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:
Pera Mediterranean Brasserie
Pera Mediterranean Brasserie is perfect for business lunches, dinner, and drinks. Why you may ask? Here are five reasons.
1. The sophisticated decor - Tall ceilings, flowers, sophisticated art, an open kitchen make Pera is truly classy and modern. The acoustics were really good at Pera. Their dropped cielings to the padded decorative walls were clearly well planned.
2. The professional service – Our waiter was a nice guy. He wore a professional business suit, which is uncommon these days. The service was polished and professional.
3. The high quality food - I have had Mediterranean food all over the city. At Pera you can tell that they used better quality ingredients in every bite. Loved the fresh pita pocket bread with crumbled cheese. As I waited at the bar I saw them baking the bread in the wood burning oven.
The Roasted Whipped Eggplant ($8) had the highest quality olive oil mixed in. It was light and it didn’t have that overpowering smokiness that seems to be a standard at most Med places.
The Greek Salad Pidette was really fresh. The crust was crunchy, the salad on top was dressed lightly and didn’t overpower or make the crust soggy, the grape leaves were one of the meal’s highlights for me.
The meat was as good as it gets- very high quality, soft and tender. Every component, the tender chicken brochette, lamb loin brochette, seasoned lamb riblets and signature lamb “adana” was cooked perfectly. More on the meat under #4.
4. The thoughtful presentation – When the mixed grill platter ($34) arrived at our table, I enjoyed how the passionate server explained how to mix the meat with the condiments, sip some wine and enjoy as if we were in Turkey. The fresh pita, meat, the sumak salad, The slightly spicy rice… Perfection.
5. The price - the fact that for a little babaganoj, a small flatbread, a few pieces of meat, some rice and a glass of wine came to $72. Glad I took advantage of Living Social.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – Mediterranean
Style – Trendy
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone- 303 Madison Avenue (41st/42nd), 212- 878-6301
website- peranyc.com
menu – menupages.com/restaurants/pera
OpenTable- opentable.com/pera-mediterranean-brasserie
Maoz New York
So fresh and so clean. You may have noticed several locations (four, to be exact) popping up throughout NYC. Turns out Maoz is a growing chain that started in the Amsterdam by an Israeli couple and has locations around the world.
It is a simple concept. They give you a falafel sandwich (on white pita or whole wheat) or salad, you can add in Hummus, Eggplant, Feta Cheese, Avocado, Babaganoush and Hard Boiled Egg. Then, if you can find some room, you can cram in as much fresh salads as possible on top (At least that’s my goal!). They have grain, cabbage, pickles, carrot and several other salads.
The weekday lunch crowd in midtown was “organized chaos.” I much prefer the slightly larger Union Square location on a weekend when there isn’t such a crowd.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 5/10
Service – 6/10
Category:
Food Type – Middle Eastern
Style – Fast Food
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
200 W 40th St, New York NY10018 (At 7th Ave)
59 E 8th St, Btwn Broadway & University Pl
2047 A Broadway, Btwn 70th & 71st St
38 Union Sq E, Btwn 16th & 17th St
website- http://www.maozusa.com
menus – http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/maoz/