The Famous Halal Guys
The sensation of piling food into your mouth non-stop is thrilling. It's why we have all-you-can-eat buffets all over this country. I grew up on it. Chinese restaurants in the suburbs like to advertise things like king crab legs because that's what gets out the crowd. Quantity is quality, right? I don't even know any more. What strikes me as quality is tied to enjoyment and happiness. This is how McDonald's hooks you as a kid with all those toys. Toys are cool and enjoyable. So therefore getting a Happy Meal is a quality time. Adult meals never come with toys and enjoyment sometimes is hard to come by. When you're sitting outside eating street meat and it's forty degrees and the wind is blowing and you're too stubborn to start wearing a winter coat... it's hard to find the enjoyment. At least it was for me. The saving grace of the meal was that I couldn't finish and the killer hot sauce made me drip sweat drip from chin to the bench.
I remember talking to Zach about street meat once. He was telling me that every one of those carts do their own spices mix and that's why they're all a little different. And there was the whole thing about which cart on 53rd and 6th ave is the real deal and which guys are the fakers... I mean, that guy loves street food. As a guy who's attended his Streetmeat Palooza before, I can tell you that when you eat them side by side, you taste a difference.
But once again, when you're sitting outside during your lunch break, it's a different story. All I was concerned about was shoveling this shit as fast into my mouth as possible. See, the famous cart at night is at 53rd street and 6th Ave on the Southwest corner at night, but on the Southeast corner during the day. And they've expanded their street meat armada to three or four carts now. See there's always a line at 53rd and 6th on the SE corner during the day. But the exact same stuff is on 52nd and 6th on the Northwest corner, and there is never a line. I've gone twice in the last month and both times I was in and out in less than three minutes. People ought to visit the 52nd street location more, or even walk to 7th ave where they have another cart that has no wait either. By the way, you can tell who is the real deal because their plastic bags say, "The Hala Guys" and so does the back of their yellow shirts. The posers are just posers, although they do plenty of business too.
When I'm not comparing street meat side-by-side, I really can't taste a difference. The thing about the real deal hala guys is that they have a great hot sauce that really get your juices flowing. I'm a fan. They also let you take little containers of extra hot sauce so you can punish yourself as you eat too much.
I find that as I get older, I don't necessarily appreciate quality over quantity if I end up hungry. It's just that as an adult, I can decided to spend more money on more quality things in order to feel full. Sometimes quality stuff comes in great quantity but it is rare. With ramen it's doable. With street meat, the quality is definitely to each's own judgment. The quantity of street meat is where it comes out a winner. The other part about getting older is that even as my metabolism slows down, I still want to force myself to finish the plate rather than throw it away. It just feels wrong to throw food away even if it means my pants get way tight. Are you able to do that? To just say, "Nah, I'm full. I don't need any more." Or do you just push forward even if your health suffers?
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
This post takes me back...To last December on a very chilly night, waiting in a very long line, and then sitting on a very cold bench, eating a very big meal of lamb from the Hala guys. Ah, the things we go through for a meal. Love your blog btw, keep up the good work!
Rita
November 4, 2010 12:00 am
I thought the posers actually ranked higher in the last Streetmeatpalooza?
In any case, I shudder to think that I'll soon consider quality more important than quality, since that's been the basis of my life for sooo long.
Nicholas
November 4, 2010 1:36 am
@Rita,
So it's not just me who's doing stuff like this! Glad you like the blog too!
@Nicholas,
you are correct, them impostors did rank higher. In fact they rank pretty well every year. But I still think they're the posers because at night, it's just the Halal Guys, and the posers keep copying them with the color of the shirts and things like that. It's just odd. And yea, I feel like quality still matters a lot to me. So no worries, haha
Danny
November 4, 2010 12:05 pm
I have to say, I stood in line 45 minutes one night this summer to try food from these guys and I just didn't get it...felt that it tasted like something I could make at home. Who knows, maybe I'm just used to my favorite street meat on the NW side of Broadway, just above Houston.
Sheena
November 5, 2010 8:09 am