Comments on: NYT Drives Huge Traffic to Midtown Carts Today

By: Rudy McBagel

Rudy McBagel — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:55:49 +0000

What sort of cart?

Bet it’s Tandoori.

By: delia1008

delia1008 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:34:37 +0000

I hope someone can help me. I live in Texas and just came home from a 10 day stay in NYC. I had an absolute blast! Were it not for my kiddos and my husband, I would not have come home. Ok, here’s where I need help. I had chicken & rice from this cart twice (ok, three times) while I was there, and OMG!! I’m in love. Can someone tell me what kind of food this is? If you happen to know where in Dallas I can find some of this sinfully good stuff, that would be even better!

Thanks!
Craving Chicken & Rice in Dallas

By: mfc

mfc — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:02:41 +0000

whoa kiznick, you need to eat a greater variety of things!

YES, it would’ve been super gross if a guy was eating a peach and carelessly spat it into the rice.

BUT it’s just part of the pitted fruit that they scoop out of a jar of stuff (i’ve seen them do it) and put into your rice for seasoning. i don’t know the terminology for any of this, but rest assured that it is intentional.

i know western food takes the bones out of everything (at the price of succulence, imo), so if you eat predominatly american food you probably felt a little betrayed and offended at the intrusion of the inedible pit. but… now you know to slow down when you eat ethnic food. it’s good, you’ll enjoy the flavors more when you eat slower!

ALSO kudos for getting TWO ROLLS PLUS BRYANI. respect.

By: hd02fxstbi

hd02fxstbi — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:10:34 +0000

agree with DDR… I visit XPL 2x per week and the rice was off today… it usually packs more flavor but was a bit bland today… line at 1:30 was approx 10 people deep..

By: Proby

Proby — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:38:04 +0000

New to the NYC commute and working on 6th, I’ve been exploring my food options so Midtownlunch is a godsend. I had discovered Margon and squeezed in there yesterday at around noon. It was totally packed with a LONG line. In fact, that’s how I heard about the NYT article. I said something about how crowded it was and the guy next to me in line told me about it.

The counter staff seemed to actually be enjoying the chaos and were still friendly and generous, throwing in a taste of this or that if I asked what something was. My favorite around here, so far.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:37:17 +0000

@kiznick: Never gotten a peach pit in my biryani, or anything nearly that large that was inedible. There will usually be a few stray bay leaves or cloves that you have to pick out, but that’s it.

By: kiznick

kiznick — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:00:27 +0000

First time poster here. I had to say something. I’ve been reading this blog for over a year and the recommendations have been great. So today I head to the Biryani cart. I ordered two King Koti rolls and the spicy chicken biryani. Had the rolls first, they were delicious. Dived into the spicy chicken – and bit down hard on a peach pit! Is there supposed to be peaches in the biryani?? I’m telling you, it looked like someone just spit the pit out of his mouth, and it ended up in the rice, or somewhere. It was disgusting. I am lucky I did not break a tooth. So, the rest of the meal is now in the trash and I’m feeling sick to my stomach.

I wish I was kidding, but I had to say something. They were so busy, the line was long and they were doing a great job – but this is just not acceptable. This was the first and last time. This office is never going there again.

By: wEnDaLicious

wEnDaLicious — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:19:45 +0000

Congratz on the well-deserved NYT write-up! I just happened to pick up the paper while lounging around this afternoon! =D

By: litm

litm — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:17:17 +0000

wait to long for kati roll at biryani cart .. the best

By: RSB

RSB — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:41:48 +0000

The article and the fact I had to be in the area inspired me to check out XPL for the first time, so I can’t comment on how it normally is. Went at 12:30, and the link was about 10-15. Chicken/rice with white sauce was tasty, and had several comments from people back at the office how good it looked.

If that’s them off of their game, then I look forward to going back there when they’re back on.