New York Street Food

After having a First Look at the Palenque truck last week for dinner, we stopped by for lunch in midtown to get a good look in daylight.  Now you can see just how nice the truck is.

We enjoyed dinner from Palenque, but there were still some dishes we didn’t get to try last week.

For Today’s Lunch, I had beef arepas ($8) and a cheese empanada ($3), while my friend had cheese arepas ($5).

beef arepas

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When I was walking home through the Village last night, there was a group of about 10 NYU students around a new food truck on Washington Square South that I had never seen before called Palenque.  The sign on the side of the truck said Home Made Colombian Food, with paintings of macaws.

The woman at the window named “nena” told me they have been around for about a month, and they have been trying different areas for lunch and dinner to see what works best.

The menu was mainly arepas, but there were 4 different types of arepa bases, and about 8 different types of toppings.  I had to bring home dinner for 3, so we all got to try a few different things, including dessert.

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A couple of months ago, we saw an item in the NY Times Tasting Table newsletter about a new little storefront near Penn Station called Shachi’s that serves authentic Venezuelan arepas and empanadas.   We tried Shachi’s back in July, enjoyed it, and added them to our Honorary Street Food category (storefronts with little or no seating serving food considered street food in their home country).

For Today’s Lunch, we went back for a return visit to Shachi’s at 319 West 35th St (btw 8th & 9th Ave) and chose the reina pepiada arepa ($7) and the carne mechada empanada ($2.25).  The reina pepiada arepa has shredded chicken potato salad and avocado. They also offer takeout combos of 1 arepa, 1 empanada and a soda for $9, which is a good deal.

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I saw a little item in the NY Times Tasting Table newsletter last week about a new little storefront near Penn Station called Shachi’s that serves authentic Venezuelan arepas and empanadas.  Now that’s something that will catch my attention!  We’re always looking for new places to add to our Honorary Street Food category, and Shachi’s, at 319 West 35th St (btw 8th & 9th Ave) seemed like a good candidate.

Inside the narrow space was one small table with 2 stools, but the menu looked really interesting.  There were 15 different arepas, 9 different empanadas, and 7 different entrees – and one of their lunch combinations is an arepa, an empanada and a soda for $9.  This sounded like a good choice for my first time there.

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I’ve previously heard about El Guayaquileno, an Ecuadorean food truck that parks on 37th St just west of 6th Ave, but didn’t have a chance to try them until today.  I’m not usually near the Garment District, but made my way over there today to try them out.

If you’re expecting tacos and other Mexican-type food, you will be sorely disappointed.  But if you want interesting South American fare, definitely give them a shot.

A guayaquileno is someone from Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, and the country’s largest port.  This means they have several fish dishes, but there are also grilled meats and stews, including goat stew, which is not too common around here.

Today’s Lunch is fish encebollado (stew) for $8.

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