New York City Street Fair Food Guide
It’s that time of the year. Last weekend as I walked my way through NYC, I stumbled across three New York City street fairs.
This guide will go through NYC street fair food options. I will divide street fair food into three categories.
- Food I look forward to eating at each fair
- Food I never consider eating because I am scared of unintended consequences (i.e indigestion, a lost tooth)
- Pleasant surprises
Hopefully this guide will help locals and tourists alike to navigate NYC street fair food options.
Food I look forward to eating at each fair
I will pick up some pickles if, for some reason, I have no pickles in my fridge.
Kettle corn: I most likely won’t buy this, I have plenty of equally enjoyable Orville Redenbacher at home, but I will try a free sample.
Sticking with corn, how can you go wrong with fresh corn? I like how most use the grill to char the corn.
Another corn product is the sweet corn arepa. How can you go wrong with melted mozzarella and sweet corn?
Food I never consider eating because I am scared of unintended consequences
This may be controversial but I never want a candy apple during the summer. Candy Apples are a Fall food for me. I am also afraid that I will lose a tooth when I bite into the hard shell.
Dirty hands making falafel balls and frying in oil on a dirty street, no thanks. The same applies to Zeppoles. I will sometimes try a spinach pie though.
Fear of indigestion, continued…
No desire to have one of those smoothies. How could they possibly wash all that fruit with no running water? They also use the same dirty blenders all day! If you do happen to be by a fair when it’s closing they may sell bananas and other unused fruit for next to nothing. That I will go for!
I may have a crepe or two in Paris, but not on a NYC street…
Pleasant surprises
I would try a lobster roll at lunch time!
As the summer goes by, I will add some pictures of some of the pleasant surprise food options that I come across.
Street Fair Calendars:
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
You can smell bar-b-que from blocks away. When you enter the Dinosaur, the unique decor has you looking up, down, left and right. The unique decor even makes it’s way to the bathroom… You can’t help but be curious how and why the walls got to be the way they are (must be a Dinosaur tradition- the bathroom walls look this way in Syracuse as well). Simply stated, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que has character.
Ok, enough bathroom talk.. I don’t stray much when I go to Dinosaur. I always start with an Ape Hanger Ale, an upstate NY brew made especially for Dinosaur.
Next, SWAG DRUNKEN SPICY SHRIMP BOIL PLATE - Peel & Eat shrimp cooked in a raging boil of beer, old bay, cayenne, herbs & spices. Served cold with Habanero Cocktail sauce. Strange that they had ranch on the plate last time. The waitress brought the cocktail sauce soon thereafter.
For dinner, sometimes a sampler, the rest of the time Tres Hombres (it depends how much chicken I had the during the week). Tres Hombres is a spirited serving of Bar-B-Que pork, Texas Beef Brisket (sliced) & Bar-B-Que ribs….($18.95). There is something about those baked beans– I think it’s horseradish- they are my favorite. I also enjoy the cole slaw. I have tried lots of BBQ meats and sauces throughout the city, and I always hold everything up to the Dinosaur as the gold standard.
Always end with a creamy key lime pie.
Don’t forget to stock up on sauces before you go. Or, you can just buy online. It is clear that the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que franchise works, as I can now even find their products in the local grocery stores in NJ.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – BBQ
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone : 646 W 131st St., 212-694-1777
website/menu: dinosaurbarbque.com/nycIndex.php
OpenTable: opentable.com/dinosaur-bar-b-que