Penfold Alexandra - New York à la cart: recipes & stories from the Big Apples best food trucks

ALL THAT I AM, OR HOPE TO BE, I OWE TO MY ANGEL MOTHER.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

FOR OUR MOTHERS. A.P. & S.W.

2013 by Alexandra Penfold and Siobhan Wallace
Published by Running Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012954314

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-4824-1

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Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

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ZACH BROOKS

I honestly cant remember when or how I met Siobhan and Alex, or as theyre known to their close friends (and ardent followers) Blondie and Brownie. But I do remember when I started linking to their blog. It was a little bit over 5 years ago, around the time they made it their mission to eat every single thing on the Treats Trucks menu. You know for science. Of course, when VendrTV launched their YouTube show with an episode about the Treats Truck, it surprised nobody to see them hovering in the background, eyeing the brownies and blondies.

Years later, when my familys move to Los Angeles forced me to hand over the reins of Midtown Lunch, Blondie and Brownie were the two very first people I asked to contribute. From eating a Walgreens cheeseburger that I refused to eat, to finding the best fried fish sandwich from a cart for Lent, their fearless attitude towards scoping out the best things to eat in NY has always impressed.

And their commitment to the New York street food scene is second to none. Every year Midtown Lunch holds a showdown called Street Meat Palooza, to determine the best plate of chicken and lamb over rice with white sauce and hot sauce in Midtown. Theyve been to all five (and Siobhan actually ran this past years contest!) And I cant remember the last Vendy Awards they werent at as volunteers.

A New York without street food is unimaginable, and in the years since Alex and Siobhan started their blog, Blondie and Brownie, the scene has only gotten better and better. From halal street meat and Mexican tacos, to belgian waffles and jerk chicken, there has never been a better time to step outside for meal in New York City. And its not just the food thats amazing, but the vendors themselves have amazing stories to tell and recipes to share (some for the first time ever!) And I cant think of two better people to share their creations than them. I hope you enjoy this book, and let it inspire you. Not just to make the recipes yourself at home, but to come to New York and try the street food!

O ur mothers did not look kindly on street food. A second-generation New Yorker and a thirteenth-generation New Englander, they couldnt have had more different life experiences, but their reaction to New York City cart food? The same.

Where do they wash their hands?

They touch the money and your food.

No, you cant have a pretzel. I said no pretzel. Thats it, were leaving!

Fast-forward a couple of decades to two young (and broke) junior editors who bonded over a love of adventurous eating on the cheap. Tired of overpriced deli salads and sad excuses for sandwiches, we began venturing out for the sort of lunches that would give our mothers heart failure. Kati rolls from the Biryani Cart, falafel from Moshes, lamb over rice from Kwik Meal.

Delighted by the new cuisines we discovered and emboldened by our failure to catch the plagueor any of the other maladies wed been cautioned againstsoon we were breaking the first commandment of street food eating: Thou shalt not eat fish from a cart. Perfectly crispy, golden fried fish proved to be a gateway into raw fish. Before long we were looking forward to ceviche Saturdays at the Red Hook Ball Fields (shhhh, dont tell Mom).

In time, we became regulars at several carts around midtown, and through the friendships we formed with the owners, we began to hear the stories behind the foodtales of the good (and the bad) old days in the city. Every plate of chicken over rice came with a story.

In recent years trendy food trucks selling everything from Korean tacos to crme brle have captured the popular imagination, but street vending is far from new in New York City. Numerous waves of immigrants have found the promise of a better life in street vending, bringing a bit of the old country to the New World.

Prior to the Civil War, Irish women known as Apple Marys hawked apples in the Financial District, while Hot Corn Girls sold roasted corn on streets of the infamous Five Points alongside sweet cake vendors and fruit peddlers. As the German, Italian, and Jewish populations swelled, they brought sausages, vegetables, ice cream, bread, and smoked fish, among other delicacies. Lower East Side stalwarts Russ & Daughters, Guss Pickles, and Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery all had their beginnings in pushcart vending. In more recent years, Latin vendors of all stripes have introduced pan-American fare from icy cold horchata, sweet fried plantains with queso and crema, and mammoth chorizo huaraches, while Egyptian and Afghanis have found opportunity in selling fiery hot saucedoused halal chicken and lamb pitas and platters to hungry cabbies and office dwellers alike.

A city of old and new immigrants, New York offers unparalleled dining diversity. Where else in the world can you find Korean, Jamaican, Austrian, Taiwanese, Greek, Israeli, Belgian, Indian, Bangladeshi, Trinidadian-Pakistani, Moroccan, and Mexican street food within a ten block radius? The city streets abound with deliciousness that is begging to be explored. Theres street food for every budget and for eaters bold and timid alike (the aforementioned moms are even beginning to come around on a case-by-case basis).

As we swapped stories with vendors, one thing became clear: behind every cart and every truck were the hopes and dreams of a fellow New Yorker by birth or by choice. With this collection of stories and recipes, we hope to honor the tireless vendors who came before and those who rise each day before the sun to feed the soul of the city one meal at a time.

SIOBHAN & ALEXANDRA

T he history of street food in New York City is a tapestry woven from the threads of the immigrant experience. Street vending has been a part of the city since at least 1691, when the first regulations on sidewalk vending hit the books. And in the intervening centuries, its followed a cyclical pattern of expansion and contraction as allowed by law.