New York Street Food

We don’t usually go to the huge food trucks events because the lines can get ridiculous.  Who wants to wait on long lines for food, drinks and dessert all day, especially on a holiday weekend with sunny weather in the mid-70’s?  Not us.

Because I enjoy all these great street food vendors during the week, it’s not that big a deal to get them all in one place on a Sunday – but if you can’t visit these vendors during the week, I guess this might make sense.

We try to show up early because the lines at these events always increase as the day progresses.  We were on the 12pm ferry and got to Parked by around 12:20 – and it was already very busy.  By the time we looked around to see where everyone was, the lines we already quite long, the longest being the Red Hook Lobster Pound.

We went for the shortest line, the former (kosher) Green Taste Truck that was bought by the Desi Truck owners and converted into a 2nd truck serving the Desi Truck menu – 4 kinds of kathi rolls, chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, chicken biryani, and vegetarian fare like dal and vegetarian platters.

Even the shortest line took about 40 minutes, but while we were waiting, someone in front of us got a “chicken & waffles” cupcake from a friend who just came from Robicelli’s.  They said it was pretty interesting, and would have been excellent if the chicken was hot, but it was lukewarm.  It was also $4, which seemed like a lot for a piece of fried chicken on a small cupcake.

By the time we got to the Green Taste Truck window, the only kathi roll they had left was paneer masala.  The guys just in front of us got the last chicken anda kathi roll (chicken and egg), so we took the last paneer kathi roll, a chicken tikka masala and a Snapple, and headed to the waterfront.  I’m sure they made more later, but it was really hit and miss in terms of what they had at the time.

We found a nice spot on a small patch of grass by the bike path with a great view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and downtown Manhattan.  Even Jersey City looked nice today.

The paneer masala roll was very nice, with paneer cheese, potato and red onion in paratha bread.  The chicken tikka masala was decent, but not earth-shattering.  I definitely prefer their kathi rolls, and was disappointed that service was so hit-and-miss.

As far as the Desi Truck, the original yellow one is at 27th & 5th during the week, and the owner said the Green Taste Truck will be at 39th & 6th full time for lunches during the week.

There really wasn’t any point in going back to Parked to wait on line for an hour for something else, so we walked around Governors Island, which was very enjoyable, and when we wanted a drink, we went over to Water Taxi Beach.  The line for food there was also about 45 minutes long, but we had already eaten – and the line for the bar was only 10 minutes!  Score!

We got a couple of drinks, went over to a picnic table, took our shoes off, and hung out on a beach with our feet in the sand and a gorgeous view of downtown.  The only downside to Water Taxi Beach was an abundance of yellowjackets.  They really liked my wife’s drink, and started to get annoying after a while, so after 2 drinks, we walked around Gov Island some more, then headed back to Parked to see meet someone from RTL Television (Holland) who recently contacted me about being their “street food expert” for an upcoming segment on the Vendy Awards.

Parked was still stalled.  The lines were even longer then when we left 2 hours earlier, and there was no point in getting on another long, slow line.  We met Felicia from RTL Television, talked for a while about New York Street Food, the Vendys, and other assorted topics, then headed for the ferry home.

What can we say about Parked?  I’m sure it was great for the vendors, every one of which had long lines all day, but it was terrible for street food fans.  All we can say is Parked was probably the best advertisement for Water Taxi Beach they could have.

On August 25th, I was interviewed by Lucas Green for WNYU’s “Citywide” show.  We covered a whole range of topics including this year’s Vendy Award finalists, street food around the world, how tough it is to be a New York Street Food vendor, and how to safely enjoy street food.

If you like street food, click here to listen to the full interview.  You may even find some new vendors to try.

banh-xeo

I recently did a couple of radio interviews, one on WOR and one on WNYU.  Both interviewers asked me the same question, as have many other people – Aren’t you worried about getting sick, and how do you prevent it?

Cassandra James, a long-time resident of Thailand, recently published an article with some tips on how to safely eat street food.

Some of her ideas we’ve been telling you about for a while, such as eating at the most popular street vendors with the longest lines, and making sure the food has not been sitting around.  Some of her other ideas are just common sense, like avoiding mayonnaise.  A few ideas were new to us, such as eating more vegetable and less meat dishes.

Click through for the rest of her tips about eating street food safely.  A few minutes reading this could save you a world of sickness.

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Here’s a pretty cool video of Chinese street food scenes including a friendly bread man in Lanzhou, dumpling ladies in Gansu, a Qingdao dumpling pictionary, egg crepes in Beijing and my favorite – surly noodle slicers in Xi’an.

NYSF Update – I heard from Souvlaki Gr today (Sat) and they will not be in midtown on Monday.  With the demands of serving lunch in midtown and the upcoming Labor Day holiday, they decided that another week downtown would help smooth out any rough edges.  They expect to be serving lunch in midtown after Labor Day.  They also sent me an updated menu, which can be viewed here.

I’ve been following the new Souvlaki Gr(eece) truck on Twitter since they tweeted on Aug 4th – “Souvlaki truck passed it’s inspection today…so proud, we are.  Gettin’ ready, folks! Guess i better crack open my “twitter for dummies”!

And I couldn’t wait to try their food – authentic Greek souvlaki, priced well.  Check out the full menu on their website.

They had a soft launch this week on Houston St in the Village which is a smart move – not starting out in the crazy environs of midtown.  Mexicue started in midtown before all the kinks were worked out, and the lines and waits were ridiculously long.  Starting out evenings in the Village should give Souvlaki Gr a little room to get everything running smoothly, and they told us they will be serving lunch in midtown starting Monday (Aug 30th).  How was the food you ask?  Find out after the jump.

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