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Last night a couple of friends and I took the 7 train out of Manhattan to Roosevelt Ave in Queens. There's some guy who does "taco tours" periodically. You get to Roosevelt, he hands you a map which is marked with descriptions and locations of each of the individual trucks. He also marks a number of bars that are "happy hour partners" with his tour - being the only non-drinker present I hit the Diet Coke pretty hard.
I'm not the world's foodiest guy but I have an appreciation for freshness, flavor and quality and this was an absolute extravaganza. I expected less variety - especially in an industry (trucks that do tacos) than there was, especially in a handful of blocks, but ended up being surprised by the different methods of preparation and the differences in quality of preparation.
We walked up Roosevelt Ave hitting about 10 vans, had probably about 6-7 tacos per person and the odd gordita or another more adventurous item thrown in. I was especially impressed by the the last truck we stopped at near Woodhaven which was run by two women (most of the others were all men or had at least one dude) and they put a ton of emphasis on both cooking with fresh ingredients and displaying them effectively.
I thought I couldn't handle any more but the last one turned out the best with perfectly grilled breast-meat chicken and a spicy blend of onion, cilantro, avocado and parsley.
The evening's best amusement came in a brief stopover in a super-dodgy, authentic Thai karaoke bar. Also the random detour down a different street which proved to be an alt universe of Halal trucks. I have no idea if there is any but I'm prepared to imagine an intense rivalry between Taco and Halal crews.
Anyway - if any of you are ever in Manhattan and looking to do something different this is a cheap, entertaining, delicious way to wander through a part of NYC you wouldn't see otherwise.
**pretty safe area but not totally recommended for hot women by themselves
I'm not the world's foodiest guy but I have an appreciation for freshness, flavor and quality and this was an absolute extravaganza. I expected less variety - especially in an industry (trucks that do tacos) than there was, especially in a handful of blocks, but ended up being surprised by the different methods of preparation and the differences in quality of preparation.
We walked up Roosevelt Ave hitting about 10 vans, had probably about 6-7 tacos per person and the odd gordita or another more adventurous item thrown in. I was especially impressed by the the last truck we stopped at near Woodhaven which was run by two women (most of the others were all men or had at least one dude) and they put a ton of emphasis on both cooking with fresh ingredients and displaying them effectively.
I thought I couldn't handle any more but the last one turned out the best with perfectly grilled breast-meat chicken and a spicy blend of onion, cilantro, avocado and parsley.
The evening's best amusement came in a brief stopover in a super-dodgy, authentic Thai karaoke bar. Also the random detour down a different street which proved to be an alt universe of Halal trucks. I have no idea if there is any but I'm prepared to imagine an intense rivalry between Taco and Halal crews.
Anyway - if any of you are ever in Manhattan and looking to do something different this is a cheap, entertaining, delicious way to wander through a part of NYC you wouldn't see otherwise.
**pretty safe area but not totally recommended for hot women by themselves