NY Street Food #2: DiSO's Italian Sandwich Society, Halal Carts, and Mister Softee

In a continuation of the last few posts here on Watch Me Eat about foods consumed while in New York, this post is all about various street foods from my most recent trip to the area. My street food adventure began on Governor's Island. Here, I had lunch from a food truck called DiSo's Italian Sandwich Society. As the name implies, they served various types of Italian style sandwiches.

I had a sandwich called Jimmy Two Times. This consisted of prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, sauteed eggplant, sweet roasted peppers, and herbed ricotta spread. The sandwich was served on a bread with a very nice, chewy crust.

The generous amount of prosciutto on the sandwich was sliced very thinly, but the amount of eggplant on the sandwich wasn't nearly as generous. Even worse, I found lots of thin strips of aluminum foil which had somehow made its way into the sandwich with the eggplant. I had unfortunately bought the last sandwich of the day from DiSO's and they closed after making my sandwich, so I couldn't go back to complain. I peeled most of the foil out for this next picture. Could have been a good sandwich. Too bad it was ruined by aluminum foil...

Up next on my street food adventure was Kimo's Halal Food. This Halal cart was parked on a corner across from Bryant Park. I saw somewhere on this cart that Kimo's was serving Egyptian food. I honestly didn't notice a difference in the menu that made this cart any more Egyptian than any other similar cart in the city.

I ordered the Lamb Platter. Like most Halal carts, this consisted of a mountain of rice topped with gyro meat. Iceberg lettuce was served on the side as a salad. The entire thing was smothered in both white sauce and hot sauce. This was very tasty. I do enjoy eating large amounts of Middle Eastern food covered in delicious sauces.

After exploring Central Park, I decided to stop for food and visited another Halal cart. This cart was set up on the edge of the park at Bolivar Plaza. I didn't see a name associated with this cart.

 

Here, I ordered a falafel platter. Pretty same setup as the Lamb from Kimo's, but nowhere as good. The falafel was served in crumbs and tasted burnt. The rice was it bit hard as well. I don't know if I got the bottom of the barrel, or if this cart was just bad. Don't get food from here.

For my last bit of street food from this visit to New York, I had some Mister Softee from a truck parked outside the 190th Street Subway Station.

I had a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate. It tasted exactly how a dipped Mister Softee cone should!

Coney Island Halal Truck in Brooklyn, NY

I was in Coney Island and passed by a Halal Truck parked along Stillwell Avenue under the subway station. We were looking for some food and the scents emanating from the truck smelled so good that this truck was the chosen food source for the night.

I choose the lamb with rice. This consisted of a mound of yellow rice topped with lots and lots of gyro meat. A salad was served on the side. Everything was then topped with white sauce and a little of their hot sauce. I did enjoy this meal (way better than Nathan's less than a block away in my opinion). The meat was flavored very nicely. The rice was cooked well, and the sauces were tasty. It also ended up being a huge portion of food for a very affordable price.

Halal Carts of Bellerose, NY

New York is a wonderful city when it comes to food. So many people from all over the world, in such a tight concentration, all bringing their foods along with them. I mentioned in a previous post that I came across an Indian/Middle Eastern neighborhood in Queens that I never knew existed. I had some vegetarian Indian food on that initial visit, but I also noticed some Halal carts parked on street corners. I had heard of New York's Halal carts, but I had never eaten at one up until now...

The first time I wanted some late night food that wasn't a diner or fast food, I tried Sahara Halal Foods. This cart was apparently connected to the Middle Eastern supermarket behind where they were located.

 

I tried their combo plate, which came with thinly sliced gyro meat, chicken skewers, and chicken kofta. The three meats were served over a huge mound of yellow rice and a salad consisting of exclusively iceberg lettuce. I had everything topped with their white sauce and hot sauce. 

 

One of my co-eaters for the night ordered the falafel platter. I traded some of my meat for some of her falafel, which was also very tasty. I liked how mine came with a nice variety of meats. A huge pile of only falafel might have gotten boring after a while.

On another late night a few days later, I returned to this neighborhood and tried Muhsin's Halal Cart. This cart was located diagonally across the street from the Sahara cart and had a very similar menu. The major difference that I noticed was that Muhsin's used white rice as opposed to Sahara's yellow rice. Both had decent lines when I ate at each.

 

I tried a falafel sandwich from this cart. A big puffy pita was filled with several falafel balls, lettuce, tomato, along with white and hot sauce. It was good, but I think I should have gone with another one of those rice platter things.

I enjoyed my late night New York street food experiences during this trip. I can now say that I've tried the famed NYC Halal carts that I've heard so much about! These are another type of street food that is missing from Orlando as far as I know. We have a falafel truck, but I don't know of anyone selling late night, Middle Eastern meat over rice. I predict one would do very well parked outside some of the clubs in downtown Orlando. I couldn't care less about the religious affiliation, but just make a similar style of food. I'm waiting...