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.

Even though there are five different pastas, the marinara base is pretty much the same for all of them (or you can order your pasta with garlic and olive oil.)  Rather than making a separate meat sauce, he just adds seasoned ground beef to his marinara when he puts the order together.  The pastas are all parboiled in advance, and then reheated in the sauce before getting served.  The biggest surprise is that the pastas don’t end up mushy.

As for the penne with meat sauce, I loved it.  It was so flavorful, the penne was cooked nicely, and it had an amazing kick. There were some problem though… there was way too much sauce for the amount of pasta, and it was pretty greasy, plus I don’t know about the string beans (yes it had string beans.) But the flavor was good and spicy, and I enjoyed sopping it up with the piece of french bread he gives you (maybe you could ask him to go light on the sauce?)  Oh, and it turns out the heat comes from a familiar place… the green hot sauce from the Kwik Meal carts.  That’s right.  He puts a little squirt in all his pasta dishes, to give them a really unique kick.  Genius!

Of course I don’t want to send you over there thinking it’s the greatest pasta in the universe.  It’s not.  And if you ask him to make it mild, you’ll lose out on what makes the dish so unique.  But for $6 it’s a surprisingly good Midtown Lunch, and it’s certainly better than any of the build your own pasta bars at the generic delis.  But even more than that there’s just something about it, beyond the taste, that just feels so right… so homemade… so downright weird.  Italian pasta, from Kwik Meal cart.  Only in Midtown!

Related:
Kwik Pastas is Far Better Than I Expected

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

Smartly the cart has limited the options to one kind of pasta (angel hair), and one kind of sauce (a light marinara), but you get your choice of two proteins (tiger shrimp or chicken) or you can just have mixed vegetables.  Angel hair is a smart choice for a cart.  It’s quick to boil, and harder to overcook.  In fact my pasta spent a lot of time in that closed container before I ate, and shockingly never became mushy.  I went with the chicken, which is the exact same chicken they serve on the Kwik Meal cart.  It’s pre-cooked before going into the pasta (also to save time) so it doesn’t end up getting a bit dry.  But that’s pretty much my only complaint.  The sauce has a decent flavor, and he doesn’t drown the pasta in it.  I asked for mine spicy, so it had this great kick that distinguishes it from most of the other fast food pasta options you’ll find in Midtown (like an arrabiata).  And for $6 it was a ton of food.

Is it the best pasta you’ll ever eat? Of course not. And there are certainly things you could nit-pick about.  But it’s better than the one or two pastas I’ve tried at those crappy, generic Midtown deli “pasta bars”.  And that alone makes it a top notch Midtown Lunch.

Kwik Pastas, SW Corner of 45th and 6th (just West of the Kwik Meal Cart)

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…

Got this email from Lunch’er “Matthew” a few minutes later:

There’s a nice set up in the cart, even with the “Angle” Hair spelling, does no one ever proof read these signs? The shrimp looked very good but I opted for vegetables, includes onions, zucchini, fresh mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, chopped fresh tomatoes and string beans. Mohammed was constantly seasoning and tasting the sauce, I must’ve been one of the first customers, still getting in the groove. The sauce is very well seasoned, the vegetables taste great, and for $6 it’s a pretty huge serving. Will definitely get back for the shrimp and chicken some time soon.

And finally Lunch’er “Stephen” sends over a look at the actual pasta…

“Pasta isn’t bad. Its a lot of food for 5.99. Its got some kick, same chicken as the halal dishes. Veggies are good and fresh. Sauce is decent. 15 min wait to get it, its still a new process to them.”

I don’t know what you guys think, but this actually sounds pretty good to me. Not smothered in sauce, a nice kick, plus the same chicken you get in the halal dishes. And most importantly no complaints of mushiness… Muhammad might have another winner on his hands.

Kwik Pastas, SW corner of 45th & 6th (next to the original Kwik Meal Cart)