Best street grub you've ever had

[Urchina]

This thread was suggested by Maurice on the Hot Dog thread.

What's the best street food you've ever had? To define, "street food" must have been obtained from a vendor without a fixed address. So, carts of all varieties, trailers, taco trucks, festival booths, etc. all count.

To begin:

I had a goat gyro in York, England that still makes me salivate.

The Carpinteria High School cheerleader's booth at the California Avocado Festival make the best booth guacamole I've eaten.

And I'm a sucker for the Elephant Ears at the Lane County Fair in Lane County, Oregon.

Then, of course, there are NYCs hot dog vendors.

And, to top it all off, Rita's Burritos at the Saturday Market in Eugene, Oregon are fantastic.

 

[yakers]

Fish tacos in Ensenada from street venders. Don't want to knowhow they're made. Taste wonderful.

 

[Orchidflower]

Corn in a newspaper cone in Mexico. Take corn (canned or frozen will do), put mayo on it, put salt on, squeeze lots of lime (or lemon) on it and mix. Delicious.
The city of Amsterdam started me eating my french fries with mayo 40 years ago, and that was from a street vendor. Yum.

 

[mickeyd]

Deviled Crab from street vendors in Ybor City (Tampa). The last time I had a dozen or so of these beauties it was around 1966 and they cost 10 cents each~no extra charge for a splash of hot sauce!

 

[deepc]

Teri Chicken from a kau kau wagon parked across the street from the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu. Eaten on the lawn of the Iolani Palace.

I only was able to find it once, every time we went back either that truck wasn't there or there was no Teri Chicken. Plate lunch there is two scoop rice, macaroni salad, and (in this case) the chicken. Washed down with a Paso-guava.

Will also second the street tacos in Ensenada, but never looked too closely at the contents.

 

[freebird5825]

Oversized warm soft pretzels with lots of coarse salt on Saturday trips to NYC when I was a kid...um...I mean chronologically younger in years. I'm still a little kid at heart.

 

[dex]

Only a non New Yorker eat from street food vendors in NYC.
It is just that the food isn't stored properly or is old - the carts are stored in garages crawling with rats and roaches. Ya think they sanitize the carts every day before starting a 14hr day?

Food Vendors Caught Picking Noses, Touching Toes - Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events

• One food vendor touching his bare feet with his fingers between his toes before going right back to serving customers.
• Another vendor near Times Square, who while wearing gloves picked his nose, handled money, scratched himself and touched raw chicken right before preparing food and serving customers.
• A vendor outside the Museum of Natural History who licked his gloved hand and counted money. Then he left his cart to use a bathroom in the museum and returned to serve customers without washing his hands.

 

[Dawg52]

Only a non New Yorker eat from street food vendors in NYC.
It is just that the food isn't stored properly or is old - the carts are stored in garages crawling with rats and roaches. Ya think they sanitize the carts every day before starting a 14hr day?

Food Vendors Caught Picking Noses, Touching Toes - Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events

• One food vendor touching his bare feet with his fingers between his toes before going right back to serving customers.
• Another vendor near Times Square, who while wearing gloves picked his nose, handled money, scratched himself and touched raw chicken right before preparing food and serving customers.
• A vendor outside the Museum of Natural History who licked his gloved hand and counted money. Then he left his cart to use a bathroom in the museum and returned to serve customers without washing his hands.

You can stick a fork in this thread.

 

[unclemick]

Only a non New Yorker eat from street food vendors in NYC.
It is just that the food isn't stored properly or is old - the carts are stored in garages crawling with rats and roaches. Ya think they sanitize the carts every day before starting a 14hr day?

Food Vendors Caught Picking Noses, Touching Toes - Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events

• One food vendor touching his bare feet with his fingers between his toes before going right back to serving customers.
• Another vendor near Times Square, who while wearing gloves picked his nose, handled money, scratched himself and touched raw chicken right before preparing food and serving customers.
• A vendor outside the Museum of Natural History who licked his gloved hand and counted money. Then he left his cart to use a bathroom in the museum and returned to serve customers without washing his hands.

'THE FLAVOR' answer to those philistines and their Pace Picante Sauce ads.



heh heh heh - New Orleans Lucky Dogs in the French Quarter - after 3am weren't THAT bad. Of course I was younger then and used lots of local aneseptic. Mouth wash that is.

 

[freebird5825]

'THE FLAVOR' answer to those philistines and their Pace Picante Sauce ads.



heh heh heh - New Orleans Lucky Dogs in the French Quarter - after 3am weren't THAT bad. Of course I was younger then and used lots of local aneseptic. Mouth wash that is.

NOW we know why NYC bagels and the hot pastrami have that extra special flavor.
Proud to be a card-carrying Philistine!

 

[crazy connie]

Stall to stall stroll thru the Pikes Place Market in Seattle. You can nosh on many nationalities food there. And then some huge farmers market in Rome that private tour buses took us to. It was a riot watching my co-workers buying all these fresh food stuffs and then realizing our rooms had no fridges! After the evenings festivities there were tons of meats and cheeses and breads in the hotel lounge bar for everyone to enjoy again!

 

[TromboneAl]

Corner of 2nd and C Street. Yum.

 

[jimnjana]

I had a bag of fish and chips in FIJI a few years back. Cost 75 cents I still think about how good they were...

Jim

 

[Maurice]

Only a non New Yorker eat from street food vendors in NYC.

Not true in the slightest.

And its not at all clear to me that the carts are an less dirty than the restaurants... Either way, its best not to think too much about it.

 

[wrigley]

Chicago style hot dog from a street vendor in Chi-Town!

Mike

 

[mbooth]

Corner of 2nd and C Street. Yum.

Is that 2nd and C Street Alice Springs? Tastes like chicken ya know.

Pilot Guides.com: Taste of the Outback: Witchetty Grub

 

[dex]

Not true in the slightest.

And its not at all clear to me that the carts are an less dirty than the restaurants... Either way, its best not to think too much about it.

You must originally from the midwest; a real New Yorker would have understood New York speak.

 

[W2R]

I'm not from New York, and I wouldn't eat from a street vendor anywhere! Too concerned about food poisoning. Besides, I knew someone back in my college days who made sausages to sell as a street vendor and was appalled at unhygienic food preparation.

I also don't eat from buffets at Chinese restaurants if they are dirt-cheap, for the same reason. Well, I did do that once when it was one of those work party things, and about half of my co-workers and I all got sick from it. I will never go back to that place!

 

[Westernskies]

Corner of 2nd and C Street. Yum.

Their motto was "You'll larva our grub!"

 

[FUEGO]

Chiles rellenos somewhere from a street cart in mexico city.
Tacos de castana (basket tacos) which were technically from a fixed establishment that consisted of approximately 20 sq ft of floor area with a window opening onto the street. The tacos were brought into the place in a basket and sold for 2 pesos each ($0.20).

 

[MichaelB]

Mexico seems to have a street grub culinary advantage. For me it was the tacos in Guadalajara – tongue, liver and other less identifiable meats, prepared on a greasy dirty cart with bowls of onion and lettuce (and flies). I have no idea how I didn’t get sick, but they were glorious. Back then the exchange rate was $US1 = 12 Pesos and each taco cost 3P. Dinner was ½ dozen tacos and a couple of beers.

 

[FUEGO]

Mexico seems to have a street grub culinary advantage. For me it was the tacos in Guadalajara – tongue, liver and other less identifiable meats, prepared on a greasy dirty cart with bowls of onion and lettuce (and flies). I have no idea how I didn’t get sick, but they were glorious. Back then the exchange rate was $US1 = 12 Pesos and each taco cost 3P. Dinner was ½ dozen tacos and a couple of beers.

I had some of those unidentifiable meat tacos. Too chewy and grisly for my tastes. I didn't know what they were at the time I ate them (it was late and the cerveza had destroyed my spanish comprehension). Lengua and mejilla and sesos, yum!

I'm not sure if it counts, but the little stands in the mexican markets are really good too. We had really good food at too many places to name. We even had grasshoppers in a taco.

Yes, I had a little* montezuma's revenge by the end of the trip, but it was worth it!



*3 weeks - ouch

 

[DangerMouse]

For me the best street food I have ever had was in Islamabad in Pakistan. For lunch we would sometimes go to the street vendor parked on the side of the road by the University. He had his open air deep fat fryer and I think it would be a safe bet that he never had a hygiene inspection in his life. I always figured the heat of the oil would kill anything. Anyway I used to get the best vegetable samosas I have ever had in my life. Used to get a bag of six and they were so greasy the bag would be soaked.

It's funny how living in a 3rd world country makes you have a different perspective on what is clean and what is not, otherwise sometimes you would be a very hungry person.

 

[FUEGO]

It's funny how living in a 3rd world country makes you have a different perspective on what is clean and what is not, otherwise sometimes you would be a very hungry person.

I always look for places that are busy and have high turnover. I figure the germs and dirt don't touch the food long enough to stick!

It's like a local mongolian bbq we go to at least 2x a month. The health inspectors marked them down 5 points for having cases of meat sitting on the counter unrefrigerated. I'm not worried because I see them use up a whole case of meat every 5-10 minutes. The stuff didn't even have time to defrost!

 

[Urchina]

I'm a health inspector (OK, was) and still eat street food.

Oh, to add to my list:

Belgian frites with mayo on top

Cheese croquettes (in Belgium they take a chunk of gouda the size of a deck of playing cards, bread it and deep-fry it so it's crispy and hot and just gooey enough). Unbelievably good.

Haven't been to Mexico yet, and passed on the guinea pig-on-a-stick that's common in Ecuador.