Street Eats: Red Curry Grilled Seitan Baguette & Dessert from The Cinnamon Snail

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Cinnamon Snail line (the middle truck)
Cinnamon Snail line (the middle truck)

The Cinnamon Snail is always cooking up new specials, but they are so popular, we need to have a quiet day at work to be able to spend that much time on line for lunch.

Yesterday was that day, and it was also gorgeous out, so we didn’t mind spending 30 minutes on line waiting to order. (And another 10 minutes after ordering before getting lunch.)

The Weekly Special looked particularly scrumptious, Red Curry Grilled Seitan on a baguette for $10.

We have no willpower, especially with sweets, so it’s exceedingly difficult for us to get lunch at the Cinnamon Snail without buying dessert. In this case, it was a chocolate peanut butter cheese donut for $3.

(credit: NYSF)
(credit: NYSF)

The Cinnamon Snail may be vegan, but you certainly couldn’t tell from the lunch we unwrapped.

The grilled seitan had the look, and almost the texture, of chicken. It didn’t taste like chicken (unlike alligator, rattlesnake, and every other funky animal people eat), but the look and texture of grilled seitan does help us psychologically get over the non-meat aspect of lunch.

(credit: NYSF)
(credit: NYSF)

There were a bunch of grilled red onions on the sandwich, and a generous helping of arugula added a touch of bitterness with the greens.

The sauce was really good too. It was creamy and had some red curry flavor, but was not too strong or spicy. We’re not a huge fan of lemongrass, but the flavor worked well on this sandwich.

The menu said something about the sandwich having coconut bacon, but we taste find anything that could be interpreted as coconut or bacon.

This week’s special was good for people who want some curry flavor, but not the spiciness. Adam’s dishes are often fiery, but we only had a light tingle on our tongue afterwards.

And then there was dessert…

It was tough to choose, but we settled on a chocolate peanut butter cheese filled donut.

It was very peanutty, and the filling was thick and dense. On the other hand, the pastry part of the donut was light.

We also enjoyed the glaze on the donut that added another layer of taste and sugary sweetness.

(credit: NYSF)
(credit: NYSF)

There’s no question how the Cinnamon Snail won the 2013 People’s Taste Vendy Award. They are one of the best food trucks in the city. Just make sure you have 30-45 minutes to get lunch. (You won’t need much time to eat, because we inhaled that sucker fast.)

You can find the truck’s exact location on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

We fully expect the Cinnamon Snail to be a finalist for the Vendy Cup again this year. Announcements should be coming any day now.

If they are nominated again this year, we’ll see if they follow the path of Biryani Cart or the King of Falafel & Shawarma. The former won the People’s Choice Award two years in a row, but never won the Vendy Cup. The latter won both the People’s Choice Award and the Vendy Cup (in the same year!). Good luck to Adam, Sean and the gang.