I miss chicken over rice in NYC.
New York City is synonymous with bright lights, the Yankees, Michelin starred restaurants and beautiful people. But when I think of the city, one of the first images that come to mind are of the countless street carts selling chicken over rice to weary New Yorkers at a reasonable price. There’s nothing fancy about colorful rice, spiced meats, an assortment of vegetables put together as an afterthought, and an unbeatable combination of “hot sauce, white sauce.”
Chicken and rice might be the great equalizer in the city — no one is above it, everyone has to wait in line, and it hits all the right spots, every single time. And like anything that’s so widely loved, it breeds tribalism. Everyone has their favorite, and everyone has an opinion on who is overrated.
Personally, my favorite is a guy on the corner of 59th street and 9th avenue who adds a few double-fried french fries just for good measure. No clue what the establishment’s name is, but that’s in keeping with how most halal carts are identified in the city, by their cross streets. But I don’t think anyone in the city can argue that the most well-known plate of chicken over rice and consistently in the top 10 in the city comes from the Halal Guys on 53rd street and 6th avenue.
Whether it’s lunch hour, dinner time, or 3 AM on a Saturday, there’s always a line on 53rd street. That line includes everyone from investment bankers and newsroom employees in the area to construction workers and hourly retail workers, all looking for a satisfying meal without burning a hole in their wallet.
Once you’re in a two-block radius, you’ll smell the spiced meat cooking and won’t be able to resist following your nose until you see the iconic yellow and red carts with the long lines of people waiting. Everyone knows what they’re getting. The guy taking orders never asks for yours; he just looks at you until you blurt it out — gyro (sometimes chicken) over rice, no salad, hot sauce, white sauce, extra white sauce, no drink. The format is quite simple, so try not to make a mistake because any confusion will result in a back and forth between you and the guy making the food that won’t endear you to the rest of the people in line. New Yorkers don’t like to wait for any more than they absolutely have to — if that.
Word of warning, the hot sauce here isn’t for the faint. Even if you’re like me and you enjoy a nice dose of spice — tread carefully. I have found my happy medium, but only after a few iterations of getting the balance wrong, resulting in unpleasant sensations at both ends of the digestive process. Sometimes I’ve just sat outside the cart, watching unsuspecting tourists cover their rice in hot sauce and consequently start crying from the spice. Sure it’s a bit cruel, but it’s how you learn in New York — no one gives you anything for free.
Analyzing the quality of each element on the bowl made from foil will leave you disappointed — more importantly, you’ll be missing the point. Michelin star chefs will tell you that a dish needs to work together, to truly impress. The crew on the corner of 53rd and 6th have found cohesion through their patented hot sauce white sauce combination. Mohamed Abouelenein, the founder, put together the perfect combination of salt, fat, acid, and spicy heat that’s got a pull quite similar to the McDonalds french fry — you just want that next bite.
I took my brother there the first night he flew in from London. He didn’t understand why I’d drag him out to a cart to eat chicken over rice when we hail from Singapore (where chicken rice is a national treasure), and he lives in London (where spiced food from the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East reign supreme). One bite later, he understood. Now I bring him a plate whenever I fly to London.
I miss it, I really do. Because it’s one of the best cost to quality + quantity meals in the city, because it keeps you warm during NYC winters, because you go there after a great night out and the grease prevents the hangover you were expecting in the morning, because you usually have a fun conversation with someone in line, because that white sauce might be the best packaged-condiment you’ll ever have, because it reminds me of a simpler time when hundreds of people waited in line at a street corner for a plate with two humble ingredients and a sauce, and because I’ve had the chance to introduce others to something they didn’t think they’d enjoy.
These are guys cooking and selling chicken and gyro in midtown Manhattan amidst commuters, pollution, rain, snow, and whatever else the city throws at them. If I led with that description, I’d wager that most people would roll their eyes and scoff at what has become an NYC culinary institution.
I hope that we start judging the food for what it is, instead of all the preconceived notions around the people, place, and culture associated with it. Then we might be able to move past those misconceptions and learn about the person standing behind the cart, where they come from, what their story is, and how much we have in common.
Whether it's chicken over rice, Korean bbq wraps, Chinese duck buns, Colombian arepas, or a classic BEC, delicious food can be that bridge to understanding people, as long as we choose to cross it. And in the process, we might just find our #nextfavoritefood.
