Growing up in Portland, OR, there wasn't much in the way of street food available around the city. Sure, there were a select few carts located directly around the big downtown office buildings, but they had very limited hours and were spottily placed. One of the things I looked forward to experiencing each summer, during our annual trip to Philadelphia to visit family, was the all the food carts on the street. They scented the air, lending the aroma of hot dogs, pickle relish and frying beef to the air in their direct proximity.
I'm currently in New York right now, attending a conference and hanging out a bit with some family. When I was getting ready to leave her house this morning, my cousin Betsy asked me where I was going. When I gave her the address, she seemed to shuffle through an index file stored in the back of her brain. Then she said, "There's a terrific Halal food cart on 53rd Street, right off 6th Avenue, with great, cheap food." I was a little boggled at her ability to pinpoint a food cart in a city the size of New York, but as she's lived here for the last 30+ years, I believed that she knew of what she spoke.
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