As you probably know, I work in the financial district and am always looking for new and interesting places to eat. Musthafa’s cart (which used to have an electronic sign displaying “Zak’s”, there is no sign now) has recently gotten a lot of press. This is evident by the line you see above at 2pm on a Tuesday. That press is well deserved because most people at my office have been eating from this cart since about two years back.
It’s considerably cheap, $5 used to get you a choice of either chicken or lamb over rice with salad and a can of soda or bottle of water and if you wanted both chicken and lamb it would cost a mere $6. Now you have to pay a dollar for the drink but the food prices stay where they have been for a while. It’s really easy to explain the lines and conversely why there is nothing close to a line like this ever at the other four or five carts on the same street that all only sit about 50 feet apart. First of all the rice is amazing, it’s chewy and perfectly cooked and in my book only Kwik Meal makes better rice. I also recommend that all street carts use Basmati rice instead of generic yellow or white rice. Also the meat is always perfectly seasoned and tastes like it costs a little more than some of the mystery meats other carts offer. The salad is sort of actual salad. It includes a vinegar pepper, a few strips of cooked peppers, cucumbers. tomato and lettuce. Most of us know that if a cart serves salad, it’s only lettuce and tomato and if you’re lucky they’ll throw in some onions. The three sauces that this cart offers up (white, BBQ and hot sauce) are always homemade and very distinct. When all of that is taken into account, you wind up with a very high quality container of great street food for peanuts.
People also love this cart because the two men who run it are extremely friendly and respectful. After about my fourth or fifth visit, they started asking me questions. The asked me if I was Arab and I told them I was Sicilian, I was wearing a very nice suit that day as well as my usual pissed of face and I was declared “Don Corleone”. Every time I come to the cart now they say “Oh, it’s Don Corleone, we’ve better make his food fast!!!!” These two guys are great and will accomodate you in whichever way they can. They also make great pita sandwiches with their lamb and chicken that are cheaper than the actual platters. If you work in the Financial District or have to come down for a meeting or interview you won’t find a cheaper, better lunch then what these guys offer up.
Musthafa’s Halal Cart (formerly Zak’s Halal Cart), Broadway btw. Liberty and Cedar in front of the big Red Cube
Filed under: Cart Food, Halal/Arab Food Tagged: | Arab, Basmati Rice, BBQ Sauce, Cart Food, chicken, Don Corleone, Financial district, Halal Food, hot sauce, Kwik Meal, Lamb and Rice, Mustafa's Cart, Pita Sandwiches, Salad, Sicilian, White Rice, White Sauce, Yellow Rice, Zak's
