A Moveable Feast

The best place to eat food in New York City is the sidewalk. With red sauce dripping down your sweaty wrist in the humidity of August. When the snow blows around your neck with a dirty water hotdog steaming under your chin. As the rain patters your umbrella and a dog splashes to the curb to eat the chunk of kabob that fell from the fold of foil clutched against your ringing cell phone. Food carts keep the New York City restaurant industry honest. The trendiest joint in Manhattan can’t deliver the ambiance of a Central Park bench. And the most educated and celebrated chef can’t deliver food with the same soul as a man who stands outside all day, pinging his spatula as city buses, taxis, fire trucks, and ambulances ramble by, transporting and saving our city’s citizens. Food carts, and the people who run them, love New Yorkers. The people are nice. The prices are fair. And the food is delicious.

Whenever you take a food cart for granted, go buy a pretzel at Yankee Stadium. Bring your credit card.

Related Note: Check out Man Push Cart for a compelling movie centered on a man in the food cart business.

Update: Some excellent video interviews with street food vendors in this two-part series. Part One. Part Two.