New York Street Food

Num Pang's grilled coconut shrimp sandwich

One of our favorite sandwich shops in the city and a charter member of our Honorary Street Food category, Num Pang, has something very special going on right now.

As detailed in the NY Times yesterday, Num Pang currently has a program where guest chefs will create special sandwiches – and $6 of the $9.75 price is being donated to the Food Bank for New York City and the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

Click through for details on the first guest chef, what sandwich they created, and how long this special will be available.

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I spend a lot of time in the Union Square area, and when I’m in the mood for a nice fat, tasty sausage, a good place to go is Sausage Inc, a member of our Honorary Street Food category.  They are located at 106 University Place, between 12th & 13th St, where I stopped over the weekend.

They have 6 different types of sausages, a bunch of sauces, some sides and condiments, and seating for no more than 8-10 people, a strict requirement for our Honorary Street Food category.

The first time there we enjoyed what they suggested, a Farmer’s Sausage.  This time we chose for ourselves and went for the Chipolata ($6 after tax).  I know it sounds like a new Starbucks drink, but it’s actually a pork and chipotle sausage.

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(photo from the summer)

I was near Union Square around lunch, and I haven’t been to Num Pang in quite a while.  Num Pang is a small storefront located at 21 East 12th st between University Place & 5th Ave, with a few seats at counters upstairs.  They are one of the main reasons we started an Honorary Street Food category.

For new readers who may not be familiar with Num Pang, it’s the Cambodian version of banh mi.  There are a few differences, but the quality of the food at Num Pang is usually so high, it appeals to lots of different people.

We’ve had just about everything on their menu, but still stop by when the need arises. We also want to see if anything new is on the menu.  Today we found 2 new menu items, one for veggies and one for carnivores.

There was a spicy organic tofu with a ginger-soy-honey glaze and leeks ($7 plus tax), which sounded pretty good.  But Today’s Lunch is grilled khmer sausages with Asian slaw ($7.50 plus tax), which they dub Brooklyn Bangers.

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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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I’m not usually in my neighborhood for lunch, but I happened to be recently, and ran across a great soup and sandwich place called Better Being Underground.  It’s a little tricky to find, and they are only open Mon-Fri from noon-3:30pm, but they are worth seeking out.

There’s a sandwich board sign on the corner of Seventh Ave South and Leroy St, and if you walk a few steps west on Leroy St, you’ll see a sign resembling a subway sign with an arrow pointing down a short flight of stairs.

After walking down the stairs, there’s basically a counter and menus where you order, but there’s no place to sit down. Take-out only.  Halfway up Leroy St is James Walker Park where you can sit and eat lunch if it’s nice out.

Walking down the stairs, I remembered that I had walked down these stairs before, probably 15 years ago.  This space used to be  Other Music, and it was a very cool record store (remember those?) that is now on East 4th St.  At the time, they sold used vinyl and CD’s, and I picked up a few things there many years ago.

I still love music, but just as my tastes and interests have shifted away from music and more towards food, so has 55B Leroy St, a former music store that now serves food.

For my first time here, I went for The Charro ($10.99), a delicious steak sandwich that I will tell you more about after the jump.

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