NY Food Truck Lunch: Steak & Portobello Hero From Tony Dragonas' Cart
Perry, the man behind New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City food trucks.
One of the secret treasures in New York is lunch from Tony Dragonas' cart on the SW corner of 62nd St. & Madison Ave.
There aren't a lot of options in that area -- apart from $25 lunches at fancy restaurants -- which is one reason there is always a long line at Tony's cart. The other reason is his food. Tony has great grilled chicken, Italian sausages and gyros, but I went for the Daily Special, a ribeye steak and portobello mushroom hero, which cost $9.
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One thing that differentiates Tony's cart is he has both a griddle-type grill that most other carts have - but he also has a charcoal grill on one side of the cart. This gives the food a char-grilled flavor that can't be replicated with only a griddle.
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First he put some fresh mozzarella and arugula on the bottom of a hero. Next was a large portobello mushroom that he sliced and placed on the top of the hero. After that, a grilled ribeye steak was cut into slices and put on top of the mozzarella and arugula. He then sprinkled some salt and pepper on it and wrapped it up.
The special steak hero was $9, but it was HUGE. The first bite tasted of portobello mushroom, garlic, and arugula. The portobello mushroom was thick and meaty and could have been a sandwich unto itself - but there was steak on the hero, too.
The steak was a real steak - not the thin sandwich steaks you get in some places - and it had that great grilled flavor. There was a little bit of fat around some of the edges, but not enough to downgrade the sandwich quality.
You could tell the mozzarella was fresh. It barely melted, and there was no grease at all. The arugula had a bitterness that went well with the steak and mushroom. It wasn't just some leaf on a hero - it added to the overall taste of the sandwich.
The $9 price is a little steep, but all the ingredients used were high-quality, and the charcoal grilling raised this sandwich to another level.
Tony also offers this special with chicken instead of steak for $7.50, but I'm not sure if the strong taste of the portobello mushroom would overpower the chicken.
I don't have the exact prices, but gyros, sausage and grilled chicken are in the $4-$6 range, depending on whether you get a sandwich or platter. That could account for the long lines at lunchtime.
Tony is another old-school vendor who doesn't tweet or have a website -- just great street food at real good prices.
