Parked: Food Truck Rally

I don't know if there is a better way of spending your Saturday than going to a food truck festival with a friend who is equally in love with food as you are. You mean, I don't have to track these trucks down using Twitter and Midtown Lunch? You mean, they are all converging in one spot and I can have anything I want all in one place? Sold.

I'm very glad Hilary and I got to South Street Seaport--where the event was located--as early as we did. By the time we left, around 1:30 PM or so, the lines were crazy long and there was obviously no guarantee that the dish you wanted would still be around.

We started our gluttonous day with some meatball sliders courtesy of a stand (not an actual truck) called Mighty Balls.

The three choices they served were beef, pork, and veggie meatballs. You can choose a sauce for each slider (African Onion, Cranberry Horseradish, Not Your Average Brown Sauce, Jalepeno Jelly, and Tempting Tomato) and for a$1 more, a cheese to top it off (Parmesan, spicy Feta, Mozzarella).

Hilary and I ordered the beef meatball with the tomato sauce (top photo) and the pork meatball with the brown sauce (bottom photo). The brown sauce had a hint of sweetness which was great given the general lightly-sweet flavor of pork. We actually didn't know what the brown sauce tasted like before we ordered it, so kudos to us for choosing wisely. The beef meatball had a bit of a spice kick to it which was amplified by the tangy tomato sauce. The highlight of our food tour, for sure.

We also ordered their pomegranate lemonade, which was enticingly displayed in a clear jug beckoning us to try it in the hot weather.

Continuing our food-shaped-like-spheres theme, we decided to try another stand called Teriyaki Ball. For $6, you get 6 dough-y balls with potato, sausage, or shrimp tucked inside. It is then topped with teriyako sauce and mayo, some crispy tempura flakes, and sliced almonds. I was pretty underwhelmed with this mostly because of the price, but also because it was a lot breadier than I had expected. I SEE you sausage, but I can't seem to taste you. It doesn't help that the sausage was reminiscent of sausage that you top on a pizza from Pizza Hut. The girls working the stand were very adorable and nice though, on the other hand.


By now, the lines were getting ridiculously long. I had wanted to try a few more things from some of the trucks like Mexicue (barbequed meats on tacos) and Gorilla Cheese (fancy, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches), but the sun was bearing down on me and I am generally a very impatient person. Neither one of us wanted to get full meals because we wanted to try as many little things as possible, so a lot of the food trucks were out (Ed's Pizza, Two Pitas, a bunch of the burger trucks).

One of the trucks with no line was Rickshaw Dumpling. I had seen this truck idling near Astor Place plenty of times but was always wary of it because dumplings = an Asian thing and I never saw any Asians manning the truck. This time was no different, but I was still hungry and again, no line. For $6, you get six dumplings that come out of this steamer-oven-type thing.

Hilary and I ordered the Thai Basil and Chicken dumplings since we realized we haven't tried anything with chicken yet (and you know that is my favorite protein). Oddly enough, it came with a sauce? As Hilary said over dim sum today, "White people love their sauce." So true. This one came with a peanut satay sauce. The dumpling consisted of minced chicken, Thai basil, glass noodles, sliced carrots. It was...okay. I get why they gave you sauce though. The dumpling skin was so dry, probably because it's been chilling on a tray for a long time. At least they offered you chopsticks to make it SOMEWHAT "authentic."

To end our food truck day: dessert. There were a bunch of trucks and stands serving desserts like waffles (Wafels & Dinges which Hilary and I have gone to a bunch of times so we didn't need to get it that time), ice cream sandwiches (CoolHaus), slushies, cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods.

I wanted to get some Wooly's Ice again but since there was another shaved ice stand, I decided to give this one a whirl to see how it compares.
For $6, you got shaved ice with a scoop of either green tea ice cream or mango sorbet, and three toppings. The ice is then drizzled with condensed milk. The ice is your run-of-the mill shaved ice (unlike Wooly's, which is like sheets of snow ice, Taiwanese style). For $6, it's a bit more than Wooly's, BUT you do get a lot more toppings. If only I could combine the ice of Wooly's with the generous amount of toppings of Shaved Ice Shop, then it would be the perfect dessert. Regardless, still pretty tasty.

We got mango sorbet with chopped mangoes, strawberries, and matcha mochi. The mochi was a tad bit too chewy for me but I liked the freshness of the sorbet.

Since Hilary and I are both very organized people, we had a list/game plan and had taken notes as to what we both ate. Here she is in action, with her game face on.

And to end, here I am in front of an Ethopian food truck with what had to be the weirdest people working there. A girl was wearing a green wig, which can't be that sanitary around food...

Shake Shack [[Flatiron District, NYC]]

I finally made my way to Shake Shack this past Sunday, after being thwarted twice this past month (mostly, my friends and I decided to meet somewhere else for dinner). I thought the line was long but apparently it sometimes goes around the park and outside, too. While waiting for 45 minutes, I thought about hype versus genuinely good food. The wait is the same (long, very crowded), the reviews are all favorable. So instead of doing school work, I braved the sun and the people for my chance to try this beloved New York burger.

Since the menu is on the side, if you don't already know what you want you'll have to quickly scramble over before placing your order. Luckily for you, I took a photo, complete with prices. These don't include special custards or milkshake flavors, nor does it give descriptions but it's a nice heads up:

I ordered the Shake Stack, which was a beef patty (they didn't ask me how I much I wanted the beef to cook, but thankfully it was medium), a fried portobello mushroom melted together with gruyère cheese, tomato and lettuce and American cheese. The buns were toasted, which I'm always in favor of.

Two things to note: 1. It is quite expensive since it doesn't even come with fries or anything and I will definitely not make this place a habit; 2. It is quite small. It fits in my hand. I mean, I wolfed it down as ladylike as possible (oxymoron) under 5 minutes. Weirdly, the last few bites were super salty, but I think that's because the bun has probably been soaked by the cheeses and oil.

I also ordered a black and white milkshake, which is basically half chocolate and half vanilla. The shake was pretty creamy and SUPER rich. I was actually thirsty afterward, that's how rich it was.

Overall, the patty itself is nothing too special although I did enjoy the fried portobello mushroom and gruyère cheese together. The wait is way too long if I'm hungry (i.e. impatient and cranky) and too expensive to make it any more than a treat.

If you do just want a lemonade or something, there is a "B" line so you can avoid those New Yorkers hankering for the meatier stuff. They also offer hot dogs and crinkle cut fries, but I already spent $14 on lunch and was like...um no, I ain't made of money!

P.S. I don't know why these photos are uploaded blurry. They shouldn't be! But if you click on the photo, it will direct you to the original in all it's SLR glory.

Shake Shack in Madison Square Park
E 23rd St & Madison Ave New York, NY 10010

Yakitori Taisho [East Village, NY]

I decided on a lark that for dinner, I would walk on St. Marks and find a Japanese place that looked good--on menu at least. My roommate, neighbor, and I decided to enter Yakitori Taisho, a small and narrow little place brimming with people. Lots of people on a Tuesday night? That should already be a good indication, no? Luckily, we didn't have to wait.

The menu has a lot of yakitori options, but nothing will compare to Shin Shen Gumi in terms of diversity. In addition to yakitori, there were ramen and yakisoba dishes, some rice dishes, and a lot of tapas. We decided not to share any of the tapas which is probably a good call because I would have ordered EVERYTHING, running up the bill.

I did have a hankering for some ramen, but decided that I wouldn't try any ramen until I went to Ippudo. So instead, I ordered 1 skewer of: tsukune (chicken meatballs), gyutan (beef tongue), butabara (pork), yakitori (chicken), and 2 orders of tebasaki (chicken wings). They came on a bed of chopped cabbage, which was odd because I was expecting them to come on a plate with marinade. The marinade was at the bottom of the plate, but very watered down.

My favorites were the gyutan and butabara: both were flavorful and very tender. I wish I ordered more of these. The chicken was also good (thigh meat) but I was surprised it didn't come with some chopped scallions or onions. My least favorites had to be the tebasaki chicken wings and the tsukune. The tsukune was not very flavorful and it lacked the depth that I am used to at other yakitori places. The tebasaki was burnt in places, and not very meaty. Usually I see them cooked as fatty chicken wings but these were very lean and offered very little to munch on.

My neighbor, Kurtis, ordered a rice bowl that came with a few skewers and some kimchi. He agreed that the tsukune was average, although he didn't react as strongly as I did to the taste. Since I couldn't even finish the meatballs, I gave him the rest of mine.

He got the memo that this is an awkward eats blog.

My roommate Sadie was hankering for some noodles and although there were a handful of choices, she ordered a staple. Yakisoba with sliced pork and garnished with fish flakes. Judging that she finished the entire dish, I assume she was happy with it.

Overall, I am still on the lookout for a yakitori place that will blow Shin Shen Gumi out of the water. There are some gems at this place, especially ones I want to try next time like the salmon cream yakisoba. The prices are decent ($1.75-2.75/skewer, dishes range from $6-15+) although I wish the tapas were just a tad bit less expensive (a plate of 5 takoyaki for example was $6).

Yakitori Taisho
5 St Marks Pl
NYC, NY 10003
(212) 228-5086