Floor Spice and Everything Nice

I love New York City like nobody’s business, it’s got just about everything anyone could want; especially when it comes to the food. But the one area in which New York is seriously lacking is our street food. New York has no good street food, none. I like hot dogs as much as the next guy, but the meat tubes that spend their days floating in 180 degree water aren’t exactly my idea of a good meal, or even a meal in a pinch. We’ve got some of the best restaurants in the country; great food shopping, including awesome farmers markets and fresh fish; and probably the only place in the world where you can find geoduck, Ghost Peppers, Yorkshire Pudding, durian, Ras el Hanout, Langoustine, over 100 different types of Curry, pulled tea, chocolate-covered bacon and quite possibly some black market Pufferfish. I can get a hot dog from a cart or rice and beans or a knish or shish-kabob or even roti from a truck on Wall Street in New York City…but I can’t get a fish taco with fresh lime (like I can on La Cienega) or split a Three Dog Night with a buddy of mine (like I can at Pink’s on La Brea). What I’m trying to say is that the street food is Los Angeles is dynamite. Nothing hits the spot like a fish taco from a taco truck after a long night of drinking at one of LA’s clubs or bars. I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with driving everywhere, that you work up an appetite. But there’s certainly no shortage of awesome food to be found on street corners in LA.
I remember when I lived in Salamanca, Spain for a Summer my girlfriend and I used to get churros or empanadas when we were hungry. I don’t just mean around one in the morning, we wanted to munch on something; I’m talking about the sun is blinking its eyes and we have maybe three hours to get home, sleep and then wake up before trying to conjugate in a different language. The churro guy was open…with a line behind his cart. The empanada guy (if he hadn’t sold out already) was probably the right combination of surly and ready to bargain with you for a few Pesetas over the last of the night’s food. The best we were able to do in the City was grilled hot dogs in Midtown or an Arab guy selling “authentic Mexican” rice and beans…
New York’s lack of good street food surprises me. It doesn’t make any sense that a city that has so much to offer; wouldn’t have something as innocuous and simple as good street food. Sure, you can go to Gray’s Papaya or Shake Shack and get a decent hot dog or hamburger, but those places are closed by midnight and sometimes when I go out drinking I want something other than a slice of pizza.
I don’t know what we can do to change the street food culture in New York City, but I know that something needs to change. There’s no reason, we can excel as a city in so many areas related to food and fail so horribly when it comes to something as simple as keeping cheap food warm in your truck, or cart or insulated box…steps in the right direction are maybe being taken; what with the advent of the “Wafles & Dinges” truck, the “Cookie Truck” and others, but the problem therein, is that these trucks cater predominantly to those with a sweet tooth, and also become like a groundhog in sunlight after 1, a.m. I know there’s not a lot I can do about it, but I don’t think its too much to ask for a fish taco or Yakitori or even some decent churros when I leave the kitchen or the bar, or where ever my wayward travels have taken me…