Kungfu Express cart

Next to the Northwestern Famous cart on Broadway by Columbia University is Kungfu Express, a cart run by a woman from Henan.

I asked for some guidance as to what I should try, and sure enough, she steered me toward the Henan-from-Xinjiang favorite dà pán jī, listed as "chicken over rice" (大盘鸡盖饭 - dà pán jī gài fàn , or over handmade wide noodles, if you prefer) on the posted menu. Of course, it's impossible with a cart to make each order on the spot like they do at HeNan Feng Wei, but she scooped up a nice, mild, homey version from a waiting pot: chunks of chicken stewed with potatoes, tree ear fungus, and just enough red pepper and spices to be interesting.

She also does some nice grilled skewers - over charcoal, no less! The Chinese sausage (烤香肠 - kǎo xiāng cháng) was delicious - sweet, with a bit more complexity of flavor than most Chinese sausages - and a chicken skewer I saw looked quite good - not the usual tiny chunks of meat.

Kungfu Express cart
Broadway, east side, @ 117th St., New York 10027
(1 train to 116th St.)

Northwestern Famous (中國西北名吃)

My neighborhood, Morningside Heights/Columbia University, like the Upper West Side in general, is a notorious wasteland when it comes to actual good food. Yes, there's Bombay Frankie, and an uptown outpost of Legend (though not blog-worthy, quite decent) recently opened on W. 109th St. But the scene recently brightened considerably with the arrival of Northwestern Famous (中國西北名吃), a.k.a. Uncle Luoyang (洛阳大叔) food cart by the main entrance of Columbia on Broadway.

中國西北名吃 (zhōng guó xī běi míng chī) means "China Northwest Famous Food", earning it a place on a very short list of establishments where the English name is an accurate translation of the Chinese one. My curiosity was definitely piqued wondering what, exactly, "Northwestern" refers to. The answer appears to be Shaanxi province (there's a lot of China further north and much further west than that, but I'm still getting acquainted with these subtleties of terminology). The signature offering is là zhī ròu jiā mó (腊汁肉夾饃), or "Stewed Pork Burger", a specialty from Xi'an. This is a first cousin to the cumin "lamb burger" sold at Xi'an Famous Foods (although pictured on the side panel of the cart, it's not actually on offer here at this time). The spices are milder, but the pork version is just as satisfying as the cumin lamb: juicy bits of long-simmered, ultra-flavorful meat in a round, wheat flatbread. (There is a highly informative article on traditional là zhī ròu jiā mó here.) A hearty snack for the princely sum of 3 dollars (the list menu in red letters seems to be the real menu here).

And now a woman from Henan has set up a cart next to Northwestern Famous, which I plan to check out soon. It's odd - I am utterly unaccustomed to actually wanting to eat in my neighborhood! Thank heaven some people with an entrepreneurial streak have finally figured out that there a LOT of Chinese students at Columbia that might like a taste of home. Here's hoping the trend continues.

Northwestern Famous (中國西北名吃), a.k.a. Uncle Luoyang (洛阳大叔)
Broadway, east side, @ 117th St., New York 10027
(1 train to 116th St.)

Bombay Frankie Roti Roll

One of the great tragedies of my neighborhood in the last few years was the closing of La Rosita. Facing an unconscionably large rent hike, they had no other choice (and now, almost 3 years later, the space is still vacant... might it not have been better for the landlord to accept a bit less rent than to collect no rent at all?), and my neighborhood lost a treasure. We are left with very few options for good, reasonably-priced eats in these parts. One of the only ones is Bombay Frankie.

Their specialty is the "frankie", kind of street food from Bombay that consists of roti bread rolled with various fillings. While word is that it's not particularly authentic, it's still pretty damn tasty, freshly prepared, and the price is right. My current favorite is the chana masala frankie ($4.50 - add egg for $1.00) - curried chickpeas. Ask for it spicy (even so, it's still quite tame).

Also good is the unda aloo masala frankie--egg with a spiced mixture of chickpea and potato, and the pickled paneer frankie is delightful. Oddly - especially for me! - I find the meat frankies much less interesting. If there was any actual spice involved in the preparation of the chicken malai frankie, I could not detect it.

Now if they could just make a cafe con leche like La Rosita used to... and while I'm wishing, perhaps a cubano sandwich...

Bombaby Frankie Roti Roll
994 Amsterdam Ave. (@ 109th St.), New York 10025
212-666-1500
http://www.bombayfrankie.com