New York Street Food

When I went to the Bryant Park Holiday Market right after it opened, I didn’t see Mmm…Enfes until after I already had lunch that day – but it sure looked like it was worth going back for another day.  Today was that day.

Mmm…Enfes has a selection of Turkish foods including several types of boreks and golzeme, plus baklava and one or two other desserts.

For Today’s Lunch, I went for a cheese rose borek with parsley ($6.50) and a beef & onion golzeme ($6).  I wanted to try more than one thing, but wasn’t sure if one item would be enough for lunch (spoiler alert, it was).

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The Pera Turkish Tacos truck at Tavern on the Green is the 1st food truck in NYC to be given a liquor license by the NYS Liquor Authority.   By next week, Pera’s Turkish Tacos will offer beer, wine and cocktails (vodka, rum, gin, tequila and whiskey based, including frozen options) during regular operating hours.

But don’t think about taking your drinks into Central Park.  Consumption will be limited to the truck’s assigned seating area in the Tavern on the Green Food Truck Terrace, which is located just south of the intersection of W. 67th Street and Park Drive in Central Park. (more…)

Guerrilla Ice Cream tweeted this YouTube video around earlier today showing a Turkish ice cream vendor having fun with a Japanese tourist.  Their comment was  “I think we could learn a few things about the theater of serving ice cream from this guy…”

Our 1st thought was “How the hell does the ice cream stay on the cone?”

Then our 2nd thought was “New Yorkers would never stand for this sort of nonsense.”  But then again – New York tourists would.

NYSF Update – 10/19/10:  I received an email from a representative of Pera who told me they are currently operating with a temporary truck while their permanent mobile food unit is being built.  They expect to have that truck in place at Tavern by mid-November and it will enable them to expand the menu a bit, as well as offer seasonal specials.

NYSF Note: I’m currently in London for 10 days, but will be posting reviews of some lunches I haven’t had a chance to post yet.  First up is Pera Turkish Tacos from the new Tavern on the Green food truck plaza which I went to last Friday, the first day it opened.  Here’s my review.

When I heard about the new food truck plaza where Tavern On The Green used to be (CPW & 67^th St), I had to check it out.  In place of where one of the most famous restaurants in the world used to be, there is a new state-of-the-art NYC Visitors Bureau and an open plaza with 4 food trucks permanently parked there – 2 of which were familiar with and 2 which were new

The familiar trucks were Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream and Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, both of which I’ve written about before, so I won’t talk about them now.

The 2 new trucks were Ladle of Love, a soup and stew cart, and Pera, which has Turkish Tacos.  Guess which one I wanted to try first?

Pera is a Turkish restaurant located at 303 Madison Ave, between 41st & 42nd St.  Now they have a truck, and it had two types of tacos with several choices of fillings – lavash bread tacos and zucchini pancake tacos – as well as a hummus bar (3 types), several side dishes, desserts and hot & cold drinks.

Today’s Lunch is lavender & honey roasted chicken on lavash bread ($3.50) and smoked lamb on a zucchini pancake ($3.75).

chicken taco on lavash bread (top) and smoked lamb on a zucchini pancake (bottom)

Below is their full menu.

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I love anything made with phyllo dough.  I’ve enjoyed “cigars” at some of the Mediterranean street food vendors like Bistro Truck and the Comme Ci, Comme Ça Truck.  When I was in Washington DC last week, I also had cigars as an appetizer at a Turkish-American  restaurant that were very light and flaky, but were filled with ricotta cheese and herbs, not meat.  You can easily make vegetarian cigars with potatoes, or substitute ground lamb for ground beef if you prefer that.

This recipe is courtesy of the Utne Reader.

Sigara Borek (Turkey)

Meat filling ingredients:
–2 tablespoons olive oil
–1 lb. lean ground beef
–1 onion, chopped
–2 garlic cloves, minced
–4 tablespoons pine nuts
–2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
–3 teaspoons dried oregano
–1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
–Salt and pepper to taste

Wrapping ingredients:
–1 egg
–1/2 cup olive oil
–2 tablespoons milk
–1 lb phyllo sheets (about 18)
–2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion begins to soften, then add minced garlic and pine nuts. Saute for an additional 1-2 minutes or until pine nuts begin to turn golden.

Add ground beef to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add cinnamon, oregano and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, olive oil and milk. This mix will be slightly thick and will be used to moisten the phyllo dough.

Take a sheet of phyllo dough and lay it out on a flat surface with the longest side facing you. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with a moist towel until ready to use. Lightly brush the left half of the phyllo with the egg mixture. Gently lift the right side of the phyllo and fold it over the left side. The phyllo dough will now be half the size of when you started and you will now have the shortest side facing you.

Brush the top of the phyllo with the egg mixture. Take 1/4 cup of the beef mixture (make sure it has cooled) and place it 2 inches in from the nearest edge of the phyllo and leave 2 inches of spaces on either side of the meat. Fold in each of the long sides by 2 inches. Beginning at the edge closest to you, fold the narrow end over the meat mixture. Continue rolling the dough away from you as you form a cigarette-shaped roll. When you near the end, brush the final 2 inches with the egg mixture. Fold the roll over this final bit of dough to seal it. Place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Before baking, brush the tops and sides of each roll with more of the egg mixture. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Feta cheese, potatoes or other vegetables can be substituted for minced meat.