La Baguette Cafe is Mamacita’s New Favorite Street Meat

Our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” isn’t all alcohol all the time.  She also enjoys her street meat… so when she told me that she had a great chicken and lamb over rice plate from La Baguette Truck (a strangely named halal truck that I’ve walked by many times, but never pulled the trigger on), I told her to her write it up for everyone to enjoy!  Here’s her report…

truck

Every once in a while you find yourself in midtown after dark and seek the comfort of a reliable street cart for dinner. I was in Bryant Park recently on the first cold night of December and my initial thought was that of the cart on 40th St. & Broadway, the 3rd place winner of Street Meat Palooza 1. Unfortunately I found it’s only a daytime cart, so after I got there I reluctantly looked towards the truck that I’ve seen for years on the opposite side of the street. It’s called “La Baguette Cafe,” and has a Parisian motif but with a typical Halal menu. I was hungry so I figured after all these years I’d finally bite the bullet and check it out. Of course I went with the ML staple: chicken and lamb over rice… but I was surprised by what I got for $5.50.

DSCF3921

Steaming hot off the grill came a large amount of chicken and lamb with grilled onions, a side salad and some sliced dill pickles. The onions were finely julienned and infused with greasy meat juice. They were much better than the chunks you get at other carts. The man behind the counter asked if I wanted hot sauce and I said, “Yes, a lot please.” He looked at me like a gringa and said, “Are you sure, it’s very hot,” but I insisted, “Yes I like it hot!”

food

Holy hell, he wasn’t kidding. That hot sauce was amazing. Not tomato based, not a green sauce, not even a chipotle sauce, we are talking a smoky dried pepper sauce that looked almost like BBQ sauce but had no inappropriate sweetness. It set fire to my lips and I loved every minute of it. The lamb was like every other cart and the chicken consisted of dark meat so it had lots of flavor. The white sauce was mediocre but the sour pickles made the salad.

La Baguette is around from lunchtime till night and also has soups, salads, falafel, and cheesesteaks. Let us know what you think? Can their hot sauce and grilled onions make them a contender in SMP3??

La Baguette Cafe, SE Corner of Broadway & 40th Street

9 Comments

  • Ah, thanks for the new destination! I wasn’t disappointed at all with the Little Morocco cart on 39th/7th (their hot sauce kept a nice steady heat going). The truck at 28th/Madison, not so great (but I’ll have to try the night crew). This one looks good.

  • I look forward to hitting this as well…maybe next week since I won’t be working….

  • i’ve also enjoyed the falafel sandwich here. only 4.50 with hummus

  • Hot sauce looks like it’s worth jumpin at. I have to stop by for dinner sometime. I’m sure I walk by it all time heading towards Times Sq.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    It’s never more glaring that Wayne is among the missing when Mama say’s “It set fire to my lips and I loved every minute of it” and it goes uncommented on for at least 7 hours.

    He didn’t get where he is today, where ever that might be, by letting a comment like that skip by.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Sigh, I miss this cart. They are also there in the morning, their sausage egg and cheese is excellent. I bought way too many of those.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    BAH, lately he has been using uncle ben’s rice and it tastes terrible..

  • If you guys end up going – go balls out and ask for extra hot sauce!!! that was the “wow moment” for me. I’d like to know if I’m a chile wuss or not compared to ya’ll.

  • I’ll ask for extra. I doubt it’s that strong but won’t underestimate it til I eats it.

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.