New York Street Food

It’s freakin’ hot out, so I stayed near my office and went to the Jamaican Dutchy cart on the NE corner of 51st St & 7th Ave.  They were a Vendy Award finalist in 2009, and I’ve tried their jerk chicken sandwich and escovitch chicken, so it was time to try something new.  Today’s Lunch is the sweet & sour chicken from the Jamaican Dutchy cart.

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One of the more popular food carts in midtown is the Jamaican Dutchy (JD) cart on the NE corner of 51st St and 7th Ave.  JD was founded by O’Neill Reid a few years ago, and they were a Vendy Award finalist in 2009.  While they didn’t come home with an award last year, JD gained a lot more fans , in addition to the many customers it already had.  The Jamaican Dutchy cart is well-known and loved by New Yorkers of all types.

O’Neill agreed to sit down with us for a NYSF Featured Vendor profile.  It took a little time for us to get together, but once we did, O’Neill gave us a friendly and engaging interview.  Here’s the latest NYSF Featured Vendor Profile with O’Neill Reid of Jamaican Dutchy:

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I’ve been having a lot of big meat and rice platters and other heavy foods for lunch recently.  Today I wanted something not as filling, but it had to be just as good as the other lunches I’ve had lately.

Therefore, Today’s Lunch is a jerk chicken sandwich from the Jamaican Dutchy cart, a 2009 Vendy Award finalist.  In the past, I’ve had their escovitch chicken platter, which was very good, but it was a huge amount of food for lunch.  Getting the classic Jamaican jerk chicken in a sandwich was the way to go today.

He took out a roll, sliced it, and put mayo on the bottom.  He then took out a jerk chicken breast, sliced it horizontally and spread it out it on the roll.  Next was lettuce (I asked for no tomato) and then a ladle of brown jerk sauce to top it off.

It was delicious, and at $5, cheap for a sandwich in midtown.  Go into a deli in midtown and try to get a sandwich for $5.  It’s not easy.

Sliced chicken breast with jerk seasoning around the edges and a peppery jerk sauce made for a great sandwich.  The roll was denser than a kaiser roll, which helped absorb the pepperiness of the chicken and jerk sauce.  The roll was similar to the potato rolls you find in the bread section of the supermarket.

On the NYSF food scale, Today’s Lunch was a 9.5 out of 10.  Definitely one of the better sandwiches around.

Today’s Lunch is escovitch chicken from the Jamaican Dutchy cart, a 2009 Vendy Award finalist.  The cart is located on the northeast corner of West 51st St and 7th Ave, and escovitch chicken is their Friday special.

My first thought was, this is a BIG lunch.  It cost $9, but can easily be shared by 2 people with normal appetites.

There were 3 pieces of breaded chicken, a leg and a breast split in two.  There was a small amount of sauce on it, over a huge portion of rice and beans.  Very tasty, but I would have liked more sauce, although the chicken was tender and moist.

There were also 2 side dishes – one was pickled onions, peppers and carrots that was quite pickled and vinegary and one was a cabbage/carrot salad that was basically steamed vegetables, so you had your choice of sharp or mild vegetables (or both).

To finish the meal, there was a fried plantain.  Nice finish.

A good choice for Today’s Lunch, but I’m going to be full for quite some time (and I didn’t even finish the rice and beans).

Unfortunately, not every Vendy Award Finalist can win their category, but every finalist had great food.  Here’s a look at the great street food that did not win in their category, but we were all winners for having eaten their food.

Vendy Cup Finalists (excluding the winner)

The Rickshaw Dumpling Truck had great dumplings (duh!), but their plate had some nice cold noodles, too.

The King of Falafel and Shawarma, Fares Zeidaies, had a fervent following, and their matching outfits were quite colorful.  Their egg-shaped falafel was awesome, too.

I tried the jerk chicken at The Jamaican Dutchy cart, and it was very well done.  Hot, but not brutally so.  O’Neill Reid, the proprietor, takes his cooking very seriously (as they all do), and it shows in the end.  I didn’t get a picture of the jerk chicken, but below is the yummy squash bread.

Dessert Category Finalists (excluding the winner)

The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck had a perpetually long line all day.  Their menu was very creative.  The choice of toppings was staggering and unusual for ice cream: olive oil and sea salt, ground wasabi peas, toasted curried coconut, trix cereal, mixed berries and saba, banana-Scharffen Berger cocoa puree, cayenne pepper and dulce de leche with crushed Nilla wafers.  Crazy stuff!

Cupcake Stop had exceptional variety, as well.  Some of their flavors were Oreo crunch, candy apply, tiramisu and a few others of the same quality.

Rookie of the Year Finalists (excluding the winner)

This was the first time the Vendy Awards had a Rookie of the Year category, and it had some of my personal favorite types of food, schnitzel (who won-see my post on the winners) and BBQ.

Picknick Smoked was one of my favorites.  The pulled pork was nice and smoky, and not too drenched in sauce.  They also put cole slaw on the sandwich, which I like.  Their Arnold Palmers (half iced tea and half lemonade) were some of the best thirst quenchers of the day.

nyccravings was a nice nosh, with pork and vegetable dumplings, taiwanese pork chops and crispy fried chicken.  I really liked their sweet beijing sauce, too.

I can’t wait until next year.