“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant,” Arlo Guthrie famously sang in 1967. The only other place I can think of that can make such a boast is New York City – where you can get anything you might fancy, any time of the day or night, from a food cart or truck somewhere in Manhattan…
Nathan’s Famous original Coney Island Hot Dog…
Folks – especially foodie types – love NYC because they can literally just step out of their uptown apartment buildings (maybe grabbing a cab, depending on where they’re bound), and partake of street foods from around the globe. The City That Never Sleeps is also perpetually hungry.
But what’s classically NYC?
How does an intrepid diner differentiate classic, traditional NYC street food from the noise and confusion of the fray? Sometimes it’s easy; especially when the vendor identifies itself and it’s food as being from elsewhere. In other cases, it’s not so clear whether a street-food product is of foreign origin or a NYC creation. There are even international classics that have evolved specifically NYC variations, which some would argue are neo-classic NYC foods.
But there are a precious few real, live NYC street-food originals. And I’m here to weed them out for you this morning…
On our menu today
The Coney Island Hot Dog: The Hot Dog as we know it was introduced in 1916 by Nathan Handwerker at his first stand on Coney Island. He and his wife started making the sausages at home following his mother-in-law’s recipe. In only a few short years, Nathan’s Famous hot dogs were available at hundreds of carts across lower Manhattan. The classic presentation starts with a steamed frank and a steamed bun. It’s always topped with Mustard, and often with caramelized onions and/or sauerkraut.
New York Style Bagel: Chubbier and fluffier inside than the Montreal Bagel, with a smaller centre hole. It’s a breakfast, lunch and break-time classic with a schmear of cream cheese.
Cream cheese and lox (brined, sometimes also smoked Salmon) is a classic NYC presentation. Connoisseurs insist that the NYC Bagel is NEVER toasted. ‘Plain’ has remained the version of choice over the years, but many other ‘flavours’ have become common.
The Soft Pretzel: A New York City classic, and one almost always sourced from a traditional pretzel cart. It’s a second cousin to a New York Bagel in terms of its composition, but much larger. The real deal is always hand-rolled and hand-twisted into the iconic pretzel ‘knot’. And you can’t make a genuine NY pretzel without a generous sprinkle of Rock Salt. Best eaten hot and fresh out of the oven (or steam cabinet) with a little pot of yellow mustard for dipping.
The Reuben Sandwich: In an interview with NYC food icon Craig Claiborne, Arnold Reuben, the owner of Reuben’s Delicatessen (1908–2001) in New York City, claimed to have invented the dish in 1914.
The sammy consists of thin-sliced corned beef or pastrami on rye bread, topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island or Russian dressing, and grilled until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. It’s messy to handle, scrumptuous to eat, and meal in itself.
Hot Chestnuts: Something we might think of as roasting by an open fire (as in the Yuletide classic, Christmas Song, made famous by Nat King Cole), hot roasted chestnuts are available by the bag at hundreds of Manhattan roasting carts from the onset of autumn through spring. They’re usually grilled, and served fresh and hot in brown paper bags. Just peel off the shells, which come away from the flesh during cooking. Once a favourite of NYC natives, vendors report Roasted Chestnuts are now more of a tourist thing…
New York Style Pizza: Okay. It’s Pizza, which is Italian in origin. But the NYC version is as distinct from the Neapolitan original as the Mountain Gorilla is from me or you. NYC pizza is characterized by its thin, flexible crust and thin layers of finely-diced toppings. It’s perfect for eating right from your hand; just fold it over and shove it in your mouth.
Unlike other Pizzas, this one doesn’t suffer from oozing toppings, cheese or sauce that could make eating it on the go a facial or wardrobe disaster. Traditional toppings are sauce and shredded Mozz only, but many versions have evolved upon that basic culinary canvas.
And that’s the straight-up low-down…
… On real, original, NYC street foods. As I mentioned in my little exposé of NYC Pizza, some have roots elsewhere, but all these creatures have evolved into distinctly NYC species. Next time you’re in the Big Apple, make sure you try ’em all!
~ Maggie J.