Midtown Lunch

Back in the day when Daniel was on the downtown beat, he checked out the street meat truck that’s always parked on Cedar at Broadway and christened it the Frito Lay Truck, because that’s what it was in it’s former life of ferrying tasty snacks. A week or two ago I noticed the truck had been officially named the Gyro House, maybe after one too many people came by in search of Lay’s potato chips. In addition to a name, the owners got extra fancy and added a seizure-inducing sign on the top advertising the wares (I swear the above photo was a complete accident, and did not encourage me to order lamb). Daniel seemed fairly satisfied with the chicken he got there, but I was in search of falafel and wondered how this truck’s would stack up to the heavy hitters Sam’s Falafel across the street and Alan’s Falafel on the plaza in front of the truck.

I was tempted to get the fish plate, but I’ll save that for another visit. There was quite a line, and most people seemed to be ordering the chicken, which the guy at the grill was flipping and hacking so wildly that the whole truck was shaking. While I was waiting, the woman working at the cart took a giant bag of chicken marinating in something orange-colored out and dumped it on the grill. Clearly, this was a homemade affair.

Back to the falafel plate. For $5 this baby was loaded up in a square container that seemed larger than the usual rectangular model. There was the usual iceberg lettuce salad, but a bonus of some cooked vegetables consisting of zucchini, carrots, onion and green pepper. The rice was the normal yellow stuff, but it wasn’t dry at all.

Those falafel were freshly fried and while they could have been a little crispier on the outside they had good flavor. I would eat these again, and I really liked the vegetables because they made me feel like I was stuffing something else in my body besides grease.

Although I will miss walking by the Frito Lay Truck in the morning, it’s nice they’re doing well enough for an upgrade and a proper name. Just don’t look at the sign too long or your brain might rebel. Or you may suddenly want lamb.

Gyro House Truck (formerly Frito Lay Truck), Cedar St. (at Broadway)