It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Kwik Meal cart on the SW corner of 45th St & 6th Ave.  Kwik Meal won the People’s Choice Award at the 2007 Vendy Awards, and is one of the better street carts around.  The owner, Muhammad Rahman, was a sous chef at the Four Seasons, and knows his stuff.

Kwik Meal is also one of the only carts that serves real lamb.  Almost every street cart that serves “lamb” is using the processed gyro meat that comes on a spit and they slice off in thin strips.  Kwik Meal serves pieces of real lamb, which obviously costs more, but is worth it in our opinion.

Today’s Lunch is lamb over rice ($9) from Kwik Meal.

The star of the show here is a plentiful portion of grilled , seasoned lamb.  It is grilled just right, and is tender and tasty.  A green chili salsa is served over some of the meat, which provides some spiciness.

The lamb is served over a light and delicate basmati rice.

One the side is a white sauce that was decent, but I preferred to eat the lamb by itself or with a little rice.

There is also a small salad on the side that has lettuce, tomato and red onions.  It has an Italian-style oil and vinegar dressing on it.

Today’s Lunch of lamb over rice from Kwik Meal was one of the higher-quality lunches available from a street vendor in midtown.  There was a steady line of 4-6 people, and plenty of people ordered chicken over rice and lamb or chicken on pita bread, which is a few dollars less.  Whatever you get from Kwik Meal, it will be good – but the lamb is much better than the lamb served by most street vendors.

It’s been a while since I went to Kwik Meal on the SW corner of 6th Ave & 45th St.  They were a Vendy Award Finalist in 2007 and are known for the high quality of their food, which is not surprising since the owner, Muhammad Rahman, was once a sous chef at the Four Seasons.  They are one of the few street food vendors who actually uses real lamb instead of gyro meat, and their salmon and shrimp over rice was excellent too.

Always on the lookout for new things, I noticed a sign for kati rolls, which they didn’t have last time I was there.  They had a choice of chicken or vegetable, with one for $3.50 and 2 for $6.  Today’s Lunch is one chicken and one vegetable kati roll from Kwik Meal.

When I got back to the office, the first thing I noticed were the breads, which were darker than usual because they were made with whole wheat.

First up to try was the veggie kati roll.  I unwrapped it and saw mushrooms, onions, broccoli, string beans, potatoes, carrots, baby corn and hot red pepper flakes inside.  I took a bite and got the deep, dark taste of mushrooms.  subsequent bites had more variety, with the broccoli and string beans especially coming through, as well as some heat later on from the hot peppers.  I’m not a huge veggie fan, but this was pretty good, although the veggies were a little soft – I would have liked them crisper.  The bread did break about halfway through, which made it a bit tough to eat – but I persevered.

The chicken kati roll was comprised of chunks of mostly white meat chicken, lettuce and red onion, as well as Muhammad’s excellent green hot sauce.  You can get it without the green sauce if you don’t like spicy food – but if you do, ask for the hot sauce – and your mouth will be popping!  Even though the chicken kati roll was more stuffed than the vegetable one, the bread didn’t break on this one.  It was easier to eat, and more to my liking.

I’ve never been comfortable with giving scores to food, so we’re going to discontinue scoring for Today’s Lunch.  There still should be enough information in the review to tell you if you will like it or not, but once you get to a certain level of quality, it’s more about individual taste.

So where does Kwik Meal fall on the kati roll scale?  The chicken kati roll can compete with ones from Biryani Cart and Kati Roll Company, but I didn’t think the veggie kati roll was on the same level.  If they put hot sauce on the veggie kati roll, it would have helped.  The value was good at $6 for lunch, but I would probably get 2 of the chicken kati rolls next time.

I was in the mood for some seafood for lunch, and had heard good things about the salmon filet at the original Kwik Meal cart on the SW corner of West 46th St and 6th Ave.  Kwik Meal was a Vendy Award finalist in 2008 and the People’s Choice winner in 2007, and I previously had the lamb pita sandwich there, which was pretty good, so I was optimistic for Today’s Lunch.

The regular lunch menu does not have salmon filet, but there’s another sign on the front of the cart offering either salmon or tilapia fillet over rice for $8.50.

When I ordered the salmon, they took a container out of the refrigerator, took out a raw, slightly marinated salmon fillet and cooked it from scratch in a saute pan on the grill.  It took about 7-8 minutes to cook, and they regularly turned the fillet so it cooked evenly on all sides, not just the top and bottom.  They even asked me if I wanted it rare, medium or well done.  I said medium.

When I got back to the office, there was a large, thick salmon fillet with green chili sauce over rice and vegetables.  There was also a salad with dressing on the side.  It smelled wonderful, and I dug right in.

The salmon fillet was a very thick piece and perfectly done.  It flaked just right, and was excellent.  The green chili sauce was hot, but clean tasting.  The sauce was a nice complement to the salmon, spicy but not heavy at all.  There were a lot of bites of salmon in this fillet, and ended up being a pretty big lunch.

The basmati rice was nice and fragrant with a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, green pepper and onions. Mixed with the salmon juices, it was very tasty.    The salad was mainly lettuce and a few red onions, but the dressing was a ranch-type dressing, creamy with a bunch of herbs. Much better than the “white sauce” salad dressings at many carts.

Today’s Lunch was one of the best lunches I’ve had yet.  The salmon fillet was large, perfectly cooked and amazing with the green chili sauce on top and basmati rice underneath.  This was definitely a cut above most street food, and I have to give it a rare 10 out of 10.

I heard the Kwik Meal cart on the SW corner of 45th St & 6th Ave had real lamb, not the fake gyro meat, so I wanted to check it out.

And the reports were correct.  When I got back to the office, Today’s Lunch was a great looking and wonderfully smelling dish of real lamb over basmati rice with a small salad on the side.  I wish this website had smell-o-vision, so you could smell it too.

The lamb was tender and nicely spiced, with some green chili sauce that was used so sparingly I hesitate to call it a sauce.  It did add some heat, so that’s probably why it was put on lightly.  I’m not a spice expert, but there was definitely a decent amount of black pepper and salt, and what seemed like cumin and coriander.

The basmati rice was very good too.  It was cooked the right amount of time, and seemed like only butter was added to the rice.  It provided a nice base for the lamb.

The salad was basically a little lettuce, tomato and radish.  The salad dressing was a ranch-style dressing, which was thicker and more complex than the standard food cart white sauce, and they put it on the side so you could control how much to put on.

Today’s Lunch was a winner, a 9.5 out of 10.  How often do you see real lamb on a food cart?  Very rarely.  The menu said $8, but they charged me $7.50.   I would rather have real lamb and pay a few bucks more than have fake gyro meat for $5 or so.  When I was younger, it was all about the quantity of food.  Now it’s more about the quality of food.

One word on prices.  There was a sign on the Kwik Meal cart saying that “due to the high cost of food such as shrimp, salmon and lamb, prices were going up as of May 10th – and they appreciate our business.”

Real lamb - Doesn't this look better than gyro meat?

I was in the mood for some seafood for lunch, and had heard good things about the salmon filet at the original Kwik Meal cart on the SW corner of West 46th St and 6th Ave.  Kwik Meal was a Vendy Award finalist in 2008 and the People’s Choice winner in 2007, and I previously had the lamb pita sandwich there, which was pretty good, so I was optimistic for Today’s Lunch.

The regular lunch menu does not have salmon filet, but there’s another sign on the front of the cart offering either salmon or tilapia fillet over rice for $8.50.

When I ordered the salmon, they took a container out of the refrigerator, took out a raw, slightly marinated salmon fillet and cooked it from scratch in a saute pan on the grill.  It took about 7-8 minutes to cook, and they regularly turned the fillet so it cooked evenly on all sides, not just the top and bottom.  They even asked me if I wanted it rare, medium or well done.  I said medium.

When I got back to the office, there was a large, thick salmon fillet with green chili sauce over rice and vegetables.  There was also a salad with dressing on the side.  It smelled wonderful, and I dug right in.

The salmon fillet was a very thick piece and perfectly done.  It flaked just right, and was excellent.  The green chili sauce was hot, but clean tasting.  The sauce was a nice complement to the salmon, spicy but not heavy at all.  There were a lot of bites of salmon in this fillet, and ended up being a pretty big lunch.

The basmati rice was nice and fragrant with a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, green pepper and onions. Mixed with the salmon juices, it was very tasty.    The salad was mainly lettuce and a few red onions, but the dressing was a ranch-type dressing, creamy with a bunch of herbs. Much better than the “white sauce” salad dressings at many carts.

Today’s Lunch was one of the best lunches I’ve had yet.  The salmon fillet was large, perfectly cooked and amazing with the green chili sauce on top and basmati rice underneath.  This was definitely a cut above most street food, and I have to give it a rare 10 out of 10.

Today’s Lunch is the lamb pita sandwich from the Kwik Meal cart on 45th St just west of 6th Ave.  Kwik Meal was a Vendy Award finalist in 2008 and the People’s Choice winner in 2007.

The lamb was cubed, tender and spiced with coriander and some other spices.  Very nice.  The sauce was a yogurt sauce like tzaziki (gyro) sauce.  There was also a small amount of lettuce, tomato and red onion on the sandwich.  The pita was good, too.  I asked for hot sauce, but they obviously didn’t hear me, because there was none on the sandwich.  It would have been great with some hot sauce.

When eaten together, it was pretty much like a top-notch gyro.  What made it better than other gyros was the lamb, which was actual cubed lamb, not the sliced, processed gyro meat you usually get.  It was nicely spiced and there was a lot of it.

The lamb gyro cost $6.50, which is around what most gyros cost, but this one was significantly better in quality.  I can definitely recommend Today’s Lunch.

The west corner of 45th St and 6th Ave had around five food carts that looked pretty good, so I’ll have to spend more time around there.  In addition to Kwik Meal, there was Kwik Pasta (same owners), which served pasta dishes like shrimp over angel hair pasta.  There were also Sarah’s and Fahima, which were both halal food stands.  I haven’t tried them yet, so I can’t vouch for them, but if anyone has tried them, please leave a comment below.

UPDATE: Fahima’s is owned by the brother of Kwik Meal founder Muhammed Rahman, and he tries to park it right next to Kwik Meal.  Talk about taking sibling rivalry to the next level.

The duo paired wines with different types of street food, and were joined by Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch at their first stop, the Kwik Meal cart.  Gary threw a fast ball, pairing the platter with a 2008 Premiado Torrontes.

Then it was off to meet up with Jerome Chang of the Dessert Truck.  There they sampled his award winning chocolate bread pudding and the warm chocolate molten cake.  Quick on his feet, Gary whipped out a 2006 Tohu Pinot Noir, which paired perfectly with the sweets.

Fun and interesting viewing below.