Moshe’s Falafel
Day Two of Falafel Week!
It's day two of my search for the best Falafel in Midtown… and while nobody has ever recommended Moshe's to me- I have walked by it many times, and it usually has a really long line. Well, in most places, long lines means good- so I figured I'd try it.
I'm not sure if I was there on a bad day or what, but the falafel I got was a mess. There was so much tahini poured over the top it was impossible to eat. I asked for hot sauce, but couldn't taste any under all the tahini- so I'm not sure if it was there, or they forgot to put it on.
Because this is a cart, and the falafel are made right there, they were warmer and a little fresher then yesterday's falafel (House of Pita), and had a really delicious outer crust that tasted sort of like the batter that you find around fried seafood in New Orleans (definetely not a bad thing!). Unfortunately the inside was a little a dry. You would think the tahini would have helped, but all of that was on the top, and the falafel was on the bottom. Their layering could definetely use a little work. Four falafels on the bottom of the pita pocket, lettuce and tomato on top of that, and then one falafel on top to make it seem layered… with the whole thing smothered in tahini.
I basically had two bites of falafel covered in tahini, four bites of just lettuce and tomato, and then the bottom was all falafel. The pita was better then yesterday, but it started falling apart after bite two, because of the tahini. Pretty disappointing. Usually taste rules, but when considering a place to eat a quick lunch on your break from work- messiness has to be taken into consideration.
Like I said, there was a really long line, so people must like this place- and maybe I just got one bad falafel. Next time I will definetely ask them to go easy on the tahini… maybe that will be an improvement. $4.25 for a whole, $3.00 for half… although I'm not sure what would constitute half… maybe less filling? That might be an improvement as well… If you've been here before please comment and let me know if your experience has been the same as mine.
The +/- and location info after the jump… Read more »
Posted by Zach at 4:45 pm, June 20th, 2006 under 46th and 6th, Cart, Falafel, Middle Eastern, Moshe's Falafel.
That’s right… it’s Falafel Week. I’m guessing I don’t have to explain what a Falafel is… if you work in Midtown I can’t imagine you’ve never tried one. But nevertheless, if you haven’t- it’s a fried ball of ground up chickpeas (although it can be fava beans as well). As a sandwich, it usually comes wrapped in Pita bread with tahini (sesame seed paste) or Hummus (chickpea spread) or both. Often there will be vegetables in the sandwich as well, ranging from lettuce and tomato, to cucumber salad to pickles or cabbage. It usually depends on the region of the Middle East it is coming from. Sometimes the balls will be green on the inside, which happens when an herb (usually parsley I think) is added to the ground up chickpeas. Many places will offer a hot sauce as well.