Great news everyone! One of our favorite NYC street vendors, Bistro Truck, is back with a street cart called BistroShopp. Smart move, with the police squeezing food trucks like The Mountain squeezed Red Viper’s head. For this reason, a food cart is much smarter than a food truck in NYC these days.
BistroShopp has most of the dishes you remember from a few years ago, such as chicken tajine and merguez sausages. You can see the menu here.
We really liked the lamb burger, but it’s been re-imagined here as lamb meatballs in a gruyere sauce, available on a sandwich or as a platter for $10.
The owner, Yassir, opened the restaurant Rustic LES a couple of years ago, and he tells us it’s doing fine. But there’s nothing in the world nearly as interesting as working on the NYC streets. Once it’s in your blood, it’s tough to stop.
The biggest difference between the lamb meatballs and the old lamb burger are the toppings. The lamb meatballs were topped with a homemade, creamy gruyere sauce and a little shredded gruyere cheese.
Gruyere is a good choice here because it’s a little sharper than most cheeses, and lamb is a little stronger- tasting than beef. They complement each other well.
Make sure you get harissa on top as well. Harissa is a Moroccan hot sauce, and it added a little kick to the creamy, cheesy sauce.
BistroShopp platter come with either couscous or rice. We have rice so often, couscous is an enjoyable alternative when it’s available.
On the side was a kale salad, which is a huge cut above the usual iceberg lettuce and tomato salads of many street food vendors. We’re not big salad eaters, but after eating the kale salad, we felt like The Mountain before he ran into Red Viper.
It’s great to have BistroShopp back on the street. They are making the rounds of their old parking spots, and trying to find some new ones. We even got them to come up to Broadway & 55th St, where the police have been actively chasing food trucks away.
Your best bet is to follow them on twitter here or on the Mobile Munchies twitter feed.
Merguez sausages, chicken tajine, chicken pastilla, lamb meatballs – it’s always difficult to choose what to order at BistroShopp.
