New York Street Food

(credit: NYSF)

If you enjoy Middle Eastern food, Toum is a definite step up from the unnamed halal carts that populate most corners of midtown and downtown Manhattan. Yes, they are also a little more expensive, but the difference in price is readily apparent in the food.

We have enjoyed several nice lunches from Toum (which means “garlic” in Arabic), but haven’t had a chance to try their go-to dish, chicken shawarma. A couple of times previously, the chicken shawarma sold out before we got there.

This time it was a cold and rainy day, so there was very little chance of the chicken shawarma selling out before we got there. A sandwich costs $7 and a platter is $10, and we went for the sandwich.

When you see what this sandwich looks like being made, you’ll see why it sold out before we could order the last two times we were there.

(credit: NYSF)

(more…)

(credit: NYSF)

Last time we went to the Go Burger truck, we were a little surprised to see falafel on the menu. We were thinking about fried falafel balls stuffed into pita bread, which seemed like a weird thing for Go Burger to serve. What we didn’t realize at first glance was they are now serving a falafel BURGER. Now the world makes sense again!

The falafel burger is one of the least expensive main items at Go Burger, for $6. With no meat included, we would be shocked if it wasn’t.

Since we had a few extra bucks in our pocket by ordering the falafel burger, we also ordered a shake shot for $1.

(credit: NYSF)

(more…)

(credit: NYSF)

One of the reasons people often cite for liking food trucks is the value proposition.  Food trucks are supposed to serve great food at less than brick-and-mortar prices because they have lower fixed costs.  That doesn’t always seem to be the case though.

We’ve been to Crisp On Wheels before and enjoyed The African, which had a spicy peanut sauce.  This time we went in a totally different direction and ordered The Parisian, but it cost $9.53 after tax, which is quite a bit for a falafel sandwich.  Let’s see if it’s worth the money.

(credit: NYSF)

(more…)

There was BIG news last week in the New York street food world.  Fares “Freddy” Zeidaies, the King of Falafel & Shawarma, who won both the Vendy Cup and the People’s Choice Award in 2010, opened a new, 2nd falafel cart in Manhattan.

We stopped by the cart opening day for a combo platter, but had to go back a few days later to try one of his signature dishes – a falafel platter.

One of the reasons Freddy’s the King is because he knows how to treat his customers well.  The line was pretty long, but Freddy had an assistant go to the end of the line every 10 minutes or so to hand out free falafel to everyone waiting.  Nice touch!

The falafel were nice and crispy on the outside.  Inside, not only were the falafel soft and moist, but they were actually fluffy.  There was also a small kick of spiciness in the falafel.

This is a king who shares the wealth with his subjects.  In other words, his prices are excellent.  I got a falafel platter for $6, and a falafel sandwich is $4.  You can see the new cart’s menu here.

The platter had 5 big pieces of falafel, plus lots of other stuff.  There were pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato and pickled turnips, which are the purple strips in the photo.

You can choose from 3 sauces, or do what I did and get them all.  There’s a white sauce, a sesame tahini sauce, and a hot sauce.

Earlier this week Freddy tweeted about his first Yelp review, where the person said the hot sauce wasn’t really that hot.  Freddy took that as a challenge, and really kicked up the heat on his hot sauce.  Just how I like it!

This was an excellent lunch at a great price.  Not only is it one of the best falafels around, but you won’t find a nicer vendor on the the street than Freddy.  He clearly loves what he’s doing.

The King of Falafel & Shawarma is on the NW corner of 53rd St & Park Ave from 11am-3pm.  Expect a line when you go, but if it’s long, maybe you’ll get a free falafel while you’re waiting.

You can follow the King on twitter here, but he doesn’t change locations, so it’s used more for posting photos and reviews.

Yesterday was the first day for the King of Falafel & Shawarma’s new cart in midtown, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing.  Last night Freddy tweeted “okay first day just flashed away so fast , i may(be) did not please every one or i was not fast enough , but promise to make it better.” It didn’t help that two of his employees didn’t show up on this special day – or should I say possible ex-employees.

I got to the NW corner of 53rd & Park at 1:05, so I have no one to blame but myself for having to get on the end of a 30-person line. Luckily, a friend happened to be 2 people ahead of me on line, so the time passed fairly quickly with someone to talk to.

I got a combo platter, which had falafel, chicken shawarma and beef-lamb shawarma.  At $8, the combo platter is the most expensive dish on the menu.  You can also get a falafel sandwich for $4, and there are several sandwiches and platters in between.

The sauces get a little messy because Freddy tops the platter with a warm pita bread before putting on the lid, but don’t let that photo fool you – this was an awesome lunch!

(more…)