Midtown Lunch

The Financial District now has two food trucks (here’s the other one) with patriotic themes, as I’ve seen the USA Halal truck parked in the same spot on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Pearl) two days in a row. The menu seems pretty by-the-book with lamb/chicken in pita or over rice, along with falafel and fish. I had already eaten so I didn’t actually try the food but you can’t miss the insane American flag decals enveloping the entire truck (or the string of lights on one side). Somehow this is still less showy than Gyro House’s gigantic scrolling electronic sign.

I’ve always wondered how the lamb/chicken over rice combo ($6) was at the Gyro House cart parked at Ann St. & Park Row. You can’t help but smell it every time you head to J&R Electronics, which it is parked directly in front of. I’d have to say after eating it that there were two things going on in their combo over rice that you’ll probably either love or hate.

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If you frequent the street food carts on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar streets you’re probably familiar with Zak’s Halal cart (later known by the man always working there, who told Daniel his name was Musthafa). A while ago, this affable man disappeared from the cart and I’ve never seen him working there since. There was always a line at this cart, mostly for the awesome chicken over rice plate. Lately I’ve noticed that line has disappeared and I was curious if the food had gone downhill or if everyone else was just suspicious with unknown faces cooking the food. So I did the only reasonable thing and went to eat a plate of street meat. Update: As you can see from the comment below, and confirmed by a couple of lunchers, Mustafa is back! He was just on vacation.

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There’s an otherwise nondescript street meat cart on Gouverneur Lane (at Water) called Desi Food that has all manner of fish specialties posted on the front. The couple of times I’ve stopped by, they never have these things but what they do have every day is chicken biryani and since it’s been awhile since I’ve eaten a version from a cart I figured it was worth a shot since the $6 price tag wasn’t exactly going to break the bank.

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It’s always a gamble when you head to any street cart with one item in mind, keeping your fingers crossed they will have it when you get there. I headed to HM Halal on Greenwich (nr. Beach) in Tribeca with the intention of trying the salmon over rice after a rave from lunch’er Mike. And I didn’t really have a back up plan should they not have that one item, so of course when I got there and was told they had already sold out I did the next best thing which was ordering a chicken and lamb combo over rice ($5.50). After all, it had been a while since I’d had the cheap lunch of kings. Read more »

Have you ever been devouring a plate of lamb or chicken over rice from your favorite street meat cart and thought to yourself, “Wow, this food is really bad for me?” If the answer is yes, then I’m going to point you in the direction of Mimi’s Cafe on Church St. (at Reade) in Tribeca. It’s eye-catching with a wall of photos of the sandwiches and other vaguely healthy things found inside plastered all over the outside. It’s just a few doors down from another place also serving slightly healthier versions of street meat – Baba Ghanouge, aka, the place that stuffs french fries in its sandwiches. What drew me into this den of healthy food was the promise of an alternative form of gyro.

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If you’ve ever shopped at the Whole Foods in Tribeca you may have noticed the street cart parked out in front serving everything that the grocery store does not. That is: Meat and non-organic vegetables from questionable sources packaged in styrofoam and plastic bags. The Tribeca Halal cart, parked on the corner of Greenwich & Warren, serves the trinity of falafel, lamb and chicken but also some oddities like a fried chicken cutlet hero, Philly cheese steak, french fries and chicken teriyaki. When I spotted that last item on one of the bright yellow circles dotting the front of the cart I knew I must try it. Plus, at the low, low price of $6, if it was too terrible I could just head into Whole Foods.

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