Food on the Move

The average New Yorker is extremely busy, and doesn't always have time to stop in an upscale restaurant, wait for a table, wait for their server to take their order, and then wait even longer for the food to come out. No, New Yorkers need their food quick. But that doesn't mean that the quality of the food needs to be in any way compromised.

One of the greatest modern culinary inventions is the food truck. Parked right along the sidewalk, it's extremely easy for any person rushing from place to place in desperate need of a quick bite to walk up to the window, and leave with food that not only fills their empty stomach, but has them grinning for the rest of their commute. Equipped with a kitchen with only the bare necessities and a staff of passionate chefs, even in a space no larger than a family minivan, delicious foods can be made to order in the amount of time it takes to be handed a cold fast food cheeseburger from an uninspired McDonald's cashier.

Food trucks have come to dominate the streets of New York City. It seems on certain streets of Manhattan one could spot several food trucks in just a small block. Food trucks have become so massively successful as they do food the best: the tastiest most unique foods, taken to the people. What better advertising is there than having hungry pedestrians smell your culinary delights as they walk by on the street? This ingenious marketing has sucked me into trying quite a few different food trucks, but my absolute favorite food trucks in the city are those that sell Halal food.

Halal Truck- Flickr

Halal food is defined as any food that is permissible to eat according to Islamic law. With such a general constraint, a Halal truck sells a variety of hot foods. They are most well known for their all-beef hotdogs, but also sell cheeseburgers, gyros, falafel, and more. However, the only thing that I will ever order is their Chicken Over Rice. Chicken Over Rice is basically exactly what you would expect from the name: soft tender grilled chicken with a variety of unique spices over hot rice with creamy yogurt and hot sauces, and a side of salad. The chicken on top of the Chicken Over Rice has got to be the most tender chicken that I have ever eaten in my entire life, and it nearly melts in your mouth. I have also tried the Lamb Over Rice, Chicken Gyro, and Lamb Gyros, which are all great, but do not compare.

Chicken Over Rice- Flickr

While these trucks are scattered all across New York City, the ones in Brooklyn are a couple of dollars cheaper and two times tastier than the ones in Manhattan, but that should not discourage one from giving this delicious Halal food a try if passing one in Manhattan. There is a Halal truck that always parks just one block away from my home in Brooklyn, so needless to say I have Chicken Over Rice at least five times a week every time I'm on break.

The Food of the World on a Silver Platter

Considering New York City is one of the largest melting pots in the entire world, it should come as no surprise that the bold and daring food lover would have no difficulty finding foods that might not be tried by the average American. New York City hosts a cornucopia of foods from all over the globe. Unfortunately, the average tourist overlooks many of their options and goes for the basic foods we all know and love: a juicy burger, a slice of cheesy pizza, or a super-stuffed pastrami sandwich. This is a major problem, because just because a food is uncommon or unpopular, does not mean it cannot be five times more satisfying than any of the options listed before.

Growing up, I was exposed to all sorts of different kinds of foods as my mother was very passionate about sharing with us her love of adventurous foods. Our all-time favorite is by far Ethiopian. While different from standard cuisine in almost every possible way, it is just as (if not much more) delicious than any other style of food.

Ethiopian Plate courtesy of Ernesto Andrade- Flickr

Ethiopian food first differs significantly in its presentation. When ordering Ethiopian, each person at the table does not each order their own dish to selfishly chow down on, but the entire party orders together instead. Once the party chooses all of their dinner servings, the food is brought to the table on one giant platter, with each food item as a small "sample" paired with many other such samples. Then all there is to do is dig in!

When eating Ethiopian, there are no utensils. No forks, spoons, knives, chop sticks, etc... Instead, everything is eaten with hands. Now this would pose some obvious sanitation problems considering that most of the food is not very finger-friendly, so instead special bread, injera, is used to pinch small portions of the food to eat. The injera is much more sour than traditional wheat bread, but does a much better job of absorbing all of the delicious juices from the food that has been scooped. All of the food is placed on top of this bread as well, to ensure that not even an ounce of flavor can escape.

Injera- from Wikimedia

Two of my favorite orders are raw kitfo and the vegetarian combo. The vegetarian combo is pretty straight-forward and nearly every Ethiopian restaurant will have its own version of it. It is essentially just several unique vegetable dishes (some like salads, but most having a paste-like consistency) in small doses. However the raw kitfo is not quite as standard. Kitfo is minced beef with a few different spices giving it its uniquely spicy taste. But as is implied in "raw kitfo" the beef is 100% raw. Even when assured that the meat was acquired from reputable farms and has been extensively cured, at first nearly every person has an aversion to raw meat. While Kitfo can technically be ordered cooked, it is so much more savory, juicy, and spicy when ordered raw. I have had several friends try it to date and almost all of them have come out loving it, so I strongly urge everyone to at least give it a try before dismissing it just for not being cooked!

Raw Kitfo from Awash- courtesy of Kirk K- Flickr

If you were sold on trying Ethiopian there are several great Ethiopian restaurants in Manhattan. Two that are worth trying out are Awash and The Queen of Sheba. Hopefully you can muster the courage to try one!

Balls and Sauce

New York City is very well known for taking one small group of foods and blowing it out of proportion. If you were hungry for some macaroni and cheese, you could find one restaurant that serves nothing but pasta soaked in hot, gooey cheese. Similarly, if you had a hankering for hot dogs, you would have little difficulty finding literally hundreds of different combinations of hot dogs under one roof. This is one of the many reasons I believe that New York City is the food capitol of the world: seemingly nowhere else could you find a restaurant that serves nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches with more options than you could count, yet each sandwich is brilliantly crafted around a set of seemingly incompatible ingredients that come together to make the most mind-boggling culinary creation you have ever had between two slices of burnt bread. One of my personal favorite restaurant that certainly lives up to this ideal is The Meatball Shop (you may have already guessed its specialty).

Steven Pisano- Flickr

They have a few locations across the city, but the one with the most character has to be their Williamsburg location. Williamsburg is one of the nicest areas in Brooklyn and enjoys a very hip scene with tons of delicious restaurants. Living in Greenpoint (just a 15 minute walk away) I have had more than my fair share of meatballs as the food is so stunning you can't help but go back again and again.

The Meatball Shop's menu is perhaps unsurprisingly simple: there are four meatballs (beef, pork, chicken, and vegetable), but what you can do with them is practically endless. However, there is a method to the madness. You start off choosing your favorite meat to be ground into balls, slather it with one of your favorite sauces, and plop it on top of the most appealing side. With four types of meatballs, five signature sauces, and ten different sides there are already two-hundred possibilities. 

Where it really starts to get exciting is when you start to consider all of their "daily" specials. (The first few times I visited I was amazed that they could possibly have a completely different set of specials every single day, but when I started going multiple days in a row, I realized the specials are more like a weekly deal. However, I still think this is impressive). The best combination I have had so far has been the spicy pork with creamy mushroom alfredo sauce, over extra-creamy polenta. The creaminess of the mushroom alfredo and polenta combine to form savory flavor that I had never experienced before. The meatballs, of course, made the dish.

If you weren't already enticed by the meatballs, the meal doesn't end there. Although you'll already be stuffed, it is certainly worth eating one of their signature ice cream sandwiches 'cause who doesn't want ice cream after every meal? You get to choose your choice of delicious fresh-baked cookie and homemade ice cream. You'll be sure to leave filled to the brim, but not be able to help grinning from ear to ear after a meatball dinner that is sure to remind you of your childhood, except better.