a big salad eater, but with falafel, guacamole, tortilla chips and pita bread, I can do just fine.

The falafel were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and pretty tasty.  They added some heft to a salad that might not have been enough for lunch otherwise – but with the falafel and pita, there was plenty for lunch.

The pita bread was fairly thick, but it had a lightness that belied it’s thickness.

Lunch also came with a green jalapeno dressing that was quite herby tasting, and it went well with the falafel and the rest of the salad.

Today’s Lunch from Crisp On Wheels was very nice.  It was not as heavy as their falafel sandwiches, which makes it a good candidate for a summer lunch in hot weather.