NYC Food Truck Lunch: Cheesesteak From Carl's Steaks

Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.

When it's this cold outside, one of the best ways to warm up from the inside is with a hearty Philly cheesesteak for lunch. And you don't even have to go to Philly! There are several good Philly cheesesteak vendors in NYC, and a few even have food trucks.

If  you're a baseball fan, you may know Carl's Steaks from Yankee Stadium, where they have 3 stands throughout the stadium. A couple of years ago, they came out with a food truck, and wouldn't you know it, they park by my office on Broadway between 55th-56th St. every Friday.

The menu is a fairly standard cheesesteak menu, with regular 6" or 10" versions for $7 or $10, and other versions including a pizza steak, a chicken version, and one with the works. You can also add toppings individually for $.75 each.

Carl's does offer more variety than most other street vendors when it comes to fries. In addition to regular fries, there are cheese fries, chili cheese fries, bacon cheese fries, chili cheese fries with bacon (whew!) and beer battered onion rings. We said this lunch was hearty, not necessarily healthy.

We ordered a 10" cheesesteak with provolone cheese and onions.

The sandwich came wrapped up tight, but once we opened the sandwich, everything was pretty moist. The wrapping paper was soaked, and ripped easily too. The liquid seemed to be a combination of condensation from the hot steak, the hot sauce we ordered (which also accounts for the reddish color) and a little grease.

It was so juicy, the bottom of the bread was soaked, and broke about halfway through the length of the roll. This was not the neatest lunch to eat.

But with thinly-shaved grilled beef, provolone, onions and hot sauce, it was a tasty lunch. There was plenty of food in the 10" sandwich, so we didn't really need any fries, but another way to go is with the 6" sandwich and an order of fries.

There are always going to be some people who are purists. They'll say you can only get a real Philly cheesesteak in Philly. We can't vouch for the authenticity of this sandwich with regard to its Philly-ness. We can vouch for a good, hearty, filling lunch that was perfect for a cold winter day.

You can find Carl's Steaks on Twitter here, on Facebook here, and don't forget about Carl's when you go to Yankee Stadium in a few months.