New York Street Food

(credit: NYSF)

For some reason, we’ve never been to Kwik Gourmet on 47th St just west of Park Ave. They are the little brother to Kwik Meal on 45th St & 6th Ave, who are 2-time Vendy Award Finalists, but every time we’re in the area, there are so many food trucks on 47th St that we pass Kwik Gourmet by.

Not yesterday. There were at least 8 food trucks in the immediate area, but we stopped at Kwik Gourmet and ordered grilled shrimp over rice. The menu said $9, but we were charged $9.50 when it arrived. Oh well, that’s 50 cents less into the tip jar.

(credit: NYSF)

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(credit: NYSF)

We’re thankful to have engaged readers giving us tips on a regular basis. We’re not one of those websites with a bunch of writers on staff. Despite the use of “we” in our writing, New York Street Food is one person covering the street food scene in one of the largest cities in the world (plus a few other cities on occasion).

The latest great tip to come our way was from Anne of City Spoonful, who told us about a new cart on West 4th St just east of Washington Square Park called Traditional Chinese Food. Anne raved about the cold spicy noodles.

That sounded so good we wanted to try it, but just like some new vendors have a learning curve before they get to where they want to be, we had a learning curve on this new cart, and did not order what we wanted.

Neither the chef nor his partner outside the cart taking orders and handling the money spoke English, including many of the food terms. We had to point to something on the menu and use gestures to get our point across.

It was kind of like being in China, but we were just in the Village! And just as if we were in China, we made a mistake that affected our entire order.

fried chicken (credit: NYSF)

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(credit: NYSF)

It’s not too often that we get downtown, but when we do, Veronica’s Kitchen is usually near the top of our list. If it’s a Friday, even better. That means fish!

We went there on Friday, and while it took us a while to get lunch, it was ultimately worth the wait.

Veronica’s Kitchen had several kinds of seafood available, including fried whiting, steamed king fish, shrimp curry, bake & codfish, shrimp roti and either fried or steamed red snapper. We got steamed red snapper, and it cost $10, and came with 2 side dishes.

(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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Manos Peruanos (credit: NYSF)

We’ve become big fans of Peruvian food in the past year or so. We didn’t know anything about Peruvian cuisine until Morocho popped up on Union Square West last year.

A few months later, Manos Peruanos appeared on 47th St between 6th & 7th Ave. Between the two, we’ve gotten a crash course in Peruvian food.

As we often say, keep an eye out for Daily Specials, which usually make good use of fresh and seasonal ingredients. Sometimes that means fish, one of our favorite foods to eat.

Manos Peruanos had escabeche de pescado as yesterday’s Especial de Hoy, and it cost $10. No worries if you don’t know Spanish. Just about everything on the menu was shown in both Spanish and English.

(credit: NYSF)

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