Midtown Lunch

The Trini-Paki Boys cart (on the SE corner of 43rd and 6th) is well known to Midtown Lunch’ers.  It’s mostly famous for their Pakistani version of chicken over rice, topped with Trinidadian pepper sauce- but Zach was pretty excited to discover that they also served biriyani, dahi bala, polourie, samosas, and most importantly doubles.

I discovered doubles in my college days through a Trinidadian ex-girlfriend. It’s been years since we’ve been on speaking terms, but doubles are still a fond memory. So a week or so ago I finally got a chance to check out the Trini Paki Boys cart for myself- and for once skipped the street meat in favor of a double.

After the jump, some doubles porn and a little background on the whole “Trini-Paki” thing.

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For years the chicken and rice cart on 43rd just East of 6th Avenue has towed the line of relative annoynymity and street meat fame. Often referred to as the “Trini Pak Boys” the cart has always served up a popular Indian/Pakistani tasting version of chicken over rice, but their sign has always been pretty crap-tastic. Hand scrawled, with no real indication of what they wanted to be called, the original sign has finally been replaced. The cart is now officially known as the Trini Paki Boys Halal Food, and the full menu is layed out in an easy to read format.

In our Street Meat Palooza post, the cart scored surprisingly low- but we were criticized for getting the yellow rice instead of the white basmati rice. I’ll make sure they get their fair shake in Street Meat Palooza 2!

According to her profile on the Village Voice blog this morning, Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet Magazine, works in Times Square and loves to eat lunch at Minar (46th btw. 6+7th) and the Chicken & Rice Cart on 43rd & 6th.  “I get white rice, the curried chicken with vegetables and extra red sauce, no white sauce.”  I don’t even understand what the words “no white sauce” mean, but you certainly get extra points for your choice of cart, and the guts to pile on the heat. I should take you to the Jamaican Dutchy.  Are you free tomorrow for lunch?  [Fork in the Road]

So, Fashion Week is almost over, and despite it being only one block away from Bryant Park, I didn’t get my picture of a model eating at the Chicken & Rice Cart on 43rd and 6th ave.  But it didn’t stop me from enjoying a medium order of delicious chicken, served over rice, at this Midtown street meat institution.

There are many halal carts, serving many things in Midtown.  And if you are one of the adventurous lunch eaters willing to eat at the Midtown carts, you know that they are not all created equal.  Not only do they all serve their own “type” of halal food, the quality can vary immensely depending on what cart you decide to get your street meat from.  The undisputed “Chicken & Rice” king, seems to be the cart on 53rd and 6th (it was a Vendy Award runner up for best cart last year).  But unfortunately, that cart doesn’t open up until 7pm.  So for lunch, the cart that comes up the most is the Chicken & Rice cart on the SE corner of 43rd & 6th.

Pictures and the +/- after the jump…

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