Archive for May 2012

New Biryani Cart Parking On Water St.

indian biryani cart

There was quite a lot happening on Water St. between Maiden Lane and Pine yesterday, with the return of Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck and a new cart called Indian Biryani Delights spotted on that block. The man working at the cart confirmed it’s brand new and will be parking in the same spot daily. There’s meat and vegetable biryani for $5.99 as well as regular street meat, kati rolls and (according to the sign) chapli kebabs. It seems to be something of a cursed place to park as the second A-Pou’s Taste cart was parked here, but now seems to have disappeared, and Fun Buns only lasted a couple of days selling its pork and beef buns before finding somewhere else to park. I hope this cart has more luck. Go try some biryani everyone!

Pizza, Juice, Arepas At The Lent Space: If you're at the WFC today your choices at the food truck lot are Taim, Red Hook Lobster, Andy's Italian Ice, Milk Truck and Rickshaw Dumplings, while the Lent Space has Coolhaus, Eddie's Pizza, Juice Pirate, Kimchi Tacos, Now Eat This and Palenque. The ML Downtown Twitter Tracker also says the FiDi has Mexicue at Water & Broad, Phil's Steaks at Water & John, Bongo Brothers is at Old Slip & Water along with Desi Food, while up in Soho Sweetery's at Hudson & King and Calexico has chorizo at Prince & Wooster.

You Have To Hunt Down Au Mandarin’s Lunch Special, But It’s Worth It

au mandarin

I can’t remember the last time I got a lunch for less than $10 from a place where the greeters wear suits. Au Mandarin in the World Financial Center is a hybrid of classy Chinese food being served to finance workers in a food court. If you look at the signboard in front of the restaurant, you’ll notice a piece of paper announcing an $8.95 lunch special which seems like a good deal since everything on the menu is more than $10. The catch is there’s only one dish for the special every day and you have to go around the corner to the cheapskate’s entrance to get it from a lady at a steam table. Read more »

Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck Returns To The FiDi (On Veronica’s Turf)

nio's trinidad roti

A Lunch’er alerted me to a little Caribbean turf war that happened yesterday when Nio’s Trinidad Roti truck park on Water St. near Pine, right in front of the plaza where Veronica’s Kitchen cart has sat for years on Front St. The menus looked somewhat similar with various meats served with peas and rice, along with roti (there weren’t prices posted, so no idea if they’re comparable). A search of the Web shows that Nio’s parked down on Front St. for many years serving three kinds of roti and doubles alongside the meat and rice dishes. The truck appears to be a mobile version of a brick and mortar roti shop on Church Ave. in Brooklyn. Did any of you eat at the truck yesterday or when it used to be down in the Financial District ages ago?

Mexico Blvd. Proves That Sometimes A Straight Up, Non-Fusion Taco Is Best

There’s been no shortage of food trucks serving tacos appearing over the last couple of years, but nearly all of them have been fused with some other cuisine. We now have tacos mixed with BBQ, Korean, Japanese and tofu edamame falafel, but sometimes you just need a taco filled with deliciously-spiced pork. The Mexico Blvd. truck is where to go when you want a straightforward taco that you might encounter in Mexico, and as I found on a recent visit, they’re representing just fine.

Read more »

Multiple Burger Options On The Twitter Tracker: On your mid-week ML Downtown Twitter Tracker...Red Hook Lobster, Sweetery and Frites N Meats are at Hudson/Houston & King, Mexico Blvd., Valducci's, Mike N Willie's, Milk Truck and Coolhaus are at the WFC lot, while the Lent Space has Gorilla Cheese, Phil's Steaks, Andy's Italian Ice, Bongo Brothers, Munchie Mobile and Chinese Mirch. Wafels & Dinges has a cart at Greenwich & Murray and a truck at 60 Wall, Our Heros has hot pastrami at Wall & Water,  Cupcake Crew's at Hanover Sq., Bistro Truck's at Old Slip & Water, Korilla's at Front & Gouverneur, GO Burger's at Maiden Ln. & Water, Bian Dang's at Coenties Slip & Water and Bob & Jo's at Varick & King.

Free Ice Cream Sandwich Alert!: There's a promotion today with the Coolhaus truck from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the WFC food truck lot where you can get a free ice cream sandwich thanks to a promo with Google Wallet. You have to demo the tap-and-pay app to get your free treat, but it's well worth it on a steamy day.