“Smoked” Duck Kielbasa from the Rouge Tomate Cart

Feel like Duck Kielbasa? Know what it is? Well, we’ve enjoyed a couple of lunches at the seasonal Rouge Tomate cart right outside the Central Park Zoo, on 5th Ave at 64th St. So it was a pleasant surprise when they tweeted a new menu around.

They still have a few burgers on the menu, including our favorite, the Moroccan chicken burger. Now there are a couple of artisanal sausages to go along with the burgers, soups and juices.

The first option was an Italian sausage and peppers made with rabbit sausage for $6.

We decided to go with the 2nd option, “smoked” Long Island duck kielbasa for $7. Yes, we’re originally from Long Island, but haven’t lived there in many years, and cannot recall ever having duck kielbasa.

Normally, one sausage is not enough food for lunch, so we ordered a double chocolate banana cookie for $2.

The sausage was served on a toasted whole wheat bun, and was topped with red cabbage sauerkraut, apricot mustard and chives.

The “smoked” Duck Kielbasa name was a little misleading. After inquiring why “smoked” was in quotation marks, we were told the sausage was made with “smoked” sea salt that supposedly imparted a little smokiness to the sausage.

Not that we could tell. Duck kielbasa would have been just fine on the menu (and more precise).

In our experience, kielbasa was always a thick sausage, but after doing a little research, we found out there are many types of kielbasa, some of which are thin.

The Duck Kielbasa definitely had some fennel taste, and the duck in the sausage was not too strong. There was a vague bratwurst air about the sausage, which is not a dig. We love bratwurst.

The red cabbage sauerkraut was a good accompaniment for the kielbasa, but the apricot mustard was an excellent one. It had mustard seeds and tiny pieces of apricot, making for a fruity and slightly spicy condiment for the sausage.

This was a tasty sausage, but to be honest, we probably could have eaten 2 (or 3) of them. The duck kielbasa was about the size of a large breakfast sausage or a thin hot dog.

Good thing we got the double chocolate banana cookie, made at their restaurant a few blocks away.

It was a large, soft chocolate cookie with small pieces of chocolate and banana. A nice end to a tasty, if not totally filling, lunch.

The Rouge Tomate cart can be found on twitter here and on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed. It’s not like the cart moves locations, since they are officially licensed by the NYC Parks Dept to be at 5th Ave & 64th St, but they might not be out in bad weather. The cart is also seasonal, running from approximately April through October.

Oh yeah, we almost forgot. They also give everyone  a free, small container of pickled veggies to whet their appetite…and it did the trick nicely. A slice of jalapeño, some carrot, potato and cauliflower, all pickled, definitely woke up our tongue.