I just moved my blog from IWeb to Godaddy but, unfortunately, my archived blogs did not move with me.  And,because I suspect you did not have the opportunity to read many of my earlier blogs, I am re-posting my favorites.  Lucky you!

This one covers one day of a five-day visit to New York City.  I have visited New York City many, many times, but this trip was a bit unique.  I hope you enjoy reading about this particular day.

Now for the “out of the ordinary”. Today we managed to occupy our time until our 2:00 PM tour. When I told my husband the plan for the day, he was a bit skeptical and not sure it wasN high on his priority list. However, he is now talking about it to anyone who will listen.

I arranged through a relatively new company called Urban Oyster (www.urbanoyster.com) to give us a tour of Manhattan Food Carts. Yes, you read it correctly. Food Carts! Urban Oyster has been in business about two years and offers unique tours such as, Brewed in Brooklyn Tour, (next on my husband”s list) Brooklyn Navy Yard Tours by Bus or Bicycle, Food Cart Tour and Fermented NY Craft Beer Crawl.

Brian Hoffman was our guide. As an aspiring actor and part time tour guide, Brian shared the history of food carts in New York City and New York City history in general, with the style of a stage production. He was articulate, knowledgable and had a very pleasant “I am here to make this a unique experience” attitude.

Brian guided us from cart to cart within a small area of Manhattan. We hit six different carts, five savory and one dessert.

Our first taste was a visit to Bapcha a Korean cart at 49th and 6th Avenue. We met John Lee, a very friendly and proud owner. I love the smells from Korean cooking. I lived in Japan and have a passion for Asian food of any kind. I especially like Korean food because of the spiciness of each dish.

The second cart is called Trini Paki Boys. The owner of the cart is from Trinidad, and her husband is from Pakistan. They have seven sons and one daughter! Hence the name Trini Paki Boys. They have been in business 23 years and have a wonderful reputation. They tend to use tamarind sauce and hot sauce which once again fulfills my palate. It cannot be too hot for me! My husband is not crazy about spicy foods but even he did not have a problem with a little tamarind sauce.

As Californians, the third cart was right up our alley. It was El Rey del Sabor serving Mexican food. As an expert on what is “good” Mexican food and what is “exceptional” Mexican food, I can tell you it was exceptionally delicious. Now, if you do not like spicy hot food, you may want to leave off the chipotle sauce.

The fourth cart we visited is called Kwik Meal which serves food from Bangladeshi. The Owner/Chef Muhammed Rahman was the chef at the Russian Tea Room. Ok, so maybe this was my favorite! In any case, lamb was the best I can remember having anywhere. Brian hold us that they tenderize the leg of lamb in a papaya puree. I was definitely in heaven. Oh, and just as a side note, they won a Vendy Award. Vendy Awards are awards given each year to street vendors. In addition, Bobby Flay won a Throwdown with one of Muhammed’s recipes. 

The last food cart before hitting dessert was Biryani Cart also serving food from Bangladeshi. I hate comparisons so I will not go down that road. It is safe to say to cannot go wrong with Kwik Meal Cart or Biryani Cart.

We had the “sweetest” ending to our tour! What is there is say about stopping at Miss Softee/Rolling Cones except every day is a new day with their special signature cones. We had vanilla ice cream topped with corn flakes dipped in chocolate. Ending the day with “ice cream”...a perfect ending to a perfect day!

So, the next time you are in New York City, think about doing something a little out of the oridinary and book a tour with Urban Oyster. If you are very lucky you will have Brian as your guide. In the meantime, you can find Brian on eathisny.com.