PrintVendy Award Finalist: The Biryani Cart
Editor's note: On October 18th, street vendors from all around the city will converge on the Tobacco Warehouse in Dumbo, Brooklyn for this years Vendy Awards. Tickets are only $80 and every penny goes to benefit the Street Vendor Project, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of sidewalk vendors in New York City. Every day this week we will profile one of the five finalists, and the food they will be serving up at the competition.
Two of the five Vendy finalists are from Midtown this year, and while Kwik Meal may be the odds on favorite (they were nominated last year, and won the people's choice award) I don't think anybody should count out The Biryani Cart. Opened four and a half years ago by Meru Sikder, a former banquet chef for a New Jersey Hilton, the Biryani Cart started off as your standard Midtown chicken and rice operation with a small twist. Each day the Bangladeshi native would serve one Indian food dish as a special, alternating between chicken tikka masala and chicken biryani.
The two dishes built up a solid following, but the real breakthough came in May of 2007 when the very popular Kati Roll, located on the same block as the Biryani Cart, moved locations. Seizing the opportunity, Meru immediately added his own version of the kati roll to the cart—and from there business exploded.
Photographs by Erin Zimmer
The Biryani Cart serves their rolls on chapati, a slightly thinner wrapper than the paratha that Kati Roll uses. They're made in 4 different styles, each one available with chicken or gyro meat. There's the King Koti Roll (a spicy chicken tikka marinated in yogurt and spices), the buradi roll (an even spicier creation topped with a mint habanero sauce), the pune (the most mild of the four) and my personal favorite—the channai roll—a sweet and tangy roll made with a spicy Thai style chili sauce.
There is also a vegetarian roll stuffed with aloo gobi (potatoes), and two new rolls that were just introduced recently: a PWCD roll, made with egg and potato, and a roll stuffed with chapli kebab (minced meat chunks.)
In addition to serving the kati rolls at the Vendy Awards, the Biryani Cart will also be making the two Indian dishes that attracted their early customers: the namesake chicken biryani, and their version of chicken tikka masala.
Unlike the standard chicken tikka masala, which comes in a cream sauce, the Biryani Cart version is more like a chicken over rice dish you would get from other carts. The difference being the chicken is marinated in yogurt and chicken tikka spices, before being sauteed on the flat top and served over a delicious basmati rice. It's spicy, flavorful, and probably shouldn't include the word "masala" in its title.
Even better than the chicken tikka over rice is the chicken biryani dish the cart is named after. Like everything else served from the cart, the flavors are strong and spicy, and the egg korma and mango pickle are nice touches that you don't even see at most sit down Indian restaurants in Midtown.
Over the years Midtown has cultivated an all star cast of street vendors, from the aforementioned Kwik Meal (on 45th Street and 6th Avenue), to the Famous Halal Guys (on 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue), and the Hallo Berlin Cart (on 54th Street and Fifth Avenue.) Let's see if the Biryani Cart can add their name to that list by taking home the Vendy Award next Saturday. If they do, there will be a new sheriff in Midtown—and his name is Meru.
The Biryani Cart
SW Corner of 46th Street and Sixth Avenue, New York NY 10036 (map)
Related:
Vendy Award Finalist: Fauzia's Delights
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7 Comments:
I nominated the Biryani Cart and love it! Thanks to Zach/MidtownLunch for yet another awesome piece of intel.
Jenn Sit at 1:56PM on 10/07/08
Tip: ask Meru to make you a Philly Chicken Tikka. It's much better than you would expect.
blim8183 at 3:35PM on 10/07/08
Aloo Gobi actually means Potatoes and Cauliflower. Aloo means potatoes.
Karthik at 12:11PM on 10/08/08
Just ate there today, I got the Chicken Biryani to go. The price was $6 and the kati rolls are 2 for $6 now. I was a bit put off that they raised their prices because of all this publicity and hoped it would be worth it. It was not.
Biryani Cart Review :
-The rice was dry and cold, some of the grains seemed even uncooked as they were crunchy / gummy.
-Chicken was tasteless and bland
-Sauce was unimpressive and there was very little of it
-Salad was standard cart fare no complaints
-Egg was a standard hard-boiled egg
-Mango pickle was being spooned out of a can by an elderly man without gloves : was it me or did it taste extra salty...?
Final Thoughts:
-All in all not worth the hype, Kwik Meal is definitely much tastier.
-B-L-A-N-D! Even the sauce was bland, and I didn't get much of it except a big clump on the salad. One would think everything would be a bit more aromatic having an Indian spin...
-Cold and uncooked rice didn't help the blandness either
-Despite the egg being a nice touch, the only thing that had any taste was the pickle which I didn't like either so I had that with the egg
-Price, inflation stinks and recession stinks but I'm pretty sure Biryani cart raised their prices because they are greedy and wanted to capitalize on this publicity
Rating : 3 out of 10
FoodinNY at 2:51PM on 10/09/08
@FoodinNY - I won't argue with you about the food, because everyone has different taste, and with these carts there is no question that it can be hit or miss from day to day depending on how busy they are, and who is doing the cooking. There's no excuse for bad food, but that could be one explanation for the difference in our experiences.
What I can say is this: They are definitely not greedy. I'm pretty sure the prices went up before they were nominated for a Vendy Award, and the simple fact is, none of these cart owners are getting rich. The cost of rice alone over the past 6 months has gone up an extraordinary amount, and these vendors just don't make that much money. Add to that the difficulty they face every day to keep their carts up to code, and not draw attention from the cops or the health department, and you've got a very difficult business to run. On top of that, the money they do make is not just for the 3-5 hours you see them serving food during lunch. Most vendors have to wake up super early in the morning, to pick up their carts from garages, and work until very late at night cleaning out the cart and preparing the food for the following day. Most street vendors work a minimum 60 hours a week. That's why an organization like the Street Vendor Projects exists, and why we should support the Vendy Awards. To call them greedy is completely unfair.
Zach Brooks at 3:16PM on 10/09/08
My friend you don't have no idea about current market . the review you post about 'biriyani cart' you totaly worng buddy I think you should checkout there culinary background before you post any comments. and that man definitely not greedy or wana be capitalized if he does he should raise his price every month like "kwik meal" does".Biriyani cart" keeping with there tradition of bringing there customers the finest in quality as well as the finest selection, they have made changes to there menu and prices(current market value ) that we all can enjoy.
good luck for VENDY AWARD
sufia at 10:59PM on 10/09/08
Fair enough Zach, I'll retract my statements about pricing and the Biryani Cart owners being greedy.
As for the food, ingredients and taste Sufia I stand by my review.
FoodinNY at 10:12AM on 10/10/08