New York Street Food

Taco trucks can be intimidating if you don’t know any Spanish (or haven’t taken Spanish since high school).  If the guys in the truck aren’t too comfortable with English, these terms may help you out.  Using some Spanish may get you better service or a fuller taco even if the vendor speaks English well.  No need to be unsure of yourself at the taco truck next time.  Thanks to Ziggy Smogdust from Austin for this handy-dandy guide.

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There’s a new taco truck in town, and it’s called El Camioncito (“The Little Truck”).  It’s been on the NE corner of 31st St and 7th Ave for the past 2 weeks, right across from Madison Square Garden.  The truck used to be in Queens, but they are now trying out the more populated environs of the Penn Station area.

They had 4 types of tacos, which were $2 each.  I chose 3 tacos for Today’s Lunch, chicken, carnitas (pork) and chorizo.  I’ll try the beef another day, and they also had fish tacos for Good Friday.  I asked for everything on it, which meant onions, cilantro, guacamole and salsa picante.

After I ordered 3 tacos, they put 6 tortillas on the grill to warm up.  The grill man then put the meat on the tacos and someone else put on the toppings, wrapped it up and handed me lunch.

The first thing I did after opening the container (in addition to inhaling deeply) was to squeeze fresh lime on each taco.  Then I tried the chicken first.

The chicken was cut up into small pieces, and the first bite was a combination of chicken, guacamole and fresh lime juice.  The second bite brought the cilantro and onions into the mix.  It was a great combination, but the chicken was a bit overcooked.  I would have preferred the chicken pieces a little larger and certainly less cooked.  This taco was good, but not great.

Next up was the taco de carnitas.  It was pretty similar to the chicken, with the exception of the meat, which was darker in color and taste.  It was a little better than the chicken, but the pork was also cooked a little too long.  It was tasty with the guac, lime juice, cilantro and onions, but the meat did not add as much as I expected.  In addition, the salsa picante was not picante at all.

Last up was the chorizo.  The chorizo really added something to the rest of the fillings in the taco.  It was a little spicy, but not greasy, which can be a problem with some chorizo.  Now this was what I was hoping for.

Today’s Lunch was an 8 out of 10.  The chicken and pork were somewhat overcooked, and the salsa picante was not spicy.  But the chorizo, cilantro and fresh-squeezed lime juice made it a decent lunch.

El Camioncito is a welcome addition to the New York Street Food scene.  Once it gets a regular following and is busier at lunchtime, the meat shouldn’t be overcooked.

We told you about how tacos are so popular, they are getting paired with all sorts of things, like tattoos, cook-offs, and T&A.

Tony Stamolis, the photographer behind T&T&A (Tacos and T&A), is bringing his concept to life with T&T&A Lunch Parties.  Not sure how 6-9pm qualifies as a lunch party, but I guess if you’re up all night and sleep until the afternoon, lunch is probably around 6pm.

I’m not sure where my readers’ sensibilities lie, so if this is either appealing or offensive to you, please let us know in the comments section.

Here’s the email I received from Tony:

“Please join us at one of the following events…

NYC
Thursday, March 25th, 6-9pm. Open bar 6-7pm
Pussycat Lounge
96 Greenwich St. NYC 10006

Portland, Oregon
Tuesday, March 30th, 6-9pm
Mary’s Club
129 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205

San Francisco
Thursday, April 1st, 6-9pm
Make-Out Room
3225 22nd St. SF, CA 94110

Fresno
Friday, April 2nd, 6-9pm. Open bar 6-7pm
City Lights
2370 N. Clovis Ave, Fresno, CA 93727

Los Angeles
Saturday, April 3rd, 6-9pm. Open bar 6-7pm
Jumbo’s Clown Room
5153 Hollywood Blvd LA, CA 90027

Marfa
Wednesday, April 7th
TBA

Austin
Friday, April 9th, 8-10pm
Domy Books
913 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX 78702

http://www.TandTandA.com

Tony Stamolis
51 MacDougal St. #23
NYC 10012
646.498.4337
http://www.tonystamolis.com

Tacos, especially Korean/Mexican fusion tacos, are getting so popular, they’re being paired with all sorts of things.

First up is Tacos and Tattoos – Yesterday (Sunday) in Venice Beach, CA., 6 food trucks (Tasty Meat, Calbi, Lomo Arigato, Del’s Lemonade, Surfer Tacos, Don Chow Tacos, and Komodo Food) lined up on a closed off street with a live DJ all afternoon for Tacos and Tattoos at Ink Monkey.  There were tons of tattoo artists, a mobile artist, live music, and of course the food trucks. [LAist]

Next up is the Brooklyn Taco Experiment – What happens when two huge dining trends collide?  Welcome to the Brooklyn Taco Experiment cook-off, held Sunday night at The Bell House.  New Yorkers have gone crazy for Cali-style tacos, and cook-off competitions are more popular than ever.  This brought together a bunch of amateur cooks doing their best work with tortillas  and assorted fillings, while everyone chowed down. When all was said and done, the attendees and the celeb judge panel crowned the borough’s taco champ: The judges’ top prize went to Andrey Ayrapetov, while the People’s Choice Award went to John Schnapp.  There are about 60 pictures in this link, if you’re up for some great food porn. [Metromix New York]

Brooklyn Taco Experiment

Last up is T & T & A (NSFW) – Tony Stamolis brings you another type of food porn.  Tony is a photographer from Fresno, CA who is coming out with a book next month of photographs featuring naked women and tacos.  Both are photographed very lovingly, and it’s difficult to determine which subject he loves more.   We fully understand. [tandtanda.com]  Follow the link for photos.  We’re keeping this site family-friendly for now.  (No promises for the future, however.)

gastroPod

Latin Burgers and Tacos

Two very interesting street food news items in Miami.

Chef Jeremiah, a Miami native, is opening gastroPod in his hometown.  gastroPod is a vintage 1962 Airstream trailer that has been converted into a mobile kitchen with modern technology.  Chef Jeremiah draws heavily on Caribbean and Latin culinary traditions, and has worked at such innovative and top-notch restaurants as El Bulli in Spain, WD-50, Spice Market, Café Grey and Aquavit in NY, Moto in Chicago and Aquaknox in Dallas.  Looks like an exciting street food development will be opening shortly in Miami. [gastroPod]

Also in Miami, Food Network chef and Miami native Ingrid Hoffmann is unveiling her new mobile food concept, The Latin Burger and Taco Truck this Saturday at a charity event with Frank Kelly’s Project Vacant Streets.   Thereafter, the truck will roam South Florida serving lunch, dinner, and after hours eats daily.  As for the menu, Ingrid told the Miami New Times: “We will be experimenting with different styles burgers and tacos from a decadent Latin Burger, which is a chuck, chorizo and sirloin burger, melted Oaxaca  cheese with caramelized jalapenos and onions & a red pepper mayo, to healthy chicken tomatillo taco served in sprouted grain flowerless tortillas.  There will be the Gringo Burger the Sweet fries and all my special sauces. We’ll always have 3 burgers, 3 tacos and weekly special ranging from Mole and Tinga poblana to Curry salmon taco with pineapple salsa and jalpeno aioli or Ancho seared beef with queso blanco and cumin mojo.” Yum! My mouth is watering already. [Miami New Times]