Quality Korean Food in a Cart

Bapcha food cart is Korean-style vendor on West 49^th Street and Avenue of the Americas. They serve a variety of Korean Barbecued meats, as well as some vegetarian noodle options. Their cart was pricier than I had hoped, but quality Korean food tends to be more expensive than most other New York street food. I ordered a Galbi Box for $8, thin slices of barbecued beef over rice and served with lettuce and egg. The chef drizzled hot sauce over the beef and a sweet type of vinaigrette over the lettuce. The beef was tender and well flavored, and the white rice underneath absorbed a lot of the flavor from the beef. The lettuce was a good choice when paired with the heavy barbecued flavor from the beef, giving the meal a good sense of balance.

The egg portion added an excellent touch of authenticity to the meal, though was blander than I had hoped. The beef easily stole the show, but would have been hard to finish without the other servings. The portion was slightly smaller than I had hoped, with only four or five slices of beef. In the end I was left over with extra rice, but the juices from the beef left it with a savory taste. For $8 I expected more food for the price, but the meal was delicious enough and demonstrated that Bapcha certainly knows it’s Korean food.

To order online from Bapcha click here.

Eggstravaganza Cart

Eggstravaganza Cart is a savory breakfast oasis open when few other vendors have set out or opened their doors. The small cart features Mexican style breakfast food, and seems permanently parked in midtown, on 52^nd street. The vendor is perfectly arranged for early risers, as it opens at 4am and stays until 2:30pm, just after the lunch rush. I tried a steak and egg taco and a western omelette, for $4 and $5.25 respectively. The portions were decent but I would have expected slightly more for the cost. The two orders collectively more than filled me up, but individually one order would not have been enough.

I love salsa with my eggs, and was pleased with the generous portion Eggstravaganza gave me. The salsa was milder than I expected, but accompanied the steak and eggs very well. The tortilla was surprisingly good as well, better than some taco trucks that I have tasted from in the area. Eggstravaganza Cart offers satisfying food in the morning, and opens earlier than the sun rises most days. Though the portions may not be grand, it hits the spot first thing in the morning.
To order from Eggstravaganza Cart, click here.

El Rey del Sabor _ Midtown Taco Cart

El Rey Del Sabor is a small taco cart on 60^th Street in Midtown. Though New York City often gets blamed for its subpar Mexican food, I decided to test these rumors and try some signature tacos from this authentic cart. I sampled a beef taco and an al pastor taco, both drenched with hot sauce as I requested. For those that are not familiar with al pastor, it is traditional marinated pork, cooked in a similar style to shawarma.  The al pastor I have had in California has been excellent, and I had understandably high expectations for this as well.

Sadly the al pastor underwhelmed me, the meat was drier than I anticipated and didn’t have that dynamic taste I had come to expect. The tacos had a good amount of cilantro, salsa and hot sauce, but the meat and tortillas could definitely have been improved upon. I felt similarly about the beef taco; not a bad taco by any means, but with some improvements in the meat preparation and tortilla selection, these could have been extraordinary tacos. The salsa was flavorful, hot sauce delicious and proportions just right for a $3 taco, but the tortilla was thick and bland. I’ve heard of taco makers recently investing more time and energy into tortilla preparation, which is one avenue El Rey Del Sabor may want to investigate. Tortillas are often overlooked for the innards of the taco, but they really are just as important. Overall, these weren’t bad tacos for New York at all, but did little to improve New York’s taco reputation in comparison to those that are closer to the border.
To order from El Rey del Sabor, click here

From Trucks to Carts

Food trucks can draw a lot of attention very quickly, through flashy designs, unique food and general word of mouth. However recent police crackdowns have limited their whereabouts and forced many vendors to reconsider their overall strategy. Police are able to relocate food trucks based on a multi-decade court regulation that declared no vendor can sell merchandise from a vehicle parked in a metered space. For food trucks, this means that at a whim they can be ticketed and forced to move from a location they might have frequented for several years. While trucks are subject to these regulations, food carts manage to sidestep this archaic law because they can sell food from right on a sidewalk. What does this mean for the average New Yorker? Your favorite breakfast carts, halal meat carts and other smaller vendors will be on the same streets you’ve always remembered them. For food truck owners this means they have an important decision ahead; evaluating the worth of scrapping the truck for a cart. Several trucks, including the well-known Wafels & Dinges have already adopted this strategy. I’ve decided to list some pros and cons of the food cart, granted that the ultimate decision will be based on the culture and working structure of each individual vendor. Let’s just hope more carts and trucks don’t start clashing for space like in Cleveland.

Pros	Cons
No more tickets	Much smaller than a food truck
Cheaper than a food truck (15-20k)	Hard to move from place to place
Forget Twitter- One location	Additional expense of a cart and a truck
No forced relocations	Less menu options
Less obstructive in crowded city streets	Additional vehicle necessary to tow cart
Steady customer base from perm. position