Midtown Lunch

When Kwik Meal cart owner Muhammed Rahman announced that he’d be bringing Kwik Meal IV to 45th and 6th and converting it into a past cart, I admit I kind of thought he was crazy.  Pasta from a cart?  Sure, he owns a pizza and pasta joint up in Harlem (and he famously used to work at the Russian Tea Room), but pasta just doesn’t seem like it would lend itself to the high volume craziness of the Midtown lunch street food scene.  I was quickly proved wrong by my first visit to the cart.  The angel hair with chicken and veggies was a good lunch, and not only was the pasta not over sauced (a crime in my opinion) but it had this great spicy kick to it that reminded you in every bite you were eating pasta from a street meat cart.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was “amazing” or the best pasta I’ve ever had, but it was definitely better than I expected.  And for $6, how could you go wrong?

Since then Muhammed has expanded his menu from 3 to 5 pastas, and yesterday I stopped by to try his new penne with meat sauce.

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When the famous Kwik Meal cart opened up a pasta cart last month on 45th btw. 6+7th, I have to admit my expectations were pretty low. First taste, though, was much better than I expected– and I guess they’re doing well enough to expand the menu. In addition to the original three angel hair dishes, they are now serving penne with meat sauce, and linguine with salmon.

Related:
Kwik Pastas is Far Better Than I Expected

When the news first broke that Kwik Meal was going to be opening a pasta cart on 45th and 6th (next to their very famous street meat cart) I think we were all understandably skeptical.  Nevermind the simple fact that pasta from a cart seems like it would be difficult to pull off for anybody, but even if the noodles are cooked right what would pasta even taste like made by a guy known for his lamb over rice platters?  That being said, Muhammed Rahman is a good cook.  He famously spent time cooking at the Russian Tea Room, and he even owns an Italian pizza and pasta joint up in Harlem.  So maybe it’s not far fetched.  And once the positive reviews started pouring in, I had to go check this out for myself.

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Photo courtesy of Lunch’er Stephen

Reports poured in from Midtown Lunch’ers trying the Kwik Meal pasta cart for the first time today (on 45th and 6th), and despite early concern that Muhammed wouldn’t be able to pull off pasta from a cart- the reviews seem largely positive!

Lunch’er FileEditView is the first to comment:

Just went, Rahman was there in the pasta cart creating the orders and asking customers to sample before they left so he could get their feedback. Got the chicken w/ vegetables — fairly delicious, no visible sauce but definitely a bit of a kick. I would probably get it again, but if they had other options besides angel hair it would be better.

Pasta photos and more, are after the jump…

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