10 Fantasy Street Foods That Should Be in NYC

Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 9, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Pork belly satay.

Last night, some of the city's best chefs, and a few out-of-towners, went into street food mode in Rockefeller Center for this year's Citymeals-on-Wheels fundraiser. While a select few of the dishes are available at the restaurants, in some permutation at least, we couldn't help but daydream what it'd be like if these nibbles were actually for sale on street corners.

Here is a list of ten that we'd wait for outside, in some fantasy world, and the chefs that created them.

1. Pork belly satay
Zak Pelaccio and Corwin Kave; Fatty Crab

2. Funnel cake with orange blossom honey
Jawn Chasteen and Michael Gabriel; The Sea Grill

3. Pork belly taco in a sesame leaf with homemade kimchi
Roy Choi*, Mark and Caroline Manguera; Kogi Korean BBQ Truck (Los Angeles-based, but coming to NYC soon)

*Roy said, if a brick-and-mortar Kogi eatery ever happened in New York, he'd want it to be in the outer boroughs, maybe Brooklyn. Some neighborhood ideas: Williamsburg or Carroll Gardens. Lower East Side is great and all, but way too predictable, he thinks.

4. Bombay bhel puri: rice crisps, chickpea flour noodles and hot green peppers with mint, tamarind and cilantro chutney
Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur; Devi

5. Roasted pork shoulder "gyro" with pickled cucumber and yogurt
Michael Psilakis and Zak Miller; Anthos, Kefi, and Mia Donna

6. Porchetta sandwiches
Cesare Casella; Salumeria Rosi

7. Sno-cone with strawberry and lychee
Andrea Reusing; Lantern (in Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

8. Crispy fried clam roll in a toasted hot dog bun
Ed Brown; eighty one

9. Chestnut flour crepe with honeyed sheep's milk ricotta
Antonio Prontelli and Juan Branez; Rock Center Café

10. Grilled chicken hearts on skewers with herb vinaigrette
Alex Raij and Jessica Young; Txikito

We were especially jazzed to meet Emily and Ken, the two winners of our ticket giveaway. Emily's favorite international street food may be the steamed rice noodle rolls found in Chinatown, but I think she fell pretty hard for Kogi's kimchi quesadillas last night.

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Tags: events, street food, street vendors