Midtown Lunch

Thanks to Lunch’er Steve for passing along this bit of news…  Recently the Trini Paki Boys Cart (on 43rd btw. 5+6th) started serving jerk chicken on Mondays and Tuesdays and the special has become so popular they are now selling it on Wednesdays as well.  The TPB Cart has always had some great (albeit sporadic) daily specials, but this one is sounding especially good.   Check out Steve’s full report, after the jump…

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So what if you’re walking by the Trini Paki Cart one day (on 43rd and 6th), not knowing what to do for lunch… and you pick up a small chicken biryani. Then you happen to walk by Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. 5+Mad) and see some pastries… and then what if you decided, “Hey, let me put it together.” I know soba sandwiches exist in some Japanese bakeries, but what about Biryani sandwiches? After that thought popped up in my head, it was impossible to keep the beast in the cage. I had to find out if the marriage of Japanese bread + Street food with Trinidadian and Pakistani influence would be delicious.

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Just an FYI… the new Friday fish and dumplings special that we loved so much from the Trini Paki Boys Cart (on 43rd and 6th Ave) is now a Thursday special instead of Friday.  And they’ve decided to add coo coo to the mix, a Trinidadian dish involving okra and cornmeal.  For $7 you get it all… the coo coo, the fish and the dumplings.  Do it.  Do it.

Related:
Trini Paki Boys’ Friday Fish & Dumplings is Great

What do you think about when you hear “Fish and dumplings”? For an Asian guy, my mind automatically veers toward dumplings like jiaozi or mandoo or gyoza. But having lived in the South for a little bit, I know that the dumplings you find in a “Chicken and dumplings” dish is not quite the same… Googling tells me that dumplings are simple boiled dough of some sorts, and some variations of dumplings have fillings. Basically all the awesome versions have fillings… As for eating fish from a street cart?  I generally view it as a test of character. Sure, you can eat all the street meat you want, but at this point, it’s not even that crazy to be a street meat lover. You only show your true colors when you’re willing to fish from a cart. So, when the Trini Paki Cart mentioned their new Friday special of fish and dumplings last week, I knew that it was time to test my worth as a street meat eater.

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Back in January we told you that STK would be building a new steakhouse (complete with takeout kiosk) in the Grace Building on 43rd and 6th. That sounded like it might be pretty great, until we found out that it’s displaced one of our favorite street carts! Construction on the whole courtyard has started, and as a result they forced the Trini Paki Boys Cart from their usual location on the SE corner of 43rd and 6th. They’ve been parking on the opposite side of 43rd street (on the NE corner) but are worried that their regular customers don’t realize they’ve moved. If you’re a fan, make sure you get out and support the Trini Paki Cart (Clay is a big fan of their doubles). They’ve been having a tough time making ends meet recently, and this is kind of the last straw.

Their cart is much harder to spot because they’re coming up after a fruit stand and a couple of hot dog carts. If you don’t see them right away, it’s ok. Just walk down past the 99 cent hot dogs and you’ll get to the good stuff.

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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Have you ever been kind of jealous of the winners of Zach’s various cart tours?  Even though I work in midtown and can hit the great midtown carts anytime I want, there’s something to be said about the fun of taking on a bunch of them at once.  To really do it right you need strength in numbers, so when I learned that a couple of my friends from Seattle, would be in town and free for lunch during the week, I started plotting potential food adventures.  Both of them regularly read Blondie & Brownie and they were jealous of the midtown cart/food truck scene.  The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that we should try to hit as many carts for as many different types of foods as possible and with that in mind, may a present Brownie’s Cart Canyon Tour: 10 carts/10 cuisines/$10 a person…

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It brings me great pleasure to pass along the news that the Trini Paki Boys chicken and rice cart finally passed its inspection this week, and is back on the SE corner of 43rd St. and 6th Ave.  Every two years carts have to renew their permits, and there was a hold up on their renewal this go around- forcing them to use a loaner cart for the past two weeks.  To celebrate they’ve decided to start selling their biriyani every single day from now on.  The only thing that will change from day to day is the meat… today- it’s goat!

Related:
The Hidden Delicious Mysteries of the Trini-Paki Boys Cart