NY Food Truck Lunch: Ancho Chile Seitan Burger From The Cinnamon Snail
Perry, the voice behind New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City food trucks and carts.
Sometimes I really like this whole Twitter thing. When vegan food truck, The Cinnamon Snail, was supposed to be in the Financial District - I couldn't find any parking. Then, the truck tweeted that they would be in the Flatiron District. Hey, that was perfect for me!
Owner and chef Adam Sobel has two new menu items: A portobello mushroom carpaccio and an ancho chile seitan burger (my choice for lunch) for $8.
More: NYC's 7 Best Veggie Sandwiches
I'm not well-versed in vegan cuisine, so I looked up seitan. While it's made from wheat, seitan has little in common with flour or bread. Also called "wheat meat", seitan becomes surprisingly similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked. Seitan is also high in protein, making it a popular protein source for vegetarians.
More: The 7 Best Restaurants For NYC Vegans & Vegetarians
In this case, it was made into a burger and grilled. Adam served it on a rosemary focaccia roll with onions and garlic that had been simmered in beer. The burger and onions were served on a bed of arugula with a piri piri pepper sauce and a horseradish cream sauce.
More: NYC's 5 Best Burger & Beer Lunch Spots
This was a big sandwich to get my mouth around, but I managed. The roll was soft and herby, and the first taste to come through the roll was a creamy horseradish taste. Shortly thereafter were the seitan, arugula and pepper sauce, which all got kicked up a notch from the horseradish cream.
The seitan was softer than a burger, but still held together pretty well. I generally avoid veggie burgers, but this had nothing in common with previous veggie burgers I've had - this one was good. Part of that had to do with the delicious sauces on the sandwich, but the burger itself was decent too.
Perhaps the only change I would make is to the onions, which were cooked until they were too mushy. I think a little more body to the onions would have been better, but overall this was an excellent lunch. My tongue was tingling for a while afterwards.
People familiar with the Cinnamon Snail know that Adam is a great baker, so I also got dessert - a thick, rich glazed donut with peanuts and chocolate crumbles. It was very moist and sweet, but also had a little saltiness from the peanuts. Yum!
You can follow the Cinnamon Snail on Twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed. You can also see their main menu here.
They hit different neighborhoods in Manhattan during the week, but they will also be at events in Jersey City and Red Bank throughout the season. That's why you need to check that Twitter thingamajig.
