February 13, 2007

 Hot Mini Cakes

The cool old guy who runs this stand is quite a character. He loves to chat with all the people in line, especially the little kids. He always has classical music playing from a small boombox he has at his stand. And yet, when I asked him to pose for a picture, he said to focus on the food, claiming he was "shy".

He only sells one product, and it's delicious. Tiny cakes, delicately flavored with orange, are cooked in a pan like a honecomb-shaped waffle iron. He scoops them into a bag and serves them steaming hot. Top that!

Posted by Sam on Feb 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments & User reviews (1)

August 03, 2006

 Hester@Bowery--Gone?!

Has anyone seen the cart which used to be at Hester and Bowery Streets (NW corner)? I haven't seen it at that location since at least May, and I'm getting worried... A new store opened on that corner, with it's main doorway directly adjacent to where the cart used to be. A scaffold has been erected on the building (although the poles would be far enough apart to allow the cart to fit), and a fruit stand has been setting up where the cart used to be.

If anyone has seen the cart, in that or in any other location, please tell me... I'm craving their deep-fried delicacies!

Posted by Sam on Aug 3, 2006 | Permalink | Comments & User reviews (0)

March 02, 2006

 Forsyth @ Division - Heaven "on the Stick"

The first moment I know I'm onto something great is when the smell of wood-smoke hits my nose. I've already bought lunch and I walk past the pushcart, located just north of the Manhattan Bridge overrpass on the north-west corner of Forsyth and Division streets. But the smell calls me back -- this pushcart is special, and I've got to at least find out what's going on.

The smell, I discover, is coming from the only cooking apparatus on the cart, a long, narrow trench filled with glowing embers, with a chimney at one end, stacked with natural charcoal. Layed across this trench are skewers of chicken, roasting, temptingly glazed with their own natural juices. At the far end of the trench, corn wrapped in tinfoil is set over the cooler coals. The menu is simple: "chicken on the stick, lamb on the stick, beef on the stick," all $1. I don't know about the price on the corn, but I would guess it's the same.

I decide on the beef.

"Ha shass?" the vendor asks, his silver-rimmed front teeth shining as he bobs towards me. "Hot sauce?"

"Yes."

But he doesn't put hot sauce on the meat. Instead, he sprinkles crushed red pepper and cumin up and down the skewer as he expertly twirls it over the coals. Before handing it to me, he whips out a small pair of scissors and clips off the point of the stick.

The red pepper and cumin are the only flavor which adorn the glistening cubes of beef. It's just this -- the fresh flavor of the meat, the perfect juice inside and the sweet fats brought to the surface by the intense heat of the coals. Simple. Simple and perfect.

I'm in awe.

Posted by Sam on Mar 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments & User reviews (5)

February 21, 2006

 Hester @ Bowery - Deep Fried Delicacies

This is a madly popular pushcart, possibly the most popular in all of chinatown, so be prepared to wait at least 5-10 minutes to get your food. Like most of the long-menu chinatown carts, there are fried noodles, fish balls, rice noodles, and stewed squid. But what really draws the crowds, though, are the deep fried delicacies. Peppers, eggplants, tofu, and taro root are slathered with a savory paste (maybe gluten?) and fried until golden. The resulting delicacies are a perfect combination of crisp and chewy. A squirt of sweet and savory sauce completes the taste, and at one dollar for 8 pieces, you can see why the line stretches down the block.

Posted by Sam on Feb 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments & User reviews (2)

 Lafeyette @ Canal - "The Noodle Lady is Queen"

The Noodle Lady wins my nomination for cutest vendor hands down. When I asked to take her picture, she was all smiles and blushes, adjusting her hat -- and I had to remind her to charge me!

She also dishes up my favorite breakfast -- a steamed rice noodle crepe she makes right at the cart, studded with bits of pork (I think), sprinkled with sesame seeds, scallions, and doused with soy sauce and hot sauce. Also served at the cart (although usually sold out by the time I pull in at 11 a.m. or so) are congee and what looks like a flavored soy milk. I haven't tried the soy milk yet, and the congee -- a thick rice porridge with chunks of chicken, jewels of gelatinous agar, straw mushrooms and pieces of ginger -- is a little more than I'm ready for at that time of day. So, though other people may know her as the congee lady, to me, the Noodle Lady is queen.

Posted by Sam on Feb 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments & User reviews (2)