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Kim and his aunt need to tweak it
Working in midtown, your lunch options seem limited unless you read up and do your homework. Zach of midtown lunch mentioned Kim's Aunt Kitchen Cart late last summer. All I know is that aunts are cool, even if I do not personally know Kim's aunt. I was a big fan of the cart last summer before this blog started, but last week I went back to check out if the quality held up.
NY Magazine did a mini review about Kim's Aunt last year and it made the lines too long. I had to stop going for a while, and then other things piqued my interest. Last week I wanted to see if the $6 bulgogi was still as delicious.
Good news was that the price stayed the same despite all the positive press and rising commodity prices. Who knows how long that will last though. The basic idea of this street cart dish is that it is probably the best beef on rice you will find around midtown. Most carts offer chicken or lamb, but here it is all about beef and fried fish. They used to really pile on the meat when this old Korean dude was the main cook, and he had one helper. Last week the Korean dude disappeared and it was the helper from before doing the rice and taking the money. And two new dudes manned the fryer and the griddle.
They use slightly less meat than before, but that is just an eye-ball test. The taste test is really where you could tell the difference. The meat used to be sliced thinner and more uniform; now they are some thicker pieces of meat. The flavor also seems to be different. Maybe they offset the price increase by lowering the quality slightly. The owner of the cart must be doing well because instead of a two person cart, it is now a three person cart.
I much rather see the price go up slightly to cover production cost, instead of lowering the quality of the meat, or spending less time to slice it well. Overall I still really love a pile of beef over rice, but I like it the way it used to be.
Posted by Danny on April 16 2008 at 9:43 am
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I work in midtown also and would love to visit Kim's Aunt Kitchen Cart but I'm in the 50s and Closer to Lexington and it's pretty much a stretch to head down to 46th and 6th. Cheapy food carts are great, especially if it's delicious!
wonders on April 16 2008 at 12:44 pm
well, even if the food is only mediocre, the pictures sure look good.
Ang on April 16 2008 at 1:08 pm
i've been meaning to try the cart bc of all the rave reviews i've been hearing. not to mention how much i miss my mom's cooking. it's too bad the taste has changed...
caroline on April 17 2008 at 7:37 am
Wonders,
Oh man, did you see the midtownlunch post about fig and olives? That looks really interesting but it is the complete opposite of carts..
Ang,
Why, thank you. Also, mediocre bulgogi is still bulgogi.
Caroline,
Thanks for stopping by! Yea I think they definitely used to be better, but there are no shortage of good food carts around! Just head over to midtownlunch and get ideas!
Danny on April 17 2008 at 12:16 pm