Where can I get middle-eastern street food?

Working in NYC for the past couple of years, I fell in love with some Halal street food I got from a cart at 53rd/6th. It was a plate with gyro meat and/or chicken, served over rice with a "salad" of lettuce and a few tomatoes. Generally it was topped with yogurt and hot sauces.

Any thoughts on where I can find such a thing in Chicago? I don't think I'm looking for a gyro place, or a kebab place, but apparently something that melds the two.

Wizzy---

I was in NY for the first time in March, stayed at the Sheraton Towers (53rd & 7th) and believe it or not the first thing I had to eat was a falafel sandwich off the very same cart of which you speak, NW corner of 53rd & 6th.

I was impressed with the flavors of the sandwich overall, and also just the fact that something like that was available right outside my hotel, but the falafel balls themselves were kinda granular & in no way hold a candle to those at Pita Inn in the 3800 block of Dempster in Skokie. Pita Inn's are crunchy, vibrant grenn and tasty. The kefta, shawarma, kibbeh are also marvelous.

Unless the location has changed, I think you're talking about a different cart. The one I'm referencing is located at the SW corner, and shows up around 7:30pm at night.

Thanks for the tips, though.

Look for posts on

Salam
4636 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-583-0776

wizzy wrote:Unless the location has changed, I think you're talking about a different cart. The one I'm referencing is located at the SW corner, and shows up around 7:30pm at night.

Thanks for the tips, though.

Ditto, its the SW corner one that's somewhat "legendary" amongst the late-night crowd =). There are three more stands in the 1 block vicinity of this one that I remember of, but come 11PM-5AM, you'll know which one is da one to go by the sheer length of the line.

fenger wrote:Ditto, its the SW corner one that's somewhat "legendary" amongst the late-night crowd =). There are three more stands in the 1 block vicinity of this one that I remember of, but come 11PM-5AM, you'll know which one is da one to go by the sheer length of the line.

Yep, that's the one. Got on the news a year or two ago when standing in a 30 minute line on the coldest night of the year.

Is there a proper name for what they serve there? Does it match to something I could find on a menu? I'll admit I'm not familiar with everything I might find on a middle-eastern menu.

wizzy wrote:Working in NYC for the past couple of years, I fell in love with some Halal street food I got from a cart at 53rd/6th. It was a plate with gyro meat and/or chicken, served over rice with a "salad" of lettuce and a few tomatoes. Generally it was topped with yogurt and hot sauces.

Wizzy,

In the context of Middle Eastern/Arab places, the meat on a spit is called 'shwarma' (also 'shwarama' etc. etc. -- various spellings turn up).

I've never seen a shwarma cart or truck in Chicago but just about all of the many Middle Eastern places up around the intersection of Kedzie and Lawrence serve shwarma of one or more types (beef, beef/lamb, chicken...), some better than others... Al Kheymeih, Semiramis, Salam, City Noor, maybe now also Sahar Pita?...

Antonius

... And, oh yeah, how could I forget? There's fine shwarama to be had at Steve's down on the Southside...

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=23871#23871

Antonius

wizzy wrote:

fenger wrote:Ditto, its the SW corner one that's somewhat "legendary" amongst the late-night crowd =). There are three more stands in the 1 block vicinity of this one that I remember of, but come 11PM-5AM, you'll know which one is da one to go by the sheer length of the line.

Yep, that's the one. Got on the news a year or two ago when standing in a 30 minute line on the coldest night of the year.

Is there a proper name for what they serve there? Does it match to something I could find on a menu? I'll admit I'm not familiar with everything I might find on a middle-eastern menu.

Here ya go, http://www.53rdand6th.com/

fenger wrote:Here ya go, http://www.53rdand6th.com/

Weird someone would do a fansite dedicated to a single foodcart. Gotta love NYC. I wish we had (legal) street vendors here. Anyhow, looking at the pictures on the site, I see that what they are selling is not Chicken Shawarma at all, but actually ground Chicken formed into a Gyros cone. I have never seen that sold anywhere in Chicago, despite the fact that Kronos, Athenian and Corfu all list them on their websites.

d4v3 wrote:

fenger wrote:Here ya go, http://www.53rdand6th.com/

Weird someone would do a fansite dedicated to a single foodcart. Gotta love NYC. I wish we had (legal) street vendors here. Anyhow, looking at the pictures on the site, I see that what they are selling is not Chicken Shawarma at all, but actually ground Chicken formed into a Gyros cone. I have never seen that sold anywhere in Chicago, despite the fact that Kronos, Athenian and Corfu all list them on their websites.

They have a typical gyro cone, and cook the chicken pieces on the grill next to it, but the cone is definitely not chicken. Actually, they have two gyro cones going at once, to keep up with the demand.

wizzy wrote:They have a typical gyro cone, and cook the chicken pieces on the grill next to it, but the cone is definitely not chicken. Actually, they have two gyro cones going at once, to keep up with the demand.

Sorry, my mistake. I saw the two cones in the picture and thought one was chicken. It must have just been an uncooked one. Well, there are tons of places you can get both Gyros and chicken in Chicago, just not from a cart on the street. And boy does that operation stretch the concept of foodcart. Two gyros cookers going at once, a steamer for rice and a grill for the chicken. Amazing.

One thing you should note is that the quality of Gyros varies widely. Not only are some brands better than others, but a single manufacturer will make several grades of meat. I am sure there are many threads on the subject.

The cart is pretty amazing. One guy working the grill/chicken, another filling platters, a third carving the gyro cones and taking orders, and a fourth bagging orders and handling cash. They generally have another guy off to the side handling drinks, and a final guy making runs to/from their van, stocking the cart, etc. It's pretty amazing. Cabbies get to step right up to the side of the cart, sort of an express line, since they're generally illegally parked with their flashers on.

I'm sure that if I had this food in a restaurant I'd like "it's OK, but nothing special", but I've romanticized the concept and was hoping to find something similar in Chicago.

d4v3 wrote:...what they are selling is not Chicken Shawarma at all, but actually ground Chicken formed into a Gyros cone. I have never seen that sold anywhere in Chicago, despite the fact that Kronos, Athenian and Corfu all list them on their websites.

For what it's worth, I used to sometimes get chicken gyros at D.D. Dogs on Noyes street in Evanston. They offer it with a thick honey mustard sauce, or you can get traditional tzatziki. This was probably fifteen years ago, so I don't know if they still serve it.

Ultimately, "chicken gyros" are a pale imitation of shwarma, but I guess I liked them all right back in the day, for what they were.