Midtown Lunch

When lofty claims such as “the best kofta kabab in NYC” emblazon the side of a food truck, I feel they must be investigated through eating. After asking you all if Ambizza Cafe truck was worthy of a review, a few of you said it was so I headed over for a kabab platter ($8), although there’s a wide variety of meats cooked on sticks available as well as a couple of burgers and some vegetarian options such as falafel and a vegetable sandwich. Really, though, this trucks seems to cater to the carnivore.

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I’ve walked by the Ambizza Cafe Truck that’s been parked at Old Slip & Water, but haven’t had the chance to try it. There was a substantial line there yesterday and a glance at the menu shows they do meat kebabs and “the city’s best kofta” as well as a lamb burger & fries for a cheap price. Has anyone tried food from this truck? I might have to check it out, simply because I don’t want to miss out on the best kofta this city has to offer.

It’s almost swimsuit season, but that doesn’t mean we should all give up things like beef stew from a cart. While walking by Sandra’s Food Spot cart on Nassau (btw. Liberty & Cedar) I noticed they had a beef stew special that day. We’ve already sampled the cart’s Puerto Rican pasteles amd tilapia (which they have Monday, Wednesday and Friday) so I figured this beef stew deserved a shot. What I found was meat and potatoes served Latin style.

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You all have embraced the Biryani House Cart’s kati rolls, biryani and chicken tikka as much as I have and for a while now they’ve had a second cart on William St. (btw. John & Maiden Lane) selling the same items as the original on Liberty St. Nothing makes me happier than seeing carts like this branch out, but the other day I realized I’d never tried the meat and potatoes at these two carts: The lamb/chicken over rice. I’ve seen people order it all the time and was curious how they spiced the chicken, or if they did anything different since they sell more than lamb, chicken and falafel.

I think you’ll be happy to see what I discovered.

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There are a lot of good cart options for falafel in the Financial District, but there’s always room for one more, right? After noticing a new cart called Don Halal right next to the No. 1 Bahn Mi cart at the corner of Hanover Sq. & Pearl, I chatted with the woman manning the window and after I didn’t order anything, she called me “sweetie” and invited me to come back. There are some interesting things on the menu like a falafel platter with Indian marinated vegetables, and chicken curry so I decided to go see if they could compete with the superb falafel across Water St. at Alan’s Halal.

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Do you like gamey meat from a cart that does not come from a factory-formed loaf of gyro? If you’re like me, the answer to that question is yes. There are a few places in the Financial District that serve actual chunks of goat or lamb, but Halal Gyro Express is the first cart I’m aware of that sells it in the form of Afghani food. The cart got a face lift a while back after toiling away on William St. (btw. Maiden Lane & John) for many years as an Xpress Power Lunch selling the usual trinity of chicken, lamb gyro and seriously good  falafel. In fact, just after I tried their street meat combo (which they still sell) was when they revamped the cart, put new pictures on the side, and added four new Afghani specialties to the menu including lamb and chicken tikka, lamb chops and chicken kofta. Check out a little lamb tikka over rice action after the jump.

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Last week I got an e-mail from Ziaul at the Halal Gyro Express cart that’s a fixture of William St. between Maiden Lane and John St., rightly saying that this site has never given them a review even though they’ve been there for seven years. I was kind of confused when he gave the name of the cart, but quickly figured out it it must be the generic-looking Xpress Power Lunch cart that I’ve walked by a million times but never eaten at. Did they have “the best street food downtown” as Ziaul said? That was up to my stomach to find out.

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