Yesterday was the last day of the year for Bistro Truck, so I headed up to the Columbia Food Pod to get one last meal to hold me until 2012.  (Bistro Truck will be part of this week’s MasterCard free lunch giveaway on Thursday, but with a limited menu.)

I spoke with Yassir for a while yesterday about his plans, some of which I can tell you and some of which he asked me to keep confidential for now.

First, Yassir is going back to Morocco next week for a little while.  He will be looking for “inspiration” from the street vendors there, and will also be working on a couple of projects while in Morocco.  When Yassir returns, he will be fixing up the truck, revising the menu, and he has another surprise in store that I will tell you about when he is ready for it to be public.

After our conversation, I had chicken tajine for lunch ($10).

The chicken tajine was served over couscous, with a chickpea salad on the side.  It also came with spicy harissa sauce, which I put on the chicken before taking the photo.

The chicken was all white meat, and appeared to have been prepared with a spice rub.  It was cooked with onions and more spices, and was very tasty.  The chicken was soft and tender, and even better when scooped up with some couscous.

The couscous was light, and a pleasant alternative to rice that usually comes with this type of lunch.  The chickpea salad was a cool, refreshing way to finish the meal.

The chicken tajine from Bistro Truck was a nice meal for my last one of the year.  It’s a distant cousin to the “street meat” found on countless halal carts throughout the city – but 100 times better.

If you like chicken over rice from halal carts, you’ll love this meal.  It costs a bit more, but is definitely worth it.  Too bad you’re going to have to wait until 2012 to enjoy it.  But don’t worry – Yassir expects to be back by mid-January.

Hopefully he will come back with more pastillas on the menu.  I never did get to try the seafood pastilla.

I’ve been to Bistro Truck plenty of times, but never tried their lamb burger.  A couple of months ago, in order to stand out a bit from other food trucks serving burgers, Yassir switched from a beef burger to a lamb burger.

Lamb is generally more expensive than beef, but Today’s Lunch of a lamb burger from Bistro Truck was only $7.

The burger was thick, and it was on a large eggy bun covered with cheddar cheese.  It took a lot to get my mouth around the entire thing, but I managed.

The burger was cooked to medium, with a bit of pink in the middle.  Ground lamb is a red meat, but has a dfferent taste than beef, a little meatier-tasting.  The lamb burger was very tender and juicy.

The cheddar cheese had an edge that went perfectly with ground lamb, which has a stronger taste than beef.  It also melted really well, which is not always the case with cheddar cheese.

As I said, the bun was eggy, but it was also thick and very soft.  There was lettuce, tomato and a small amount of harissa mayo on the burger too.

Today’s Lunch of a lamb burger from Bistro Truck was very good.  It’s not easy standing out from the crowd with a burger these days, but Bistro Truck pulled it off well with their lamb burger.  No wonder they were Vendy Award Finalists in 2010.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Bistro Truck, one of my favorite food trucks and a 2010 Vendy Award Finalist.

What sent me down to ‘Da Nest (as Yassir calls his spot on 5th ave & 16th St) was the tweet yesterday with the Daily Specials.  In this case it said “grilled steak with creamy mushroom sauce”.

That sounded like a good choice for lunch ($10).

After I got my lunch and sat down to eat, I saw 3 nicely grilled pieces of steak under some mushrooms and cream sauce.  The steak was in strips, kind of like skirt steak, but thicker.

Using the plastic fork and knife that came with lunch, I cut off a piece of steak to try by itself.  The steak was medium rare, and it tasted like the steak was marinated.  The meat was tender and flavorful, with a taste that can only come from flame-grilling the meat.

It was even better once I started taking bites of the meat with mushrooms.  The sauce was creamy, and it was really good with the mushrooms and steak.

I then put on some of the hot red pepper paste that came with lunch, and boy did it have some serious heat!  There was also a small container of harissa mayo that was good on the steak too, but it changed the flavor somewhat, so I used it sparingly.

I almost forgot to mention the basmati rice the steak was served on.  It was cooked just right, with some herbs adding to the aroma and taste.  It also seemed like the rice was cooked in chicken broth instead of water, which added a little extra richness.

As for side dishes, there was a chickpea salad and a regular salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  Both were pretty refreshing, with the chickpea salad adding some heft to the meal.  I don’t expect to be hungry until dinner, if then.

The grilled steak with creamy mushroom sauce from Bistro Truck was excellent, as their food usually is.  It cost $10, as most of the Daily Specials do, but I would rather pay a little more for a lunch of this quality food than a little less for something of lower quality.

One thing I haven’t tried yet is the lamb burger from Bistro Truck.  That’s next on the list – unless Yassir comes up with another great special next time I’m there.

Cake & Shake last year in Washington Square Park

If you read New York Street Food, you have probably heard about Cake & Shake, a cupcake and milkshake cart that had 2 carts, one in Washington Square Park and one outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They closed the Wash Sq Park cart this year, but still have one outside the Met.

Now a new cart has appeared on West 53rd St & 6th Ave selling cupcakes and milkshakes under the name Cake vs. Shake, according to an article in DNAInfo.

“We have some imposters,” Derek Hunt, one of the owners of Cake & Shake told DNAInfo.  Hunt said he first realized something was off when he began receiving calls from customers asking if he’d moved.

As for Cake & Shake, all of their products are made using organic sugar, milk, eggs and flour. The company also uses bio-diesel to run its van, solar power for lights and only biodegradable, compostable or recyclable containers.

None of these are true of Cake vs. Shake.

While Hunt said he was upset at first by the blatant rip-off (as was Yassir), he says he’s trying to view the mimicry as flattery.

We also heard about Milk Burger, a restaurant in Harlem that blatantly copied Shake Shack’s menu.  That reminds us of John Amos’ McDonalds ripoff called McDowell’s in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming To America.

(Cake & Shake details from DNAInfo. Bistro Truck details from New York Street Food.)

Last week we told you about the free turkey burger giveaway from Bistro Truck and Jennie-O Turkey.  If you didn’t catch it then, Bistro Truck will be giving away at least 500 turkey burgers each day from today through Saturday, courtesy of Jennie-O.

Yesterday we were invited to a media preview, so now we can give you an idea of what to expect.  Click through for the 5 types of burgers Bistro Truck will be cooking up and giving away this week, and where you can get them.

Bronx Burger, Brooklyn Burger, Flatiron Burger (l. to r.)

For the media preview, they served sliders so we could try the different types, but we confirmed with Yassir that for the giveaways starting today, Bistro Truck will be serving full-sized burgers.

The promotion starts at 11am, but they will be giving away at least 500 burgers per day, so it should go on for a while.  Here’s the schedule:

Tuesday, July 26 – Hudson Street and King Street – The Mulberry Street Turkey Burger.  Marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. Think pizza burger, but better.

Wednesday, July 27 – Union Square Farmer’s Market (15th St) – The Flatiron Turkey Burger.  This was our personal favorite, with lots of mushrooms and cheddar cheese.

Thursday, July 28 – Old Slip Street and Water FIDI -  The Brooklyn-Style Turkey Burger.  Loads of grilled onions, chili powder and cheddar cheese.

Friday, July 29 – 52nd Street and Park Avenue – The Bronx Turkey Burger.  Slightly spicy mayo with grilled scallions & peppers, and a cheese sauce.

Saturday, July 30 – Washington Street and Gansevoort Street – The East Village Turkey Burger.  Panko & parsley turkey burger with brie, bean sprouts & cucumber.

Turkey burgers have a milder taste than beef, so the toppings take on even more importance.  I believe they will also have recipes available for the different turkey burgers being made this week.

Enjoy!

Next week Bistro Truck is going to be the Jennie-O Turkey Burger Truck – and Yassir will be cooking up at least 500 turkey burgers per day to give away for FREE!

The Bistro Truck and Jennie-O Turkey Store are partnering to inspire people to switch to turkey burgers, which are both lean and delicious.  A different turkey burger will be cooked up and given away at the Bistro Truck each day from Tues thru Sat (7/26-30) at different locations.

Click through to find out where you can get free turkey burgers from Bistro Truck and Jennie-O.  Bistro Truck will not be in their usual locations most days during this promotion.

Jennie-O Brooklyn-Style Turkey burger

Here are the locations for the Jennie-O Turkey Burger/ Bistro Truck promotion, as well as descriptions of the 5 different turkey burgers that will be cooked by Yassir and given out for free.

Tuesday, July 26 – Hudson Street and King Street – The Mulberry Street Turkey Burger – A turkey patty topped with homemade marinara sauce, and finished with premium parmesan cheese.

Wednesday, July 27 – Union Square Farmer’s Market (15th St) – The Flatiron Turkey Burger – Made by thin-slicing portobello and oyster mushrooms, sautéing everything with a blend of herbs and spices, and placing it on top of a cooked turkey patty, which is topped with cheddar cheese and sliced avocado.

Thursday, July 28 – Old Slip Street and Water FIDI -  The Brooklyn-Style Turkey Burger – A turkey burger sprinkled with oregano, cumin and chili powder, cooked, and fried red onions and cheddar cheese are added.

Friday, July 29 – 52nd Street and Park Avenue – The Bronx Turkey Burger – A turkey patty is placed on the grill.  As it cooks, it’s topped with blackened poblano peppers and charred scallions.  Then it’s served with spicy mayo and a creamy cheese sauce.

Saturday, July 30 – Washington Street and Gansevoort Street – The East Village Turkey Burger – A simple turkey burger patty mixed with panko (or “punko” as Yassir calls it) and parsley before cooking, then served with thin slice of cucumber, bean sprouts and brie.  (Don’t ask me why they’re giving away the East Village Turkey Burger in the West Village.)

Who says there are no free lunches?  Not Jennie-O.  This is a healthy and delicious way to get free lunch next week, and to see all the different ways turkey burgers can be prepared.

Jennie-O East Village Turkey Burger

We’ve been hearing for a while now there’s going to be a new menu at Bistro Truck, the 2010 Vendy Award finalist.  Next Monday (5/16) is the big day – and there’s other news to report as well regarding some new neighborhoods for Bistro Truck.

If you follow Bistro Truck, you may have noticed that Yassir has been testing out some new items over the past few months.  We got a look at the new Bistro Truck menu and can happily report that Moroccan chicken pastillas and seafood pastillas top the menu.

Moroccan chicken pastilla

We absolutely loved the chicken pastilla – layered chicken, eggs and almonds with rose water in a thin, flaky, crispy phyllo dough crust – and it’s all topped with a little confectioner’s sugar.

At the time, we said “Yassir has really outdone himself with this dish.  This was a complex and tasty lunch.  Moroccan chicken pastilla is not cheap at $10, but the quality of this lunch is better than you get in many restaurants.  I would recommend keeping an eye out for this Bistro Truck daily special in the future.  It’s worth hunting down.”  Starting Monday, you won’t have to hunt it down anymore.

We haven’t had a chance to try the seafood pastilla yet, but considering how much we love seafood, it’s definitely on the top of our to-do list at Bistro Truck.

merguez sandwich (with fries)

Other new menu items are the Old Bay fish sandwich, a grilled skirt steak sandwich, vegetable tajine and a lamb burger instead of a hamburger.  Current menu items that will still be available are chicken brochette, the merguez sandwich, Dijon chicken and lamb Marrakech.  And we’ve only mentioned the main dishes.  There will still be daily soup specials and a salad special, not to mention side dishes and desserts.

You can check out the new Bistro Truck menu here.  It all starts Monday (May 16th) and should be great!

As far as moving around to different areas, Yassir told us he will be rotating between a few new spots such as FiDi, Murray Hill & Soho, but will still be at their regular 5th Ave/16th St location a couple of times a week.  In addition, they will be at the Food Truck Bazaar and several different street fairs on weekends.

Lots of changes in store for Bistro Truck – one of our favorite food trucks in New York, run by Yassir, one of our favorite vendors.

Here are Bistro Truck’s website, twitter and facebook.

I’ve been to Bistro Truck fairly regularly over the past few months for a couple of reasons: Yassir keeps coming up with new daily specials that I want to try, and the food is reliably delicious.

There was another new menu item that I’ve seen a couple of times, but this is the first chance I’ve had to try it.  Today’s Lunch is an Old Bay Fish Sandwich ($10) from Bistro Truck.

I really like fish sandwiches, but something about this sandwich was different – oh yeah – it had french fries on it.

This seems to be how they do it in the Mediterranean region, with french fries popping up on sandwiches within the past year or so from both Souvlaki GR (Greek) and Bistro Truck (Moroccan).  They aren’t from the Mediterranean area, but Feed Your Hole has recently been putting fries on burgers and hot dogs too.

The Old Bay Fish Sandwich had two large pieces of lightly breaded fish that were deep fried.  They were put on a hero-sized roll along with lettuce, harissa mayo and a bunch of fries.  There was also a wedge of lemon provided that I squeezed on.

The fish was moist and flaky, and with 2 fillets on the bun, it was flavorful too. The harissa mayo was a nice condiment, although it was not real spicy, like some harissa can be.  The mayo seems to have brought down the heat level of the harissa.

I’m still not sure if I’m a fan of french fries on a hero.  Between the bread and fries, sandwiches can get a bit dry, but as long as there’s enough moisture on the sandwich, the fries do add some flavor.

Today’s Lunch was another tasty lunch from Bistro Truck.  Yassir told me the Old Bay Fish sandwich may get added to the regular menu.  He also said he will be changing the menu soon, and has been toying with different ideas.  If the new items are as good as the old items, we’ll be there!

I was down by Union Square around lunch time and decided to stop by Bistro Truck for lunch.   Bistro Truck is one of my favorite places for lunch, and I’m obviously not the only one, as they were a 2010 Vendy Award Finalist in the main category.

I’ve enjoyed most of the items on the menu, and tend to go for the specials at this point.  I wasn’t in the mood for a heavy lunch, so I decided to go for the Crispy Chicken Salad ($8).

The crispy chicken salad is panko breaded chicken breast over arugula and other good lettuces (lettuci?).  There are shredded carrots on the side, as well as green apple slices and golden raisins.

The salad comes with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing that was pretty good.  It wasn’t too vinegary, but added some bite to the salad.

I put the dressing on some of the chicken and ate some plain.  The chicken was plenty tasty without the dressing, but was good with it as well.  It’s more of a personal taste preference whether you put salad dressing on the chicken or not – it was good both ways.  By the way, there was more chicken under the two pieces you see in the picture above.

The apples were refreshing, and I’ve always liked golden raisins a lot, too.

Today’s Lunch was one of the healthier street food lunches I’ve eaten, but that doesn’t mean it’s not tasty.  It was as enjoyable as any of the “junk” street food lunches I’ve had, which is a nice compliment coming from a street food maven like myself.

One of our favorite food trucks, Bistro Truck, is today’s Daily Deal on Groupon.  We’ve had some great meals there, and we’re not the only ones who think so. Bistro Truck was a Vendy Award Finalist in 2010 in the main category.

While all of Yassir’s food is excellent, in our opinion, the daily specials are the way to go.

You can get $10 worth of food for $5 by clicking on the link below.  This deal is on the right column about 3 items down.