Midtown Lunch

Whenever I’m craving vegetables, my mind often wanders to the $5 $5.50 Lunch Truck run by the affable Kiflu at the corner of Ann St. & Nassau. He does great things with fish and other meats, but sometimes my favorite part of his plates is the stewed, slightly curried potato, carrot and cabbage that comes on the side. It occurred to me that he had a vegetable plate on the menu and I’d never ordered it so I went to rectify the situation.

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One of my favorite trucks or mobile vending options in the Financial District is the $5 $5.50 Lunch Truck which dispenses street meat, curries, stews and a damn fine plate of fish on the corner of Ann & Nassau. Trouble is, since it’s out of the way, I often forget about it but the other day I remembered I’d been meaning to try their goat curry and headed over. Not that that curry wasn’t tasty, but if you click through I’ll tell you why I probably wouldn’t order this again.

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Another day, another place raises its prices. This time it’s the beloved (at least by me) $5 Lunch Truck run by the amiable Kiflu, which is now charging $5.50 for its deliciousness. I spotted the familiar signboard guy at his spot on Fulton & Nassau and noticed the price hike. With food costs up (including lamb), it’s not surprising that we’re getting the costs passed along to us, and I for one will not be deterred from eating here by a 50 cent hike.

If there is one thing you lunch’ers should know about me, it is that I love me some seafood. I can’t even think of one kind that I don’t like, and I feel like I don’t take advantage of eating it for lunch enough especially since many of the carts downtown serve some sort of fish or shrimp. Awhile back, Chris tried out the beef stew from what he called the $5 Lunch Truck (you may remember it as the one in which the commenters questioned whether it was Eritrean food or not), and a couple of people including Lunch’er Tom had said the fish ($5.50) from this place was really good. That endorsement and the price made it a done deal in my book. Did I find the fish of my dreams? Click through to find out. Read more »

A week ago, we had a brief post about the start of the Street Vendor Project’s new interview series in which they’ll profile various street vendors around the city.  The inaugural interview happened to profile a gentleman by the name of Tesfalum Kiflu who hails from Eritrea and happens to be cooking out of a truck fairly close to City Hall.  Reading his words, I couldn’t help but focus in on two in particular: Eritrean stew.  I am all about trying new things and eating unusual foods.  Stew may be common enough, but it’s the modifier here that caught my attention.  Eritrean.  I’d be willing to bet that most folks in this country don’t even know what continent Eritrea is on (it’s Africa), let alone the characteristics of the indigenous stew.  So I did what any sensible, hungry, curious young man would do and made my way up Nassau St. to Ann St. to order one of Mr. Kiflu’s stews.

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