The Good: Still like what it used to taste like from what I can remember. Hits the spot every time!…read more The Bad: Adel's is a fierce competitor a few blocks down with a long line. BUT, imho Adel's doesn't really taste as good as the original Halal Guys in terms of flavor and fragrance. The chicken from Adel's is in bigger chunks and some argue is more tender, but the flavor is definitely not close. Also, it's important that it comes with lettuce, tomatoes and a little onion to balance everything out. Finally, You must get both the spicy red and white sauce together to make it all come together! The Ugly: The smell is addictive, so if you walk by, it's hard to resist, even if you've just eaten a nice meal somewhere else. We couldn't resist. Gotta hit the gym hard for the next few days!

This is a NYC staple--but on a Friday or Saturday night, the line gets insanely long…read more Pro tip from a New Yorker: the cart on 53rd & 7th is the exact same--same owners, same food. People skip it thinking it's not the real one, so there's usually little to no line. Even better, it's right by the Shake Shack seating area, so you can actually sit and enjoy your food. Look for the cart next to the "HOPE" statue.

Nothing compares to having Fresh Shrimp Cheong Fun drenched in extra sauce and chilli on a chilly…read moresunny afternoon. Made to order and piping hot! I am still thinking about it... Loooong lines that move semi quickly. The owner is so friendly and kind. Despite the long lines, she was super patient with everyone.

This cart (on Elizabeth, at Hester. NE corner) is OK. Average rice noodle, long line,…read moredisorganized. I got a classic dried shrimp rice noodle for $3.50 . I ordered in Cantonese. Minutes later I get my order in a plastic container. They didn't ask me what sauces I wanted (maybe I should have told them in advance) but they included some soy sauce on it already. What if I wanted hot sauce and or peanut sauce? Ample portion size but the plastic container is too narrow and makes the rice noodle lumpy. Large dried shrimp pieces but minimal radish or scallion, green onion. I know this is a cart but other establishments better in Ctown

New York Hot Dogs are my favorite! I like hot dogs in Central Park, at Baseball Games, and from…read moresidewalk street vendors. I don't fix hot dogs at home because they just don't taste the same. I'm recommending!

A darn delish, finger-licking, juicy Beef Hot Dog. Customer service is efficient. All the fixings,…read morerelish, onions, ketchup, and mustard were generously spread on the hot dog. Can't go wrong with a NY hot dog! This street vendor was located right outside The Met, so after we got our hot dogs, we ate them piping hot on the steps of the museum.

Owned and operated by a Fuzhounese couple, this late night Chinese skewer cart has been around for…read morethe better part of 15 years. While it appears as "Young Xinjiang" online, the owners have confirmed this cart is nameless despite what the rest of the internet says. (#1) Open until 1A.M nightly, they have steadily maintained one of the best street food options in the Chinatown vicinity. Gone are the days where the skewers were $1. Thanks largely to food inflation, each one now varies between $2.00 and $4. While it's a steep increase, the meats have remained excellent in quality and in today's economy would be considered a very good deal. Their most popular options include lamb and beef, both aptly at $3 each. The meats are grilled over charcoal, and make for an excellent snack at any time. Chili powder is highly recommended for a small kick but delicious finish. Duck skin ($3) is a sleeper pick, and the beef tendon ($2.50) is excellent and is their most tender choice. Squid ($3.50) can be incredible if grilled well, and I would highly recommend avoiding the Italian sausage ($4) completely. Vegetarian options such as eggplant, king oyster mushroom, corn, or rice cake feel a bit overpriced at nearly $3 each. As per usual, everything is cash only. Given the price point, friendly service, and high quality meats, this nameless cart (#2) is an excellent option for a late night goers and carnivore lovers. Given the lack of competition at this point, I sincerely hope they can continue to keep it up. __________ (#1) Perhaps accidentally mixed with another competing cart? It matters little now, since they are the only one left. (#2) Take that, IRS.

Overall: 4.3/5 [take out]…read more Okay, I was a bit skeptical about this place's rating since we had just eaten dinner at a highly rated spot right before and left sorely disappointed. This cart seems to be run by a husband and wife duo and everything is cash only. They grill over charcoal and fan the heat themselves, which is such a cool thing to watch. We got beef, pork, and lamb skewers for $8.50 total which was so worth it. You can choose spicy or non spicy and we went spicy. The beef was the most average of the three, the lamb was better, and the pork was delicious. If you are in the area definitely give this place a try!

I can't tell you how many times I have tried to find Zongzi Lady. I always came too early. On…read morethis day I finally found her - at 4:15 pm. She's such an amiable lady. We had conversation as if we were old friends. She was surprisingly receptive to having her pictures taken also, in addition to my selfies. I could tell she's a contented person. She limits how many zongzi she sells and how many hours she works, like this was just a hobby. Since we were travelling and can't stock up, we only bought 2, the Taiwanese kind for about $3 each. They had fatty pork, shitake mushrooms and peanuts (and dry shrimps I think) in them. The sticky rice had definition, wasn't soggy and the taste was on point. The only ingredients I would have loved was raw garlic and a few drips of Sriracha sauce because that was how I would eat one if my Mom made it at home. But that's out of scope. I would advise that you try to find her early, especially on a hot summer day if food safety is your concern. Anyways, I am very glad to have finally got this one checked off from my NYC bucket list!

Still the best zongzi in Chinatown, sold weekday afternoons (and possibly other times) right…read moreoutside the entrance of the B/D subway stop at Grand and Chrystie Streets. This woman (a little older now, walking with a bit of a limp... my heart really goes out to her) is as kind, sweet, and humble as ever... and despite all the inflation, her zongzi are still a jaw-droppingly low price of $2 and $3. I wondered if perhaps quality might be lower given that prices have remained static for quite a while, but no... these zongzi are still absolutely perfect, with moist, tender, flavorful rice, generously filled with high quality ingredients. We like the Shanghai style ($2) for the kiddos, especially, since the stewed pork filling and perfectly fragrant, soy sauce seasoned rice are accessible and hard to dislike (if you eat animal protein anyway). The Taiwanese style ($3) is the everything-but-the-kitchen sink version with pork, peanuts, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms. It's full of umami. I'm pretty anti dried shrimp, but love the other ingredients so much, I end up with at least one of these zongzi every visit. The only sign of these inflationary times is that she uses a bit less of the dried shrimp ingredient nowadays -- and that's a good thing in my book. I used to love the zongzi at Sun Ming Jan, the famous sausage store on Hester near Eldridge. These days, they are still pretty good -- and of course their sausages and other preserved meat products remain famous / insanely popular for good reason. But SMJ doesn't hold a candle to the Zongzi Lady.* Hers are without a doubt the best you can find in Manhattan's Chinatown and perhaps anywhere. Michelin and James Beard folks take note! * This article identifies her as "Mrs. Soo." https://www.mottstreetgirls.com/chinatown/zongzi-lady

Who would have thought that the most lively food scene in Flushing late at night is not even in the…read moreheart of downtown Flushing? Instead, walk 10-15 minutes south on Kissena Blvd and you will find a group of street vendors gathering nightly on the sidewalk right in front of Gold City Supermarket. On a beautiful night, you'll find many people camping out on the ledge of the supermarket parking lot, or even putting out picnic blankets, while enjoying various street foods they can find at this great little "food fest". The street vendors are from different regions of China and serves all sorts of yummy goodies. You can find lots of fried items, soup noodles, grilled skewers, marinated meats and veggies, desserts, etc. One of my favorite stalls is the vendor selling hand torn shredded chicken ($25 each), which they dress up in seasoning and spices. They use an older chicken that has a firmer texture that won't fall apart when tearing the meat. The flavor is wonderful and absolutely addictive. They even give you a frequent buyer card that gets you a free chicken when you reached six purchases. The same stall also sells marinated items that are quite good. You are allowed to mix and match as long as they have the same price point. Another stall I would recommend is the stinky tofu stall. There are often more than one, but I like the one with the longest table space only dedicated to this single product, often in the middle of the block. If you have never tried this delicacy, close your nose and give it a go. You may be pleasantly surprised. Other stands that are popular include the BBQ grilled meats over charcoal, where you can get $2-3 skewers of lamb, beef, chicken wings, and whole lot more. Also, if you see the man grilling whole squids, his stuff is quite tasty too. Bottom line, it's a fun evening hanging out with your friends and snacking on various yummy bites. Be brave and try something new. Though there are few English signs, just order what looks good. Find a day with nice weather and check it out soon.

This is it! Bahn mi in halves for $5, for those of us that can't take the entire thing. A duo of…read morehipster sandwich thieves must have felt the same way because my bahn mi was hijacked. ROBBED. The food truck remedied the situation, thankfully, and I say mine was better. See the pix for best Vietnamese food if you're in Bklyn, but they are 404 on the map in Bath Beach. I'm guessing it's a roving food truck. Maybe you can summon them via the phone #. The best, most deliciously rich little cheese tarts had virtually no line, which I am still trying to wrap my head around. Ube and matcha cheese tarts went in my greedy little belly. Their card is attached. I had no room for the basque cheese cake, which looked delicious but was simply too big for me. Fancy. Many varieties of food, sugar cane being juiced with a roller machine to order, music, sugar painting and on and on. DJs, lights, the city.... Don't miss the next one, which is the last of the summer, sometime in August. Be early, the lines were long.

I had such a fun time experiencing this, but maybe not the vendors. The various vendors definitely…read morehad their work cut out supporting the massive crowd. They mostly had great attitudes despite the chaotic event-professionals all the way. There were extended wait lines, and sometimes popular items would run out to the disappointment of many. But that didn't stop the festivities! The music was lively, the artists had beautiful displays of wares, the food was delicious, and the city provided a perfect backdrop.

My first "mini cakes" experience was several decades ago at the Pacific Mall in Markham, ON, an…read morehour north of Toronto. We eat things for various reasons--to nourish, to engage socially, to share an experience, to bond, to mourn, to celebrate, to forget, to dissolve... "Mini cakes" for me is eaten for memory--to bring me back to a different time when I was younger, naive, perhaps experiencing things more passionately as youth permits as more experiences are novel to us including taste and texture. Memory eating is not just of the experience of that food, but of a mind-state that was your lens in the perception of your experiences, that is your life. I delight in memory eating because often we forget the past as we are consumed with our current lives. Memory eating is in many ways a time capsule or a hologram that beams you back into your past life that has made you become the person you are today with all the decisions along all the forks on the road to now. Thank you Lina for existing since 1982 and going strong. Being in Manhattan's Chinatown and eating your "mini cakes" is a journey for me without psychedelics or a plane ride that takes me into my own limbic system through the sense of taste, smell, touch that includes texture and the visual.

This is the cart I've been going to since I was a little kid so it was surprising when I had it for…read morethe first time in years to discover that it was tough and no longer tasty. Maybe it was bad batch or they had a bad day. I won't say I won't give it another shot but it was clearly unexpected. I remember it being soft and sweet and fluffy but now it was tough and hard to eat. Price went from $1 to $2.50 which was expected of inflation.

Stopped by on a Friday night at around 9:30 to pick up a few platters. I just went with one…read morechicken, and one lamb - can't really go wrong with that, right? Well, they both tasted the same - I'm not even sure I could tell which was which, unless he just gave me two of the same things. It was also super oily, and not in the good late night platters way but in the I'm going to regret this in the morning way. I originally had this place bookmarked because of the great reviews but was disappointed. Next time, I'll stick to the tried and true Halal Guys.

Food Service…read more Overall rating Good food, great flavors, awesome service! We were introduced to Royal Grill on our last trip to NYC 2 years ago. And this trip Royal Grill does not disappoint. Definitely a must and much better than the other guys. Recommend getting the Chicken & Lamb Combo over Rice, the Chicken Tikka over Rice & the Chicken Kati Roll with Chimichurri!

Right below the 103rd Street-Corona Plaza 7 train station is the street food vendor Pinchos La…read moreSuquita. It is directly across from the Dunkin Donuts in the middle of a dozen Mexican street food vendors, you can't miss it with its blue and white umbrella cover. In a busy intersection filled with cars, people, running trains, and classic Mexican street food, you will find Pinchos La Suquita (a skewer cart) selling BBQ pork and chicken skewers, chorizo sausages, roast pork, and one of my favorites, Elote (grilled Mexican street corn). For $3 you have a choice between grilled or boiled corn, with mayo and Cotija cheese. For less than $10 you can get more than you can eat. The neighborhood around Corona Plaza is filled with authentic Mexican restaurants, street vendors, bakeries, and supermarkets. A wonderful cultural experience that starts with this central food cart.