LUNCHTIME: Rickshaw Dumplings Revisited

So after such a thrilling second date with the dumpling truck, I had to go back last Thursday and finally try the vegetarian edammame dumplings served with sansho lemon dipping sauce.  So here I am back again, reporting on the last dumpling left on the truck’s very limited menu.  This dumpling was probably my second favorite out of all of the ones I have tried so far—second to the peking duck dumplings I had at the food truck festival.  I really enjoyed the whole-wheat wrapped dumpling.  The filling is edammame blended with lemon zest.  YUM is right.  It was very light, healthy and most importantly uber-flavorful.  The onlydrawback was the dipping sauce.  The lemon sansho dipping sauce was salty—VERY salty.  I felt my ankles swelling just a little more with each bite.  I don’t know if it was just an off-day or if that dipping sauce is really supposed to be that sodium-happy. 

Just to give those that are not in the know a little background on Rickshaw Dumplings, one of the co-founders is Anita Lo—from Top Chef fame.  She along with Kenny Lao opened up the Rickshaw Dumpling Bar in Flatiron.  If you want a decent variety of dumplings, that is the place to go.  If you just want a quick fix or a better lunch option, then for the truck when it’s in your ‘hood because as I mentioned the menu is very limited.

Red Hook Food Trucks (Red Hook)

So after all of these weeks of trying to get here, I got here!  Every Sunday the Red Hook Vendors line up along Red Hook Park (natch) to throngs of people in the know about great home-style South American/Mexican food on the cheap.  There were about 7 or 8 trucks a few weekends ago when we went.  First stop, the corn truck.  Strategy was to get the corn and agua de jamaica (hibiscus juice) while we wait on line for the main dish, PUPUSAS! 

The corn is grilled and you get a choice of the toppings.  There’s cheese, chili powder, and/or pepper.  All of the above please!  Obviously.  Since kids (and big kids too) can’t always handle the heat, they let you opt out of the pepper toppings.  So as I took my first bite, mmmm.  Very good.  As I took a few more bites, I realized the corn wasn’t cooked completely through.  Lucky for me, I have an iron stomach and it wasn’t going to get upset over some undercooked corn!  The agua de jamaica is a sweet, but not too sweet blend of hibiscus flowers, sugar, water and lime juice.  Yes, it was good…especially on a hot, humid day in a Brooklyn park.

By the time we were done with our corn we were almost at the front of the line–great timing.  So the truck offered a few different varieties of pupusas: Steak, pork, chicken and the token veggie option, cheese and jalapeño.  For those who are not familiar with this dish, it is a traditional El Salvadorian thick corn tortilla which is stuffed with meat and cheese–most traditionally pork.  Hence, at Fashionista’s suggestion, that is the one I went with.  Now I was excited.  I have this fascination with stuffed foods.  Can’t really explain it, but lucky for me my belly doesn’t ask a lot of questions. 

Each order comes with two pupusas and a cole slaw like side relish.  They are made to order, so they are very fresh and very hot when you first get them.  Since we had to walk and hunt for a picnic table, the pupusas cooled off enough.  So the first thing I noticed is that, since they are griddled, they were pretty oily.  I dabbed them down with napkins before I started noshing.  Once I cut through the crispy crust I was done.  They smelled so good and SO flavorful.  Since the pupusa stuffing is sealed off, there is very little room for the meat to dry up during cooking.  With each bite, you should eat a little of the cole slaw because the combination of the two flavors and textures in your mouth are definitely worth it.  With our meal wrapping up we knew we wanted some fruit, but not just any fruit.  We wanted the chili-limon fruit  😉  They offer papya, watermelon, mango and one other fruit that I can’t remember.  We both opted for the mangos and they were incredible.  The soft, sweet fruit works sooo well with the spicy ancho chili-lemon juice that’s poured over it. 

We started to wrap up because we felt a few large raindrops and neither one of us brought umbrellas and I was wearing a white shirt!  😮  It was definitely a great experience and all for a whopping $12 for the whole meal.  Now that Fashionista is in Barcelona, I don’t know if I am going to get back here this summer but I know I will definitely making the trek to Red Hook Park at least once a summer for the food trucks. 

NO-lita Shake Shack?? Nope.

 

 

 

So the showdown between the city’s most-hearted burger establishment and certain pool of LES neighbors ended up in the expansion plans being ditched for the new proposed location on the corner of Mulberry and Prince.  *sigh*  We’re just going to have to wait a little longer eat one of their burgers south of 23rd.

M.

Miss Favela (Williamsburg)

Miss Favela was on Fashionista’s NY bucket list of places to go and things to see before she leaves us for Barcelona, so we had been trying to get here for about a month now.  Between bad weather and other engagements we couldn’t get here sooner…and what a damn shame!  We went this past weekend and got there 4:30-5 and the whole place was PACKED wall to wall with people of all ages dancing…adults and toddlers.  It was this one big samba party and most restaurants aren’t even serving their senior specials yet.  WOW.  This is going to be a fun night.

So being that we needed to catch up to all of the others who had clearly been drinking since noon, we ordered a pitcher of caipirinhas and some food.  I never had one before.  *gasp*  I know.  So those drinks are STROOOOOONG as hell.  I had one sip and I was like “Keep all of your lighters away from me when I exhale please!”  But needless to say, after the third glass I felt like I was drinking lime juice 😉 

Good thing we ate before we really started enoying our caipirinhas because the food was unpretentious and delicious.  We decided on sharing everything so we didn’t gouge ourselves since we had a lot of dancing to do!  We shared an order of the Pao de Queijo (cheese bread), Bolinho de Bacalhau (codfish fritters) and a hefty order of the Costela “Miss Favela” com Pure de Mandioca (Braised short ribs with yucca puree).  The fritters had potential, however the dish was an epic fail because of the most simple error in cooking….too much salt!  I love freshly squeezed lime on most seafood items, so I generously sprayed the fritters.  Unbeknownst to me, they were already barely edible, but the lime juice had put them over the edge.  Couldn’t finish them.  Thank goodness for the cheese bread and the short ribs, because they were deeeelish!  The the little round discs of goodness were perrrrfect.  Light, soft, warm and just the perfect appetizer.  The short ribs was hearty and definitely shareable by two people with smaller appetites.  The picture doesn’t really show that dish’s full carnivorous status, but it was definitely a meaty dish!  Now, this was a night of many firsts for me…caipirinhas, drinking pitchers of booze before 6pm, samba and also my first time trying actual pureed yucca.  When the dish arrives, it looks just like the meat is resting on a bed of soft mashed potatoes, but oh different it is.  If you know the difference between an actual yucca and a potatoe, you can already understand what the differences in the pureed variety are going to be.  The puree was more dense, tacky and starchy than the mashed p’s, but it was very very good. 

Throughout the meal, Fashionista and I kept commenting on how bummed we were that we didn’t come here sooner 😦  After we were done eating, we joined the rest of our group on the outside patio portion of the restaurant were they were drinking and enjoying the loud rumbling of the Williamsburg Bridge above and the music from inside.  Everyone was so friendly and we met so many new people that night that it almost felt like we weren’t in NY anymore.  Before we knew it, it was midnight and we moved the party inside and danced like fools to samba with our new friends for another few hours.  So.  Brooklyn.

 

 

 

Bars for your luv-liph

So I saw this article in New York as I was perusing it on the subway.  Figured this is a good read now that the summer’s starting and everyone’s looking to canoodle.

LUNCHTIME: Rickshaw Dumpling Truck

Lunctime downtown Manhattan is boring.  A real snoozefest.  There’s not much exciting going on.  There’s good options, but nothing special.  Nothing to bring a twinkle to your eye at 11:30am in anticipation of déjeuner!  Well, until now.  Last Thursday I was walking from Zigolini’s with my fabulous salad (well, as fabulous as a salad can possibly be) and I see this human snake curling around Pearl St in Hanover Sq.  Que eso?!  So then I realize they are all waiting for food from the red and white dumpling truck.  Brilliant I tell you.  A truck selling 3 different varieties of those warm pieces of heavenly clouds. 

So, I had my first rendez-vous with this truck at the Food Truck Festival this past weekend.  That day they had two specials–Peking Duck Dumplings w/ Hoisin dipping sauce and Chicken Saag (yes Indian!!) Dumplings w/ Yogurt dipping sauce.  I opted for the duck ones and they were eye-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head good.  Great first date, dumpling truck! 

 

So today I decided was going to be a good date two…it’s sunny, breezy, no humidity and the dumpling truck was out with a very short line.  Yeay!  So which one?  There’s Pork and Chive Dumplings w/ Sesame Soy dipping sauce, Chicken and Thai Basil w/ peanut dipping sauce and the token vegetarian option, the Edamamme dumplings.  Pork and Chive please!  They have their lunch special which includes a side for $9.  I get the chilled edamamme coated in salt and sansho pepper but they also have sesame noodle salad, asian salad w/ miso ginger dressing and miso soup.  YUM.  Today’s dumplings were delicious also.  My pork and chive dumplings were a great combination of perfectly seasoned, tender pork complimented juuuust right with the extra kick of chives.  Double-yum!   They really taste freshly made and the dipping sauces are pefectly paired with each of the three varieties.  My colleague had the Chicken and Thai Basil dumplings and she ♥’s hers too. 

Great second date!  Thank you Rickshaw Dumpling Truck for bringing a twinkle back to my eye every Thursday 🙂

Food Trucks + Flea Market =

…Great way to pass a Sunday in Hell’s Kitchen!  Check the trucks out if you’re in the neighborhood this weekend.

 

Shameless, Slut Wanted

 

This is reason #167 why I love this city so much.  Unabashed marketing done in an unapologetic manner.  Note the strategic placing of the comma??

M.