NYC Food Truck Lunch: Chinese Schnitzel From Schnitzi

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

We've always been a big fan of schnitzel. In fact, Schnitzel & Things was the first food truck we ever went to, over seven years ago. Then around three years ago, the Schnitzi food truck arrived on the scene, adding a lot of variety (and kosher certification) to the schnitzel mix.

While you can get a burger, hot dog, or salad at Schnitzi, it seems kind of silly to go to Schnitzi and not get a schnitzel sandwich. There are 10 varieties of schnitzel on the menu, which we've been slowly working our way through. This time we went for the Chinese Schnitzel.

Every schnitzel sandwich costs $12.50 and comes on a baguette or in a wrap, with the option of white or whole wheat for both. We ordered our sandwich on a whole wheat wrap.

Getting back to the office, it turned out they got our order wrong. We ordered a whole wheat wrap, but ended up with a whole wheat baguette instead. Luckily, our choice was just a preference and not a requirement. Still, they did get our order wrong.

As far as the interior of the sandwich, that was delicious. The baguette was literally 12" long (we measured it), and the bread was soft on the inside, but with a crunchy crust.

The schnitzel itself was breaded and deep-fried, with sesame seeds mixed into the breading. The chicken was still nice and juicy, and there was plenty of it in the sandwich.

In terms of fixings, we got the works. That meant lettuce, tomato, pickles, raw onions and grilled onions, all fresh and crisp (except for the grilled onions, which rightfully were not crisp.)

For condiments, there are more than a dozen choices. We asked for the sweet chili sauce, which went along with the Chinese theme, but you can get many other sauces such as chimichurri, pesto, garlic mayo, honey mustard, balsamic vinegar and more.

Lunch from Schnitzi was good, but not perfect. The wait after ordering was more than 10 minutes, which is on the high side. They also gave us a baguette instead of a wrap. However, the food itself was very enjoyable, especially the thin, crispy fried chicken cutlets, which are the heart of a Schnitzi sandwich.

You can find the Schnitzi truck on Twitter here and their website is here.