Midtown Lunch

One year ago this month 20 Midtown Lunch’ers converged in Bryant Park to taste 13 plates of street meat and rate them in an event that became known as Street Meat Palooza.  The Famous Halal Cart on 53rd & 6th was crowned the winner, and we vowed to return one year later to give another set of carts a chance at unseating the champ.  Last week a new group of lunchers once again converged in Bryant Park to blind taste test and rate 15 different street meat carts, many of them nominated by you.  Food was consumed, scores were given, and a new winner has been crowned.  Ladies and gentleman, Midtown Lunch’ers, and street food enthusiasts from around the world, I’m excited to give you STREET MEAT PALOOZA 2.

Some of you may be asking, “What exactly is street meat?”  Well, for the purposes of this contest it is an order of chicken and lamb, served over rice, with “white sauce” and hot sauce.  In Midtown it is often referred to as “Halal Food” (the Muslim equivalent of Kosher), but in this case the method of preparation (or its degree of holiness) is not important.  As long as you serve something called chicken and lamb over rice (with white sauce and hot sauce) it could be Palooza’d.  7 carts from last year were granted automatic entry, while the other 8 were culled from your nominations.  Carts received separate scores for chicken, lamb, rice, white sauce, hot sauce, and value, plus received an overall score (the most important.)  Every judge was also asked to choose a top 5 at the very end.

Keep in mind there are no losers in Street Meat Palooza, just different degrees of winning (I see the good in all street meat).  Just getting picked to participate meant that somebody likes the cart, and every single entry showed up in at least one judge’s top 5.  In other words, this isn’t a contest as much as a celebration- and just because a new champion has been crowned doesn’t meat that last year’s winner is no longer great.  It just means that on any given day, any number of amazing Midtown street food vendors might be putting out “The Best” plate of street meat.

Here are the results…

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The results of Street Meat Palooza 2 are just two days away, but here’s a little discovery that is worth sharing with you now.  If you’ve been following Midtown Lunch, or the street food scene in Midtown, than you know about the “Famous Halal Guys” who park on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th at night, and the “imposter” cart during the day that pretends to be related to it. (It’s not.)  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should read this now.

When I first wrote about the “imposter” cart a year and a half ago, I noted that one of the ways you could tell the difference was the daytime cart had a rectangular tin, while the “famous” nighttime cart (and its daytime offspring on the SE corner of 53rd and 6th, and the SW corner of 53rd and 7th) all had circular tins.  Well, at Street Meat Palooza 2 we discovered that the imposter cart (in addition to wearing the signature yellow sweaters worn by the famous cart) has now changed their packaging to circular tins.  Meaning the two plates of food are now virtually indistinguishable.

Can you tell which is which?  Larger shots are after the jump.

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Just wrapped up the judging for the second annual Street Meat Palooza. 30+ lunchers just converged in Bryant Park and palooza’d the hell out of street meat from 15 different Midtown carts. There were some crazy new developments this year, and my hunch is a new winner is going to be crowned. Stay tuned… results will be posted next week.

Related:
Your Chance at a Spot in Street Meat Palooza 2
Street-Meat-Palooza: A 13 Cart Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown

Just a reminder today is the last day you can nominate or vote for a cart to be included in Street Meat Palooza 2, our chicken and lamb over rice showdown going on next week. A few of the commenters will be chosen to be participants/judges.  And don’t forget, even though SMP2 is closed to the public, you can also enter to win a spot by purchasing a Vendy Award ticket before Midnight tonight. Good luck!

Photo by Blondie and Brownie

One year ago this month, 30 Midtown Lunchers converged to eat 26 containers of street meat from 13 different Midtown carts.  Chicken and lamb over rice was consumed, scores were given, and in the end one cart claimed victory over the others in a completely blind taste taste.  The event was dubbed Street-Meat-Palooza, and the Famous Halal Guys on 53rd & 6th Ave. were declared the winner.

Now, one year later, the top 5 from last year will return and face a new set of challengers in Street Meat Palooza 2!  The tasting event is not open to the public (for logistical reasons), but there is a way for you to be one of the 30 lucky lunchers who gets to attend.

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I don’t remember seeing lines like this at the XPL truck (on Park Ave. & 48th St.) before they surprisingly took 2nd place at Street Meat Palooza. It just goes to show, all carts are not created equal. (You may say the secret ingredient is the rice.)

Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for passing along the photo.

Not all street meat is created equal.  It may seem, to the uninitiated, that many chicken and lamb over rice vendors are serving the same food, but the real cart aficionados know the truth.  Sure there are the stand out carts that everyone has heard of, but even amongst the no-name carts there are some huge differences. Different rice, different quality of meat, different veggies or salad, bread, no bread, different sauces, and most importantly, different spices.  Many of the vendors are from different countries, and usually that’s reflected in the way the food tastes.  It’s not until you put 13 plates of it side by side that you realize no two are alike. And that was my dream; to bring together different street meats from all over Midtown to one central location and have a massive taste off (yes, I have weird dreams.)

Last week, in Bryant Park, that dream came true.  20 Midtown Lunch’ers converged, tasted and rated 13 different plates of chicken and lamb over rice, from 13 different carts in Midtown.  Each lunch’er was instructed to bring two large orders of chicken and lamb over rice from their favorite cart (one topped with white sauce, one with white sauce and hot sauce.) We got the famous, “the best”, and not so well known carts, put them side by side and let them duke it out in a blind taste test.  With separate ratings for chicken, lamb, rice, white sauce, hot sauce, value, and overall taste, we proved conclusively that sometimes the ”hype” is warranted, and sometimes it’s not.  And as expected, with all of the judging done blind, a few unknown carts distinguished themselves with some surprisingly good scores. 

The results of the First Annual Street-Meat-Palooza, after the jump. Read more »