New York Street Food

Rickshaw Dumplings new container (photo: Emily Dubner)

Food carts, food trucks, food trailers, and now – food containers.  Shipping containers are being re-purposed for all sorts of things.

In Brooklyn, they are the cornerstone of the DeKalb Market, and they were even lined and used as swimming pools.

Rickshaw Dumplings recently opened a shipping container serving dumplings and more in Times Square.

Last year, Singapore Takeout had a pop-up shipping container for 2 days in the Meatpacking District.  They served several dishes meant to introduce people to Singaporean cuisine.

We may have to start a new category on New York Street Food for food containers (although we’ll have to come up with a better name).

Shrimp & short ribs from Singapore Takeout

This week only, Rickshaw Dumplings is selling their  popular dumplings inside the Goldman Sachs cafeteria.

As reported in the NY Times DealBook yesterday, Rickshaw used to park near the former Goldman headquarters on Broad Street.  When they moved to 200 West St, a lot of Goldman people emailed them to come to the new building, but Rickshaw could not find parking in the area.

Word traveled inside the company, and a Goldman representative asked Rickshaw to sell dumplings for a week in its cafeteria, which on most days features sushi, a carving station and upscale menu items like truffled macaroni and cheese.

Click through for the vampire squid reference, if you don’t already know it.

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One of the oldest food trucks in New York is Rickshaw Dumplings. I first tried them at the 2009 Vendy Awards, where they were a finalist for the Vendy Cup.

They have since expanded to two trucks, three storefronts, and they just opened a new kiosk in the Times Square pedestrian plaza.  You can find the truck locations by following them on twitter here.

Today’s Lunch is Thai chicken basil dumplings and a cold noodle salad from Rickshaw Dumplings, which costs $9.

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As we told you last week, tomorrow is National Iced Tea Day, and to celebrate, Snapple is teaming up with 5 of the best food trucks in NYC to give away 1,000 free lunches…and even more free Snapple iced tea.

We’re talking real lunches, not the sample sizes usually given away in free promotions. This is one of the better free food promotions we’ve seen.

There have been some changes made to the truck locations since last week, so please click through for the updated locations – and make sure to get there early!  It starts at 11am.

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The four food trucks located on the old Tavern On The Green spot (Central Park West & 67th St) will be opening Saturday for the season.  As reported by Zagat Trucks, they will be giving away free food from 2-4pm on Saturday (4/16), and a live band will also be playing.

You probably know Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream and Rickshaw Dumplings, but the other two vendors were unfamiliar to us until we tried them last year…and they were both excellent.

We tried two items from Pera Turkish Tacos last year – lavender & honey roasted chicken on lavash bread ($3.50) and smoked lamb on a zucchini pancake ($3.75).

Both were delicious, but the standout was the zucchini pancake used as a Turkish taco wrapper.  It was eggy with dill, chives and small pieces of zucchini in the batter – and that doesn’t even address the bbq lamb and feta inside!

We are also really looking forward to the grilled spicy shrimp taco from Pera, which we didn’t get a chance to try last year.  Full menu here.

chicken taco in lavash bread (top) & smoked lamb in a zucchini pancake (bottom)

The 4th vendor, Ladle of Love, was very good too.  They serve soups, stews and sandwiches, and I had their beef bourguignon.  You could taste the red wine, beef broth and herbs like bay leaf and thyme in the sauce.

The chef also gave me tastes of two sandwiches to try: a BLT chicken sandwich on ciabatta with chipotle aioli mayo and a serrano ham and manchego cheese with watercress, also on ciabatta bread.  Both were very tasty.  Full menu here.

The Fine Print: The deal lasts from 2–4 PM, and diners can get one menu item from each truck for free.

After Saturday, the trucks will be open every day from 11 AM to dusk throughout the summer.