All American Diner I & II

"All American Diner I & II"

Location: On Whitehall, at the southwest corner with State Street. You can see the Staten Island Ferry from there. But based on today's news, you might want to skip the ferry.

Cuisine: Deli

Date: Friday, May 7 at 12:30

Diners: office workers

Grub: cubano sandwich for $6.75

Review: We tried to go to a nearby Jamaican curry cart, but the line was too long. This large silver truck caught our eye. I think the kitchen is bigger than the one in my apartment. A local office worker said he comes here all the time and likes the turkey. But he recommended the cubanos too. It was the strangest Reuben-Cubano fusion sandwich. Served on rye bread with sauerkraut. And open face. I half expected to see Russian dressing on it. They didn't broil the cheese long enough and they're skimpy with the meat. Just one thin slice of ham and one thin slice of roast pork. But the meat covered a lot of surface area. The sandwich tasted fine and if you're craving a basic deli sandwich, this'll do. Especially nowadays where traditional delis are hard to find. The pickle is excellent -- the real NY deli kind. I bet they'd make a decent reuben.

Rating: 1 pita. I go back here next month if I happened to be in the area and was craving a turkey on rye.

Dominic's

"Dominic's"

Location: Corner of Bridge Street and Whitehall, near One Battery Park Plaza. Not far from the Staten Island Ferry terminal.

Cuisine: Italian sausage, Philly cheese steak, hot dog

Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 11:40am

Grub: Italian Sausage Hero = $7

Review: I'd recently been to Blaue Gans in Tribeca a couple times. So I have high expectations for a sausage, especially when a cart is charging something close to a restaurant price. Dominic's did not meet them. They tasted like supermarket sausages with a strong fennel seed taste. The cooking technique was the biggest shortcoming. The sausages are served luke warm and dry instead of hot and juicy. Dominic's is generous with the onions, which are well-browned and caramelized. The hero roll is one of the better street food baguettes I've had. The sandwich travels well and looks nice at your desk. But every time you take a bite, the sausage and the onions squirm the opposite direction. Not HD's favorite either.

Review: 1 pita (still more edible than many halal trucks)

Afghani Cart on Beaver & Broadway

"Afghani Cart on Beaver & Broadway"

Location: Southeast corner of Beaver Street and Broadway. Look around the corner from the Ann Taylor Loft on Broadway. Close to the Raging Bull sculpture at the tip of Manhattan.

Date: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:55

Cuisine: Afghani

Diners: Ecclectic mix of well-dressed financial professionals and young guys in low-slung jeans. Expect a long line, but we beat the wait just before noon.

Grub: Chicken over rice with side salad = $5

Review: The Afghani cook reveals a metal tooth every time he smiles, which is a lot. He's a charmer and extremely proud of his homemade food. I so wanted to love it and give it a top rating of 4 pitas and think that some good had come of our invasion of his homeland. But I'm partial to cleaned, white meat chicken and I was not crazy about the haphazard chopping which included skin and bits of icky stuff. The chicken is covered in a cumin-heavy mix of powdered spices and kept warm under a blanket of pitas. And, for street food, it's surprisingly not greasy. The highlight was the rice pilaf underneath the chicken. Mild and aromatic with chickpeas, green peas and carrots throughout. The side salad was uninspiring iceberg, tomato and cucumber. HD would not eat the chicken, but she loved the rice. I'm curious to try the lamb on the spit next time.

Rating: I'd return next week.

Greek Cart at 30 Wall

"Greek Cart at 30 Wall"

Cuisine: Greek diner deli

Location: Just east of 30 Wall Street (New York Sports Club) between William and Nassau. One block from the New York Stock Exchange.

Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 11:45am

Diners: Office workers in suits, blue collar laborers and tourists.

Grub: Philly Cheesesteak ($4.50) and Potato Knish ($1.75) = $6.75. Yes, the math is Greek to me too. But Greece needs all the help it can get right now.

Review: An elderly Greek couple run this unbranded cart like an old fashioned dinette. She mans the griddle. He dresses the hotdogs, wraps everything up and handles the money. Shockingly, they smile a lot and they don't bicker. I asked the cook what to order and she steered me to the Philly Cheesesteak. It took a few minutes for it to cook. The meat was lean, the onions were brown and the cheese was gooey everywhere. It was a big sandwich. I could only eat half. I'm sure my husband, a Philly native, would find lots to criticize. But I thought it was delicious. The knish was the kind you'd find in a traditional Brooklyn deli with a nice creamy potato center. HD said mmm from the first bite and asked for seconds of both dishes. I don't think you could find a better old school cart.

Rating: I'd go back tomorrow.

Zeytuna Smoothies & Bubble Tea

"Zeytuna Smoothies & Bubble Tea"

Cuisine: tropical liquid

Date: Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:50am

Location: Corner of John and William Streets, just outside Zeytuna's main supermarket entrance

Diners: Local office workers. Heavy-set women who are trying to drink their way to their thin dreams. I've seen long lines as the lunch crowd builds.

Grub: Small avocado shake. $3.

Review: Friendly, fast service. Extensive menu and they'll make any drink you want. I picked avocado because Marrakesh was on the mind. I was served avocado shakes at a wedding there back in 2004 and am often trying to recapture that moment. The Zeytuna avocado shake was a tad too sweet for my taste, but I would just ask them to use a little less sugar next time. And there were green flecks everywhere. I think they might have let a bit of avocado peel slip into the blender. Produce was fresh. Drink was refreshing. And they package it nicely in a special little drink bag to carry home or to the office. Reminded me of being in Asia where they think of every detail. HD refused to try a sip despite the bright green wide-diameter straw. Who can resist that?

Rating: I'd return again tomorrow -- especially if it's a hot day.

Pasha's

"Pasha's"

Cuisine: Greasy spoon

Location: On William Street where Cedar Street intersects right outside the Chase Building and across the street from Financier. Just outside the northern entrance to the Wall Street 2/3 subways.

Date: April 20, 2010

Diners: Young budget-conscious African Americans

Grub: Chicken on rice with side salad = $5

Review: Pasha's has a big eclectic menu, from hot dogs to curry. But the friendly staff recommended getting chicken on rice, their most popular dish. The styrofoam container inside the plastic bag popped open on my walk home. The first few bites were tasty. The chicken has been cooking in oil a long time on their griddle surface and has an appealing greasy taste. Though there were a few bones and icky things therein. But they drowned the whole dish in too much white sauce. And as I ate my way through the meal, I could see puddles of orange-colored oil and white sauce floating everywhere. And I realized this is not a healthy lunch. Especially for HD. She ate some, but wasn't crazy about it.

Rating: I would only go back here if it was the only place to get food in an emergency.

Backyard Chicken

"Backyard Chicken"

Cuisine: Rotisserie chicken
Location: 241 Pearl Street, between John and Fulton streets. Near South Street Seaport.

Date: April 16, 2010 at 11:45am
Grub: 1/4 chicken plus two sides (macaroni and cheese and spinach), chipotle sauce and a lemonade = $6.25
Review: Backyard Chicken is neither truck nor cart. It's more a hole in the wall, but it's my blog and I've been wanting to try Backyard Chicken since I moved to the neighborhood. It's only open for lunch and it seems that most of its business is delivery. (212) 406-6600 or www.wallstreetcaterers.com. When you go to the website, they have a much larger menu for their office catering service. But on foot, it's just rotisserie chicken, salmon and sides. The white meat chicken breast was large and moist. But it wasn't particularly flavorful or infused with spices or herbs. Definitely grab a chipotle sauce for an extra 25 cents. They claim to make it themselves. It's chunky, spicy, pungent and addictive. One of the best chipotle dipping sauces I've ever had. The skin was edible, but not the crispy, lip-smacking kind. The chopped spinach reminded me of a side that you'd see at a Korean deli salad bar. And indeed, before the owners opened up this shack in 2001, they used to run a deli. The mac-and-cheese was overly orange, very salty and tasted like they'd used a processed cheese mix to make it. The lemonade -- free with the meal -- was foul. It looked like the color of day-glo highlighter and tasted medicinal. I'm not sure I'd drink it on a desert island. HD loved the chicken, but spat out both the spinach and the mac-n-cheese.
Rating: I'd return next month.