Last week El Rey de Sabor let us know that they were thinking about starting rotating specials every few days. First up: Chile Relleno. I hustled over to check it out, and if the chile relleno is anything to go by, these rotating specials are going to be a smash success. What I found after the jump:

For $8, I got a giant chile wrapped in a corn tortilla, stuffed with queso fresco, covered in a generous helping of red mole sauce and hot sauce, and served with a huge portion of rice and beans. As we’ve come to expect from the King of Flavor, the dish was hearty, comforting and authentic. My only complaint was that the cheese inside the chile wasn’t very melty, so it didn’t have that cheese-splosion when I cut into it. It’s a minor gripe though when we’re talking about something this yummy.

El Rey said that they’d be introducing new specials in the weeks to come, possibly a chicken with red mole sauce, or maybe some slow cooked shredded pork with salsa verde. And on Friday they had a torta de camarones.  But today we heard that they’ll be serving up the chile relleno again.

El Rey del Sabor (3 Locations)

• 49th and Park
• 43rd btw. 5+6th
• 60th and 3rd

I’m never scared about eating from a food cart. We’ve touted their cleanliness and deliciousness for years, but when I found out that El Rey del Sabor would be serving actual grasshoppers (chapulines) from their three carts this week, I knew I would have to face my first insect lunch. And my heart slowly made its way to my throat.

It was an exciting, exhilarating fear that I felt as I watched the guys grill up my quesadilla and I could see tiny little legs sticking out from the tortillas. The quesadillas are $9, which is pricier than the rest of their menu, but Rosa (the owner) pointed out it’s not cheap to import these little critters. They doused the dried chapulines with a smoky red hot sauce and topped it all with their wonderful chipotle aioli, homemade guacamole, and pico de gallo.

They were very crunchy, reminiscent of eating the exterior of a soft shell crab or tiny shrimp – except here there was no actual flesh or meaty texture – it was all crunch. That didn’t bother me too much. The flavor was quite unique and hard to pinpoint. There was something a little smoky and salty about the bugs with a strong nutty flavor, kind of like spicy harder irregular popcorn. Does that make any sense?

Like all the quesadillas at El Rey , these were pretty tasty. And once I got past the constant crunch and creepy, crawly appendages, I was able to enjoy the earthy, spicy flavors. If you’re looking for a unique and affordable meal, here’s an exciting option for you. They’ll be available all week unless they sell out earlier. I’m tempted to make some sort of bad insect pun in closing, but I’m sure that would just bug all of you.

There are no rice and meat plates listed on the menu, but the guy taking orders knew exactly what I wanted. I went the somewhat unexciting route and ordered chicken for comparative purposes, but obviously the protein selection at El Rey is one thing that separates it from traditional street meat carts (I did try to get some chorizo as well, but they were out). I let the guys build the plate themselves without much input from me because I wanted to see how they would normally serve it, but my mind was racing at the possibilities (queso fresca, guacamole, etc.).

I ended up with a plate of rice topped with beans and chicken, and a side of lettuce topped with pico de gallo. They used a white sauce I’ve never seen at El Rey before and their red hot sauce. I asked them to top it off with some of their awesome creamy, spicy orange stuff. All in all it cost me $7.

It was enough like “Halal” street meat that I don’t think anyone would mistake it for a full on Mexican dish consisting of rice, beans and chicken. But once I mixed everything together, the hearty beans, small amount of pico, and orange stuff made this a street meat experience unique from any other. The hearty beans in sauce add another layer to the entire dish once they’re mixed in. Their white sauce has a cool, light feel to it, so if you don’t like the heavy mayo stuff at some carts this might be a good option. And the little chunks of white meat chicken might be boring on their own, but they nicely complement everything else that’s going on, and they’re a nice change of pace from the stringy, dark meat found at lots of carts.

As a big fan of street meat that brings a little something extra to the table, I’d rank El Rey’s unique version right up there with Midtown’s best, and I’m sure it gets even better if you ask for some more Mexican flourishes. El Rey regulars and street meat lovers looking for something different should take note of this off-the-menu option.

El Rey Del Sabor, 43rd btw. 5+6th

On Saturday we gathered together at City Winery with a couple hundred of our closest friends to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of Midtown Lunch (yes, we too are surprised this thing has been around for 5 years!)   A great time was had by all thanks to the amazing food (provided graciously by Kwik Meal, The Biryani Cart, Cer Te, Ma Peche, Food Gallery 32, El Rey del Sabor, Tri Tip Grill, Wafels & Dinges, Miss Softee & the Rolling Cones, Kelvin Slush, and Momofuku Milk Bar) and the endless drinks courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery and GuS’s soda.

Check out the highlights, after the jump…

Bian Dang’s colorful truck was there, serving up their tasty, meaty Taiwanese style pork chops with pork gravy and pickled veggies over rice with a smile. It was contributor Donny T’s favorite of the day.

They were parked next to their Food Gallery 32 co-horts, Boon Sik Zip, who served up delicious made to order kimbap featuring your choice of beef, tuna and veggie flavors. So good!

Eddie’s Pizza showed off their brand new cart (the very first of its kind!), serving up a light and shatteringly crisp tomato and basil bar pie.

Má Pêche Chef, Tien Ho, and his crew brought their A-game, serving a special banh mi that was conceptualized just for this event. This sandwich featured a ridiculously juicy and rich slab of pork belly, paired with crunchy pickled daikon beef,
crab mayo and green papaya, in a good crusty roll. Mamacita was a fan, saying “their pork reminded me the strong richness and fattiness that I would expect from an old school carnitas store in East LA. A heavy squirt of shiracha sauce just put a happy ending to the whole mouthful. I should mention the serving size demanded a two hander, my boyfriend had to hold my beer while I took this thing down.”  And Chris H appreciated how juicy and messy it was. ”I want stuff falling out of it and juice to be running down my wrists when I take a bite – this sandwich did just that, and it was awesome!”

Based on hear-say from the crowd, the Tri-Tip Grill crew earned themselves some new customers, as people buzzed about the lusciously meaty Baby Buck sliders.  Thinly sliced, super tender roast beef dipped in debris and topped with bbq sauce and horseradish… it was perfection on a potato roll.

Our friends over at Cer Te, not to be bested by Má Pêche, also came up with a new menu item for this event. Their contribution was a hearty house made lobster sausage in a snappy natural casing. They paired this ‘haute dog’, with a truffled fingerling potato salad, sprinkled with lobster infused salt. This dish ended up as contributor Brian Hoffman’s favorite dish, as he raved,

“It was so unusual and the flavors worked really well together. The truffle creamed potatoes on the side and a garnish of an inventive and out of control lobster salty put the dish over the edge for me. I don’t see this on their regular menu, but if they ever do add it, I know where I’ll be spending the majority of my summer lunches.”

El Rey Del Sabor showed up with their signature tacos, which were available with pork, beef, or chicken. The folks that opted for spicy were treated to an exhilarating but tongue searing level of spice. Luckily there was plenty of suds by Brooklyn Brewery and GuS soda available to put out the fire.

Muhammed Rahman and the Kwik Meal Cart team stuck with the stuff that made them famous… handing out samples of their pita stuffed with their signature chunks of whole, juicy lamb. A Midtown Lunch classic!

Meru and the Biryani Cart offered samples of another iconic aMidtown lunch, chicken biryani and kati rolls.

The crummy weather didn’t stop people from gulping down cup after cup of refreshing ginger and Arnold Palmer slushes from Kelvin Natural Slush. (And we may or may not have spotted Zach behind the prize table adding something from a flask into his…)

For dessert, attendees were treated to the always scrumptious Wafels and Dinges liegewafels, which were topped with a swipe of nutty spekuloos and a swirl of whipped cream.

And Chrissie (aka Miss Softee), ringleader of The Rolling Cones, was there to hand out her innovative ice cream creations, including the infamous Potato Chip Choco Dip cone and the Watchamacallit cone.

But the “genius of the day” award goes to Blondie, who sandwiched Miss Softee’s soft serve between two cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar!

Although food was the focus of the event, it was also a chance for friends and family of Midtown Lunch to meet, eat, drink, and be happy. And there was probably no one happier in attendance, than little Harry the unofficial Midtown Lunch mascot, who was able to escape the stroller and stretch his legs.

In addition to all the great food and drinks, thanks to all the vendors who donated prizes! Including, Sweetery NYC, Bon Chon, Goodburger, Mooncake Foods, Beacon, BeerParc, Schnitzel & Things, Eddie’s Pizza Truck, Bistro Truck, Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, Yushi, The Counter, Glaze Teriyaki, Taim Mobile, Kimchi Taco Truck, Mai Cuisine, Macaron Cafe, ‘wichcraft, Hertz Connect, Seamless Web, Not For Tourist Guides, and Bouchon Bakery. You didn’t have to be present to win, so we’ll be sending out the rest of the prizes this week!

And finally a big thank you to everybody who came out to the party to support Midtown Lunch and the Street Vendor Project. You guys made this birthday one we’ll always remember!

Even though the El Rey del Sabor carts came out with their three chalupa special late last fall, I completely forgot about them. The location closest to my work (on 49th and Park Avenue) didn’t have any signs up for it and it wasn’t on their regular menu. Well, there’s a pretty legit looking sign up now, and even though the price has gone up a buck I had to try them.

For $7 you get three chalupas with rice and beans, and they are pretty decent. Seeing as I’m a big fan of their spicy pork, that’s what I went with. Between the chunks of pork and the mystery pink spicy sauce, my mouth was on fire for quite a while even with the cheese and sour cream. They serve you pinto beans on the side, atop their nondescript rice- which by the end of my lunch, I had started putting into the chalupas for a mini-burrito effect. It was quite the deliciousness!

Related:
El Rey Del Sabor is Still Midtown’s Best Mexican Food From a Cart

With a budget of $30 between the 3 of us, I wanted to make sure to have savory with some sweet.  And of little nibbles mixed with more bigger servings.  Find two co-workers and this could your lunch today. Here’s what we had:

Stop #1: Austrian Food from Schnitzel & Things, in their regular Thursday position, 48th between 6th and 7th.

Our order: a bratwurst sandwich with sauerkraut and mustard on ciabatta, $5.  We hit Schnitzel shortly after they opened, and in spite of the cold there was still a short line.  Not too bad a wait, but if you’re attempting this in colder weather, it would be worth it to call your order in.

At five bucks, this sausage made for a substantial kick off to our tour.

Stop #2: Indian/Bangladeshi from Biryani Cart, 46th Street between 6th and 7th.

Our order: one Spicy Buradi Chicken Kati Roll, $3.  You really can’t go wrong with Meru’s Spicy Buradi Roll.  My guests had never had a kati roll and they loved the spicy, sweet combination of this roll.

Stop #3: Israeli from Moshe’s Falafel, 45th Street between 5th and 6th.

Our order: 4 falafel balls, $2.  Moshe’s takes some flack on ML for their poor sandwich layering, but at $2 for 4 sizable falafel balls, it makes for a filling a cheap snack.  And since they douse your entire order with tahini and hot sauce upon request there’s little risk of not getting the saucy bites that you want.

Stop #4: “Korean” from Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart, 45th Street between 5th and 6th.

Our order: a fried whiting sandwich, $3.50.  Ok, this might not be a traditional Korean dish like bulgogi, but it’s my favorite thing from the Kim’s.  My friends were astonished  that the sandwich was so big, so cheap, and so fresh tasting.  If sharing one of these sandwiches I highly recommend ordering it on a hero roll–less chance of the bread disintegrating.

Stop #5: Belgian from Wafels & Dinges

Our order: a Liege wafel with Belgian chocolate and strawberries, $5.  Brussels and Liege wafels at W&D run $5 with one dinge (topping), but if you follow their twitter they generally have a special password for an additional free dinge.  The Brussels wafels are a good choice if you want a waffle that’s more like what most Americans think of as a Belgian waffle, but the Liege wafels with its pockets of crystallized sugary goodness, might be a better pick if you want to show off a treat that’s hard to find outside of Belgium.  After polishing off our Liege, my friends were sad that there isn’t a W&D truck in the Seattle area.

Stop #6 Mexican from El Rey de Sabor, 43rd and 6th, north side of the street

Our order: a chicken tamale, $1.50. El Rey de Sabor gets a lot of love on ML and though this was my first visit to any of their carts, I can see why. Their chicken tamale was tender and delicious. My dad is a born and raised Southern Californian and has instilled this little New Englander with an appreciation for the good tamale. I can definitely see coming back to make a lunch of these.

Stop #7 Trinidadian from Trini Paki Boys Cart, 43rd between 5th and 6th, south side of the street

Our order: doubles, $2.  The curried chickpea filled doubles from the Trini Paki Boys cart is one of my favorite all time ML discoveries.  Even though neither of my friends had ever tried Trinidadian food before they are both adventurous eaters and were blown away by the doubles.  It was their hands down best of the tour pick for being “unique, tasty, and filling.”

Stop #8 Moroccan from Little Morocco, NE Corner of 39th & 7th Ave.

Our order: chicken and lamb combo over rice, $5.  Clearly street meat had to make an appearance in the cart tour extravaganza, especially since my friends had never experienced the wonders of chicken and lamb over rice before.  It was a tough choice on my part in terms of which cart we would get our combo from. Biryani Cart was a heavy contender, though they were ruled out fairly early on since I wanted cart variety and I already knew that we would already be stopping for kati rolls there.   53rd and 6th was a little out of our way and wouldn’t work out timingwise. Kwik Meal was considered as well, but ultimately eliminated from contention for budgetary reasons–in order to hit  10 carts and still stay within the $10 each budget, I had to find a combo platter that would come in at $5 or under.  I had read about Little Morocco being midtown’s “best new street meat” and was intrigued by their shipped directly from Morocco harrissa.  After the Spicy Chicken Buradi Roll, the ample hot sauce from Moshes and Kim’s, and the doubles, my friends had proven themselves capable of handling some heat so I knew they were ready for some Moroccan harissa action.  Little Morocco’s harissa and platter did not disappoint.  It’s such a beautiful thing to introduce out of towners to the wonders of white sauce and hot sauce.

Now I must caution that at this point in the tour more moderate eaters might be feeling a little bit of stomach fatigue.  Trying to be a considerate host, I asked my guests if they were ready to pack it in.  Their response?  “We’ve got 2 more carts to go.  Let’s hit it!”  With my friends determined to complete the 10 cart challenge, we pressed on.

Stop #9: American from the Treats Truck, in position on 38th street and 5th ave

Our order: a chocolate chip cookie, $1.  It had been several stops since out waffle, so it seemed right to go for another sweet treat and what better to represent American comfort food than a chocolate chip cookie?  Some of Kim’s treats tend towards the pricier side, but at $1 for a nice, soft chocolate chip filled cookie, this is one of my favorite Treats Truck bargains.

Stop #10: Jamaican from the Jamaican Dutchy Cart, west 51st and 7th Ave

Our order: a beef patty, $2.  The Jamaican beef patty was supposed to have come early in our tour which I had planned to conclude at the Treats Truck, not far from my friends’ hotel, but unfortunately I hadn’t taken note that the Caribbean  Spice Truck, normally parked near the Biryani Cart on 46th, had gone missing, so for our last stop we back tracked up to the Jamaican Dutchy cart on 51st street for their beef patty. A perfect spicy cap to our 10 cart tour.

And now the final tally:
Bratwurst from Schnitzel & Things: $5
Spicy Buradi Chicken Kati Roll from Biryani Cart: $3
Falafel Balls from Moshe’s: $2
Fried Whiting Hero from Kim’s: $3.50
Chocolate and Strawberry Smothered Liege Wafel from Wafels & Dinges: $5
Doubles from Trini Paki Boys Cart: $2
Chicken Tamale from El Rey de Sabor: $1.50
Chicken and Lamb Combo over Rice from Little Morocco: $5
Chocolate Chip Cookie from Treats Truck: $1
Beef Patty from Jamaican Dutchy: $2
Total spent on lunch: $30 or $10 per person.  Mission accomplished!

A few post tour notes.  We started our tour at close to noon on a Thursday afternoon and didn’t run into too much line trouble.  Eating as we went along we managed to finish the 10 carts within about 2 hours and this included me playing tour guide filling my guests in on each cart as we went along.  If you were meeting up with a group of midtown based friends you could probably do a similar “tour” in less time in picnic form by dividing and conquering with the food pick up.

This particular tour comes with a shitload of food for three people. If you have a moderate to light appetite you could do less carts for a cheaper per head lunch price and still come away satisfied or do the same amount of carts and just invite a 4th person along.  I crafted our stops based on their convenience to my Rock Center office and with the exception of the beef patty snafu, kept us heading in a southward direction focusing predominantly on carts in the 6th ave vicinity.  The stops were based on some of my favorites with ML recommendations that I’ve never tried mixed in and the entire tour was crafted to hit the 10 carts, 10 different cuisines at $10 per person in a decently timely manner on a Thursday.  When creating your own food tour you might have other priorities or other must visit stops.  And with the twitter trucks like Wafels & Dinges, Treats Truck and Schnitzel and Things be sure to always check their twitter for location.

What stops would you have on your own midtown cart tour?