Stall no. 36

I've been blessed to grow up just 10 minutes from Flushing, NY. It's close enough to experience the diversity and community, but just far enough from the noise and crowds. Flushing is an oasis of flavors. You can easily taste Hong Kong, Taiwan to Shanghai all on one block. I'm always looking to try something new, exciting, and foreign to me. After reading an article in the NY Times last year, I've been dying to try the lamb burger at Xi'an Famous Foods. Then after watching Bourdain check out this hidden gem located in the Golden Supermarket, I just had to try. This stall is located inside a supermarket neighboring a dozen other interesting stalls. These guys are known for their Lamb Burger and Liang Pi Cold Noodles, and that's exactly what I had to order. I've had lamb burgers before, but never cooked from a chinese place. As you all know I love lamb, and the burger was juicy, spicy, and loaded with spices. The spices were different from any burger I had before, you can definitely taste the Muslim influence here. It was more of a sloppy joe than a burger, which I didn't mind. The burger also looked less like what we're use to, and more like an chinese arepa. They have a small open kitchen, and you can watch as the lady cooks the buns from scratch in front of you on a flat griddle. The noodles were a great compliment to the burger. It is tossed with bean curd, cucumber, bean sprouts, chili oil and were cooked al dente. It's a spicy refreshing salad that will open up all your senses. Overall delicious, if you're looking to try something new in Flushing then weave your way through the crowds and discover this stall.

Look for the 36

Lamb Chunks, Jalapenos, Spices on a griddled bun

Lamb Burger innards

Liang Pi Cold Noodles

Eat here Kwik

In a town run by chicken and rice carts, it's difficult to differentiate yourself. On a competitive street full of followers, a leader emerges on 45th Street and 6th Avenue. Muhammed Rahman is serving your lunch wearing a white chef coat on the "Kwik Meal" cart. His speciality is lamb over rice, and it's not just any kind of lamb. While everyone in New York City is lying about serving lamb, Muhammed is serving real lamb chunks over fluffy white basmati rice. Eating lamb from halal trucks should be a crime. Health Inspectors should start inspecting the meat from these punks who are misleading the public. Please don't tell me you like lamb, because you've eaten from your favorite halal cart downstairs from your office. You're eating frozen Kronos Processed Beef Product, sorry but someone had to tell you that there's no santa. Lamb is not for everyone, some find it gamey. But I'm a huge lamb fan.
If you are ever around midtown make sure you make a pit stop a Kwik Meal, and order the lamb over rice with green chili sauce. Chef Rahman makes his own white sauce from sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt and a mix of herbs and spices. It's not that generic ranch mayo mixture that you're use to. His lamb is marinaded with garlic, cumin, coriander, onions and other spices. The ”secret” to what makes the lamb so tender is papaya puree, he damn sure is not following his competition across the street. He has work at the Russian Tea Room, studied management at George Brown College but he feels "food costs are high, and profits are low but he would never go back to cooking at a restaurant, because he loves the interaction with the customers you only get running a food cart." There's definitely love and passion here, and that's a feeling I can relate to. At $7 it's a little more than your traditional street cart, but you're not going to find perfectly cook lamb for that price anywhere in midtown. I hope your salivating, and I've convinced you to try the best lamb over rice from one of the good guys.

Lamb over Rice with white and green chili sauce

I don't remember lamb looking like this

Ace of Doughnuts

I know, donuts are boring and dull. I guess they are when you're ordering vanilla frosted at Dunkin Donuts, Krispe Kreme or at your corner coffee guy. I'm not going to lie, the blueberry cake at Dunkin Donuts was once my favorite until they decide to change the recipe. But now I've meet my love. All donuts are child's play compared to the Doughnut Plant in the Lower East Side. I once parked my car and ran into the plant like a kid to find out later I got a $65 parking ticket for not feeding the meter. Yes they're that damn good. At this plant it's a matter of preference, just because they have a huge assortment of donuts from tres leches to creme brulee. But if I were you I wouldn't leave without getting the Coconut Glaze Coconut Creme yeast doughnut, and that's only if they don't run out. 

Doughnut Plant 
379 Grand St
New York 10002
(Btwn Essex & Norfolk St)

Chika Club

If you are drinking at St. Mark's or eating nearby at one of David Chang's restaurants, please save room for dessert. Walk pass the tempting frozen yogurt shops, Veniero's and stop by Chikalicious Dessert Club on 204 E 10th St (between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave). They offer a huge assortment of delectable goodies from Banana Milkshakes to Ginger Spiced Carrot Cake. I highly recommend the Espresso Ice Shot. These chefs are genuises, they combine hot espresso over vanilla soft serve with chocolate pearls. It's a perfect dessert that combines hot and cold. I know you're hesitant about your soft serve melting, but with this dessert it gets better as you eat it. The fresh espresso melts into the soft serve and creates another dimension of flavor. It suddenly becomes a sweetened coffee cream float. Don't even get my started with the chocolate pearls. These little crunchy chocolate flavored rice balls enhances the whole experience. I wish I had asked for extra. Make sure you order two with extra pearls for you and your date, I promise you won't want to share.

Food Lover's Pick

If you are fimilar with this sandwich then it's probably already on your list of top 5 favorite sandwiches of all time. A Banh Mi is everything a sandwich should be, it's a sensory overload. It's sweet, savory, sour, salty, crunchy, and beautiful. The first thing that gets your attention is the beautiful medley of crunchy pickled carrots and radishes. It's complimented with cilantro, jalapenos, mayo, cucumber, and sarracha. Then it all lays on a bed of deliciously baked roast pork and terine. All for $3.50. If I haven't sold you yet, the slightly toast baguette will make your knees buckle.  

For me Banh Mi is nostalgia, it brings me back to the years when me mom bought them home in a brown paper bag from a little shop under the Manhattan Bridge. Years later little has changed, and now Banh Mi Saigon Bakery is located at a secret spot behind a jewelry store on Mott Street. I can guarantee your mom and pop knows exactly where to get these babies after picking up some mustard greens across the street. Banh Mi Saigon Bakery is a must try for anyone visiting New York. Recently there has been an influx of Banh Mi stores, Banh Mi carts to Baoguette Cafes popping up everywhere. Though I am happy that they're finally getting their much deserved attention, I am disgusted by the quality that is being served to the virgins of this delectable sandwich. It's a poor reprensentation of what a Banh Mi should look and taste like. I congratulate Thao Nguyen the chef/owner of Baoguette for getting lots of press nods. But Mrs. Nguyen if your going to sell your sandwiches for $5-$8 a pop please make sure it is filling and comparable to the sandwiches I grew up eating. I know I could be bias at times. But recently I was sent Zagat: New York Food Lover's Guide (a must buy for all foodies),  and I was flipping through the pages and landed on the catagory of Sandwich Shops. Guess who was #1? Banh Mi Saigon Bakery. 

Freddy the great

Let me introduce you to Freddy Zeidaies. He is fun, entertaining, hard working, and a passionate entrepreneur. If you ever get a chance to eat at his cart you can see first hand his love for customers, and love for cooking. You can find him on 30th Street and Broadway in Astoria cooking up falafels and chicken and rice at his popular cart "King of Falafel and Shawarma." He is constantly hollering and breaking his neck at the beautiful women of Astoria. It might sound unapplealing and creepy, but the women love him. You might wonder why? It's beacause he is serving the best damn street food in New York City.

I am pretty sick of people telling me that the best chicken and rice is Sammy's or the Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th. Don't be mistaken, you will find me drunk on a Saturday night telling my cab driver to drive 40 blocks uptown to 53rd and 6th. But is it an explosion of flavor like Freddy's chicken and rice? Absoultly not. It's a flavorless chicken and rice plate that offers quantity over quality. Sammy's took home the Vendy's a few year back, but that's all they have going for them. I've tried their unique dill inspired chicken and rice. Besides the dill, the plate is bland and as boring as all the chicken and rice stands in New York City. I've been told many times that Sammy's has really good rice, but never once was told how awesome they claim to be. If your in it for the rice your opinion really doesn't matter. At "King of Falafel and Shawarma", the name says it all. You better have something going for you if you call yourself the king, and they do. Their unique plates consists of rice, lettuce, tomato, onions, green pickles, and pickled pink turnips. It also includes a piece of falafel and it will hands down be the most wonderful piece of fried chickpea you will ever put in your mouth. Sometimes they will give you a extra piece of falafel while you wait, and you'll be crying for more. At $1 for 3, please do splurge. The falafel alone is worth all the praise. Freddy is getting another crack at the Vendy's this year. I am so excited he is being recognized by the people and hope that he takes it home for having the best chicken and rice and falafel in New York City period. 

I miss you

Most of you know I just came back from Asia, and you might want to know what I miss most. Yes I miss having a Hong Kong Style Milk Tea everyday, eating mantis prawns, but I can't get this one crazy dish out of my head. It's call Xiduosi or Cantonese Fresh Toast, and it's eaten during tea time. The rench toast stuffed with peanut butter, and deep fried to perfection. It's served with a choice of condensed milk, honey, or a clear Hong Kong syrup with a knob of butter. The other day I decide to stop by Tea Shop 168 bakery, and I ordered the french toast praying that it would be comparable. It was a huge FAIL!! It was also deep fried, but it was missing that delicious crisy outer crust that I've come to love. After forcing myself to eat it, I then realized how sad I was that I won't be experiencing this deliciousness until a return trip back to Hong Kong. A wise person once told me that the first thing I must try when I get to Hong Kong is Xiduosi, she wasn't playing.