Regular readers of NYSF (and many other people too) know that one of the best lunch deals in midtown is 2 kati rolls for $6 from Biryani Cart on 46th St just west of 6th Ave.

They have 6 different kati rolls to choose from – 4 chicken and 2 vegetarian options – with varying degrees of heat, from mild to spicy habanero (which will set your tongue on fire).

My favorite kati roll is the Chennai roll, which has chicken in a sweet and spicy chili sauce, but I wanted to try some of the other choices.  Today’s Lunch is a King Koti roll and a P.W.C.D. roll from Biryani Cart for $6.

No matter which kati roll you select, it will come on chapati bread, which is thinner than naan and pita bread, but strong enough not to break with lots of food and sauce inside.  Most of the kati rolls have shredded lettuce inside too.

I started with the P.W.C.D. roll, which had a fried egg layered on the chapati bread with potatoes, scrambled eggs, onions and lettuce.  The roll had a spicy chili mayo sauce that really kicked things up, making it a pretty spicy lunch for vegetarians.  This was an excellent kati roll, even without meat.  Who says vegetarian food has to be bland?  This was bursting with flavor and a decent amount of heat.

King Koti roll

Next was the King Koti roll, which has tikka glazed chicken, onions, lettuce and a slightly spicy sauce.  The cubes of tikka glazed chicken were very tasty, and the sauce was a little spicy, but not as much as the P.W.C.D. roll.  This was a very enjoyable kati roll.

Today’s Lunch was another excellent kati roll combo from Meru and the Biryani Cart crew.  With lunches like this (and many others), it’s easy to see why there’s always a line for lunch at Biryani Cart – and why they won the People’s Choice Award at both the 2008 & 2009 Vendy Awards.

Another way to try a few different things at Biryani Cart is to try their combo platter.  Meru told me he now has a combo platter with biryani, a kati roll and a samosa.  I forgot to ask how much it was, but nothing at Biryani Cart is more than $8, and plenty of lunches are less.

I’ve been telling you about all the new menu items from Biryani Cart/Juicy Wings – such as hot wings and cheese steaks – which they are serving at their new, 3rd cart across 46th St (by 6th Ave) from their 2 original carts that serve Indian food.  Meru has expanded again, and the 2008 & 2009 People’s Choice Vendy Award Winner was in the new cart today doing the cooking himself to make sure everything was up to snuff.

Today’s Lunch is peppercorn cheese steak ($4) from Biryani Cart.  I was curious about the wings, but they were already sold out when I got there, so the choice was fairly easy.

After grilling the meat, onions and peppers, Meru put 2 slices of cheese on it all, let it melt, then transferred it all to bread, on which he had previously put some lettuce and tomato.   Peppercorn sauce was then put on the sandwich, and the container was closed up and given to me.

Since the sandwich was served open faced, it was pretty thick when I closed it up.  The steak wasn’t really thick, but there was plenty of it, and it was nicely grilled.  The onion and peppers were nicely grilled too.

What really set the peppercorn cheese steak apart from other cheese steaks was the peppercorn sauce.  Man, it was hot!  Peppercorns can be pretty hot, but it looked like there were some chilies in the peppercorn sauce too.  I could tell from the little bit of orange oil that came off the sandwich – and the extra level of heat.  Meru really knows how to do hot and spicy!

Today’s Lunch was an excellent value at $4, and if you like a lot of heat, get the peppercorn sauce.  If you don’t like heat, leave off the peppercorn sauce, and this would still be a pretty good cheese steak sandwich.

Now if can only get my hands on some of Meru’s Juicy Wings, all will be well with the world.

Last time I went to Biryani Cart in mid-December, there was a new cart next to it with a Biryani Cart/Juicy Wings sign that had an interesting assortment of wings with 4 types of sauces, as well as cheese steak, peppercorn cheese steak and deep fried shish kebab (?!).  The owner, Meru, told me they were going to be serving these items after the new year.

Well, I went back today to check out the wings…and they were a no go – but Meru promised they would be serving the Juicy Wings menu starting next week.  I hope so, because these certainly look like tasty sauces for wings.

As I mentioned in the mid-December post, Biryani Cart did have a few other new dishes, so I got to try another one for Today’s Lunch – boneless fish curry for $7.

I like to get fish for lunch whenever possible because I’m the only one in my house who likes fish, and I only get it eating out.  A boneless fish curry from Biryani Cart – the 2008 & 2009 People’s Choice Vendy Award Winner – should be worthwhile.  Click through to see more on Today’s Lunch.

The first thing you notice, as is often the case with Indian food, is the aroma.  Indian food is wonderfully fragrant.

There were 2 pieces of fish over an orange basmati rice, with a small salad on the side.  The fish was lightly breaded and one fillet had white sauce on it, while the other had hot sauce on it.  Both fillets had fresh cilantro on top.

I’m not sure if they meant to separate the sauces or have some of each sauce on each fillet, but this had the effect of one fillet being spicy and one being a little creamier and less spicy.  It may have been an accident, but I did feel like I got 2 somewhat different fillets in the same lunch…and I mean that in a good way!

The fillets were boneless as advertised, and 2 of them for $7 was a decent value.  Fish is usually pricier than other dishes.

The rice was a thin basmati rice with saffron and other spices that gave it an orange color.  It was cooked well, and tasted even better with the juices and sauces underneath the fish.

Today’s Lunch was very good, and I recommend it if you like fish.  Some people think you have to be crazy to order fish from a street cart, but Biryani Cart is no ordinary street cart, and this lunch was proof that Meru knows what he is doing – as if 2 People’s Choice Vendy Awards weren’t proof enough!

new Biryani Cart menu items

I haven’t been to Biryani Cart since the summer and was in the mood for Indian food, so I headed to the SW corner of 6th Ave & 46th St.  I have been to Biryani Cart many times, but it’s been a while, and today it was almost like going to a whole new place for lunch!

The Sandwich Land cart owned by Meru (Biryani Cart’s owner) was not there any more, and in it’s place right next to the original Biryani Cart was a cart called Juicy Wings.  They aren’t serving wings until Jan 2nd (more on that below), so I moved over to the original Biryani Cart right next to it – and they had a bunch of new menu items too!

Meru has been a busy man.  I guess you don’t win the People’s Choice Vendy Award 2 years in a row (2008 & 2009) by staying static.

new Juicy wings cart sign

Today’s Lunch is one of Biryani Cart’s new menu items, Kashmiri Chicken Curry ($6).  Other new menu items were channa dal, goat biryani and fish curry.  Don’t worry, they still have the same wonderful kati rolls and of course, biryani dishes.

Kashmiri chicken curry

I’ve always liked Kashmiri food – and not just because it’s one of my favorite Zeppelin songs.  I always liked creamy Indian sauces such as korma, and chicken Kashmiri is similar, although not nearly as creamy.  The sauce wasn’t spicy, but as lunch progressed, the heat quotient built up from the hot sauce on top.  If you don’t like spicy food, this lunch without hot sauce is a good option.

The chicken is a combination of white and dark meat, but it’s so soft, tender and nicely spiced, and it falls apart in your mouth.  I’m not sure if it was the chicken, Kashmiri sauce or rice (probably all of the above), but there were lots of spices in this lunch – certainly clove, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, pepper and who knows (besides Meru) what else.

There were also lentils on top of the chicken, and they weren’t soft and mushy either.  The lentils still had some body to them, but weren’t hard.

As always, Biryani Cart’s basmati rice is very good – thin grains of rice seasoned well and not overcooked – but when I got to the bottom of the platter, there was more oil than expected.  It wasn’t enough oil to put me off, but I was somewhat surprised.

Today’s Lunch gets an 8.5 out of 10.  There was plenty of really good chicken that had been stewed in a semi-creamy Indian sauce with flavorful rice.  I eagerly ate it all – and wanted more afterwards!

As I said, there were a couple of other new menu items at the original Biryani Cart, and I’ll probably have the fish curry one day – but what looked really intriguing was the new Juicy Wings menu.

Juicy Wings menu

Triple X Fahrenheit, Texas Ranch, Sweet Wasabi Rooster and Sriracha Wings, all from $5-$6, with Basmati rice, salad and bread for $1 extra.  The other side of this sign (which you can’t see) also lists Philly cheese steak, peppercorn cheese steak and deep fried shish kebab (spicy yakitori style) on a skewer or in a pita.  Wow!

I may not have been to Biryani Cart in a few months, but I’ll certainly be there right after the New Year to check out Juicy Wings!

There’s a small Lebanese place nearby (in Kensington) that appears to have good shawarma and falafel, and  I hope to check out the Brick Lane Sunday Market which has Tibetan momos, Jamaican meat patties and banh mi.  Think I’ll skip the jellied eels though!

Today’s Lunch is the kati roll combo from the award-winning Biryani Cart at the SW corner of 6th Ave and West 46th Street.  Biryani Cart was the People’s Choice Vendy Award Winner for 2009 and 2008.  You can’t win the People’s Choice award two years running without something great, so here I go.

The owner, Meru Sikder, was in the cart, so I asked him which kati rolls he suggested, and he recommended the chennai roll and the spicy buradi roll.

First up, the chennai kati roll, which had grilled chicken in a sweet chili sauce, with a little lettuce, onion and sweet pepper.  There were chunks of both white and dark meat, and none of the chopped chicken I’m not crazy about.  It had some heat from the chili sauce, but the sweet and hot was a great combination.

The sweet chili sauce was reminiscent of the sauce I’ve gotten in the past from Chinese restaurants listed on the menu as “shrimp with chili sauce”, but this was better.  It wasn’t swimming in the sauce; the sauce was a complement to the chicken.  The naan bread was good, too.  It held up to the fillings, but was not overly chewy.  Very nice.

Next up was the spicy buradi roll. It was listed one the menu as grilled chicken with a spicy mint habanero sauce.  It had the same high-quality grilled chicken, also with lettuce, peppers and onions, but with habanero peppers instead of sweet peppers, and a spicy mint sauce which was a little creamy.

The mint flavor came through the habanero peppers nicely, and the sandwich was definitely spicy.  At first I thought the chennai roll was spicier, but about halfway through the buradi roll, the heat turned up a notch, and it lived up to its name.  It wasn’t a sweet heat like the chennai roll, it was more of a straight-up heat.  Wonderful!

Don’t ask me which was better, because they were two very different tastes.  I also had their chicken tikka kati roll at the 2009 Vendy Awards, and it was very good, but not spicy.  I definitely enjoyed these more, but the chicken tikka roll would be a good choice for someone who does not like spicy food.

At $6 for your choice of two kati rolls, I can’t think of a better quality lunch for the price.  Today’s Lunch was a definite winner.

Last Friday I was involved with a film shoot at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck for Eat Street, a show being produced for Food Network Canada.  On Thursday, they were filming at the Biryani Cart, and I stopped by to meet the film crew.

By the time I got there, around 1:15, the filming was mostly over, so it turned out to be a good time to meet the crew: Peter (Director), Lori (Producer) and Shane (Cameraman).  There were a couple of other people hired locally to help out too.

About 5 minutes after I got there, the owner of the Biryani Cart, Meru, came over and offered to provide lunch for everyone.  Peter, Lori and Shane got the chicken biryani, and Pat (a local hire) and I got the chennai (rhymes with henna) kathi rolls.  While Meru’s biryani is very good, my favorite dish is the chennai kathi roll, which is the subject of Today’s Lunch.

The main ingredient in chennai kathi rolls is that orange-colored tandoori chicken cut into bite-sized pieces.  It’s put into nan bread with onions, lettuce and a spicy-sweet chili sauce, then rolled and wrapped in wax paper.

The chicken was a mix of white meat and dark meat, but there was none of that funky stuff you sometimes get with dark meat chicken.  The onions and lettuce were nice additions, and the bread was good too.  It held everything together well without being too obtrusive.  The bread had a bit of a doughy taste, which was fine with all the strong flavors going on inside the roll.

IMHO, what puts this dish into the stratosphere is the amazing sweet & spicy chili sauce, which is exactly what it sounds like – sweet and spicy.  The contrast between the sweet and spicy works perfectly with the chicken, onions, lettuce and bread, and makes this one of my favorite lunches since starting New York Street Food.

Peter and Lori really enjoyed their chicken biryani lunches, too (below).

Today’s Lunch gets a 9.5 out of 10.  It’s easy to see why the Biryani Cart has won the People’s Choice Vendy Award for the past 2 years.  Can Meru pull a three-peat in 2010?  Check back in September to find out.

If you missed your chance to be on Eat St yesterday, a show being filmed this week in NYC for Food Network Canada,  you have 2 more chances.

They were filming at the Schnitzel & Things truck yesterday, and last night we heard from Blondie, who will be the “street food expert” being interviewed at the Biryani Cart (above) today around lunch.  Try to make it down to the Biryani Cart today if you can.  It’s on the SW corner of 46th St & 6th Ave.

Your last chance is tomorrow, when they will be filming at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck on the NW corner of Broadway at 17th St from 1-3pm.  I will be one of the “street food experts” being interviewed, along with Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats.  Come on by and say hello (and possibly be on Food Network Canada).

A couple of months ago, we were contacted by Paperny Films, a Vancouver based company producing a show for Food Network Canada called Eat St.  They were looking for experts and opinions about the best street food in New York City and wanted our thoughts.

New York Street Food (and a bunch of other people) gave them opinions, and this week, they are here filming.  We understand the street food vendors being filmed are Schnitzel & Things, Biryani Cart, Ed’s Lobster Bar Kiosk and the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.

Paperny will be filming Schnitzel & Things today (Wed) on Park Ave between 26th & 27th St between 11:30 and 2:00.  Everyone who can should head down there to support Oleg and company, and at the same time, eat some wonderful schnitzel (and possibly be on Canadian TV).

On Friday, Paperny will be filming the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck on Broadway & 17th St from 1-3pm, and yours truly will be the “street food expert” being interviewed for the show.  Come on down Friday to Union Square to show your support for Doug & Bryan, and to enjoy some amazing ice cream.  It’s supposed to be in the mid-90′s Friday, so I’m glad I pulled ice cream duty.

When I was at the Biryani Cart last week on the SW corner of 46th St & 6th Ave to try their namesake dish, chicken biryani, someone else got the chicken tikka and it looked really good.  Even though I went there last week, I went back again for Today’s Lunch, the chicken tikka ($6).

As I’ve said before, the aromas from Indian food are as appealing as the taste, and this was no exception.  Upon opening the container, the first thing you notice is the smell, which was great.  There were plenty of pieces of chicken, and they were a mix of boneless dark and white meat.  The nicely-spiced chicken was grilled and topped with a white sauce that added to the taste of the dish.

I didn’t get hot sauce today, but it would have been a good addition, not because the chicken needed it (it didn’t), but because some heat is a natural part of Indian cooking.  That was my mistake, but the dish was still very tasty.  The chicken tikka is cooked with many Indian spices, as well as a few green peppers and onions, and served over an orange rice (similar to yellow rice, but with more Indian flavorings).  The rice was a little dry, but when you eat it with the chicken, it was fine.  There was also a small side salad of mostly lettuce, but that was almost beside the point.

Today’s Lunch gets a 9 out of 10.  The chicken was very tasty, the rice was ok, and the salad was an afterthought.  However, for $6, you can’t do much better in midtown for lunch (or dinner.  They are open until midnight.)

Lately I’ve been advocating the theory that when a food vendor puts a specific dish in their name, ordering that dish would usually be an excellent first choice.  This rule applies to restaurants as well as street vendors.  The latest vendor to test of this theory – Biryani Cart.

Biryani Cart has been on the SW corner of 46th St and 6th Ave for many years, and they were the People’s Choice Award winner at both the 2009 and 2008 Vendy Awards.  Today’s Lunch was their chicken biryani ($6).  Vegetable biryani is also available.

The first thing you notice when opening the lunch container is the aroma.  Wow!  Indian food is always so fragrant, and this was no exception.  The other really noticeable thing was the hard-boiled egg in the center of the biryani.

Once I started digging in, there was a lot of chicken mixed in with basmati rice, the hard-boiled egg in the middle that had the tandoori orange color on the outside, and some white and hot sauce on top.

There were a lot of flavors going on in this dish, including clove, which came to the front towards the end of lunch.  I’m not great at picking out individual flavors in a dish, but there was a lot going on here.  There was plenty of delicious basmati rice, chicken, and the piece-de-resistance, the hard-boiled egg (always a favorite).

There was a small salad on the side of mainly lettuce and a little arugula, with a decent white sauce on it as dressing.  Not amazing, but the point of this lunch is not the salad.

Today’s Lunch gets a 9.5 out of 10.  I don’t think you could get anything bad from Biryani Cart, but my personal preference (and many of the people ordering) seemed to be for the kati rolls.  Everything’s at the quality level where it’s more a matter of personal preference than which dish is better.  The biryani is more of a comfort food, whereas the kati rolls are a little more adventurous (and spicy).  Today I wanted comfort food.  Other days I want hot and spicy.