NYC Food Truck Lunch: Cheesesteak From Butcher's Choice
Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.
The "King of 46th St," Meru Sikder, has a new food cart, Butcher's Choice. This brings his total to four street food carts on West 46th St, just west of 6th Ave, each serving something different.
The Vendy-Award winning chef/owner of Biryani Cart also has Orale Tacos, a regular halal cart, and his most-recent, Butcher's Choice. Meru was manning the new cart by himself, and when I called him the "King of 46th St," he laughed heartily.
Butcher's Choice has a tiny menu - $6 for cheesesteak, $3 for chicken shish-kebab, and $6 for shish-kebab over salad. That's several dollars below what other street vendors charge for a cheesesteak, especially the cheesesteak food trucks, which are in the $10+ range.
At Butcher's Choice, you have the option of getting pepper jack cheese or regular jack cheese. We asked for pepper jack cheese, and were surprised to see it was created by sprinkling hot red pepper flakes on the cheese. This was not the pepper jack cheese you buy in stores, but it was good, which is all that matters.
The beef was nice, both in quality and taste. There was also plenty of it in the sandwich. The cheesesteak was 8.5 inches long, which was definitely large enough for lunch, even with our big appetite.
Grilled peppers and onions were also included -- an important part of any cheesesteak. Everything was laid on a bed of shredded lettuce.
The bread was just right. This could have been a messy cheesesteak, but even though the bread was soft, there was enough sturdiness to keep it from falling apart.
The cheesesteak at Butcher's Choice was a little different from an authentic Philly cheesesteak in several ways: pepper jack cheese instead of provolone or cheez-whiz, the inclusion of lettuce, and the lack of a mushroom option.
While the cheesesteak at Butcher's Choice may not be 100% Philly authentic, it's a very good sandwich at an excellent price. This is what street food's supposed to be, inexpensive and good.
If you're by West 46th St and don't feel like cheesesteak, you also can't go wrong with kati rolls from the Vendy-Award winning Biryani Cart, right next door.
