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NYC Food Truck Lunch: Kati Rolls From Tariq's

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

We were on Park Avenue South a few days ago around lunchtime. One of our go-to street vendors in that area is Tariq's, a cart on the NW corner of 19th St & Park Avenue South. Besides the sign with his name, you can usually tell Tariq's cart by the number of people on line for lunch.

Tariq serves Indian and halal food and has a good reputation, both for well-priced, tasty food and friendly service.

We have never tried Tariq's kati rolls, and at only $3 each, it was time to take the plunge. Three types were available: chicken tikka, lamb and falafel. Three kati rolls is too much food for lunch, and not being big fans of that processed lamb meat used in gyros, we chose chicken tikka and falafel kati rolls.

The kati rolls were made on warmed chapati bread, which is soft, but flexible enough not to break in the middle of lunch.

While the chicken tikka was being cooked on the grill, onions and peppers were mixed in with the meat before being placed on the chapati bread.

Falafel Kati Roll From Tariq's
(credit: Perry R.)

In addition to the kati roll fillings, you can add your choice of chopped cilantro, chickpeas, lettuce and tomato. There are also several sauces to choose from.

Tariq has a sweet green sauce, hot sauce, a mayo-based white sauce, bbq sauce and ketchup. Our favorite is the green sauce, which was added to both kati rolls. We also had Tariq add some hot sauce and white sauce to the falafel kati roll.

We started with falafel kati roll, and the first taste was a pop of fresh cilantro. The next tastes were the green sauce and the falafel. Falafel can be a little dry, so it was good the white and hot sauces were also included.

The chicken tikka kati roll was the more interesting of the two. The Indian spices on the chicken, along with the onions and peppers, gave this kati roll a stronger, more varied taste.

Two kati rolls were more than enough for lunch, and we have a large appetite. You might even be able to get away with one kati roll if your appetite is small. When was the last time you spent $3 for lunch?

You can find Tariq's cart every weekday for lunch on Park Avenue South and 19th St. Here's the menu.

We've also enjoyed fish over rice at Tariq's cart. It takes a little longer to cook, but is worth the extra time.

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