Bourdain Calls NYC Street Food “Shameful, Terrible, and Indefensible”
I love it when Anthony Bourdain gets all vitriolic on the things that bother him (I find myself agreeing with him pretty much every single time) but I can’t stand by his (totally surprising) opinion about New York City street food. A few weeks ago, after heaping praise on a hot dog cart in Denver for an upcoming episode of No Reservations, Bourdain was quoted saying some not so nice things about his hometown street meat options:
He does clarify the statement a bit to exclude the street food of the outer boroughs.
I’m hoping (as is often the case with stuff like this) his comments were taken out of context- after all, if you’re just talking about the city’s hot dog and kebab situation, then the statement might be 100% true. But if he really does feel that way about *all* Midtown street food, it must be based on some bad experiences from lord knows how long ago. Of course that could easily be remedied with a Midtown Lunch Street Food Walking Tour! Could it be time for a No Reservations: Midtown Street Food edition? Somebody who reads this site must have a connection at the Travel Channel who could make this happen, right?
We could start off with some stew peas with pig tails at the Jamaican Dutchy (on 51st and 7th), follow that up with kati rolls from the Biriyani Cart (on 46th and 6th), chicken and lamb over rice from Kwik Meal (on 45th and 6th), and goat biriyani from the Trini Paki Boys cart (on 43rd and 6th). Oh, and if you want some tongue tacos we can finish things up at the El Rey del Sabor cart (also on 43rd and 6th). And that doesn’t even include any of the new school carts…
What do you say Tony? Unlike your feelings on expensive organic food, or vegetarianism, or well known Food Network personalities, I think it would be pretty easy to get you to reconsider your stance. (I’d put the over under at 2 bites of stew peas.)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 4:00 pm, November 30th, 2009 under Street Vendor Issues.
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18 Comments
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I’ve seen him wandering around central park on the cell phone a few times on my busride in. If I ever see him again, I’ll hop off the bus and yell at him.
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I’m willing to give lengua taco’s a try (maybe if I call it by a different name, it wont gross me out?)
That said, the last time my wife ordered tongue from a deli, I thought it smelled like cat food (which makes sense), so I’m not sure if I can handle trying it.
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I can’t imagine life without cilantro. Vindaloo, Kati Rolls, Salsa, none of it would be the same without Cilantro.
I really really really hope Bourdain takes you up on your offer, Zach. That’s just ridiculous…espcially coming from AB!!
Ughhh