New York Street Food

NYSF Note: We just got back from a few days out of town and were not able to go out for lunch today.  This is the lunch we had from Bistro Truck on the day the Vendy Award Finalists were announced, but did not have time to write up that day.

With Bistro Truck being nominated as a Vendy Award finalist for 2010, as well as celebrating their 1st birthday, it’s a miracle Yassir has the time to come up with new dishes – but he does.  The latest example is a salmon burger, which cost $10.89 with tax, and is Today’s Lunch.

The Bistro Truck was busier than usual, which is probably due to the Vendy Award nomination.  However, we’ve been telling you about Bistro Truck for quite some time, and touting them as one of the best new trucks around.  Guess we weren’t the only ones who noticed.

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Every year the Vendy Award nominees have videos recorded so we can meet the vendors up close and personal.  This year’s videos were produced by Food Curated and are shown below for your enjoyment.  Just make sure you’ve eaten first!

1. King of Falafel & Shawarma

2. Bistro Truck

3. El Rey del Sabor

4. Patacon Pisao

5. Schnitzel & Things

I recently interviewed Yassir from Bistro Truck for the current NYSF Featured Vendor Profile, so I knew Bistro Truck was celebrating their 1st birthday this week.  When Yassir tweeted this morning they were going to have a birthday cake at 12:30, I had to go down to 5th Ave between 16th & 17th to give them my best birthday wishes (and enjoy some birthday cake).

When I got to the truck, there were a bunch of people around.  Yassir posed with the cake, then cut it up and passed some around.

There were a couple of surprises in store as well.  People put their business cards into a jar and Yassir drew a few business cards throughout the day and gave away three $20 gift cards to Bistro Truck.  I was there for the first one, and Yassir asked me to pick a random card form the jar. Congratulations to Lindsay, the first winner of a $20 Bistro Truck gift card.  I left soon after, but believe there were 2 other winners of $20 gift cards during the day.

The last and biggest surprise of the early afternoon was that Bistro Truck was nominated as a Vendy Award finalist for 2010. It couldn’t happen to a nicer or more talented chef than Yassir.  Of course, there will be stiff competition on Sept 25th from the other 4 nominees, who are all talented chefs themselves.

New York Street Food is a Silver Level sponsor for this year’s Vendy’s, and we can’t wait for Sept 25th on Governor’s Island.

New and repeat food truck festivals are taking place this weekend in NYC and Boston.

In an encore performance of a very successful debut, the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market is having another Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar…and Boston is holding it’s 1st Annual Food Truck Festival.

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Yassir Z. Raouli

In our opinion, one of the best street vendors of high-quality food in New York is Bistro Truck.  They have been parked on the same block, 5th Ave between 16th & 17th St, since August 2009.

Bistro Truck was founded by Yassir Z. Raouli, who was born in Morocco and came to New York about 9 years ago.  Yassir brings North African and French sensibilities to the streets of New York with dishes such as Marrakech lamb, merguez sausage, cous cous, Dijon chicken, vegetable tajine, Moroccan mint tea and more.

The Bistro Truck’s Daily Specials are even better.  Poached tilapia with olive oil and herbs was one of our favorite all-time lunches, the mixed grill is a meat lover’s delight, and the fish tacos are delicious too.

This is the type of food driving the current street food renaissance – interesting, restaurant-quality dishes served from a truck.  We will be quite surprised if Bistro Truck is not nominated as a Vendy Award Finalist this year.

We caught up with Yassir and filed the following New York Street Food Featured Vendor Profile.

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