today we're in New York City and this
video is going to be all about street
food we can't wait to share with you
some of the best food New York City has
to offer
New York City's street food
culture reflects the beautiful diversity
of its people this is our second video
from New York and we'll show you the city's
street food like you've never seen it
before
watch out for late-night street tacos
in Queens, old school pizza by the slice
a hidden gem cooking up New York's best
Indonesian food and loads more in this
three part series we're hunting down
New York City's best eats from iconic
American classics to rare street food
you don't want to miss this series get
ready for some mouth-watering food I'm
Thomas and I'm Sheena and we're Chasing
a Plate we hope you're hungry let's
eat
this video is going to be all about
street food in New York City and we're
super excited because we're going to be
meeting up with some of our friends food
obsessed locals who love to eat just
as much as we do and they're going to
take us to some of their favourite street
food spots we're gonna be filming all
over town we're gonna be in Harlem we're
gonna be in Queens some really exciting
neighborhoods but before we meet up with
them we're going to grab a New York City
icon we're gonna grab a bagel
there are hundreds of bagels in New
York City but not all bagels are made
equal so we've come to Absolute Bagels
we've heard that this place is churning out
brilliant brilliant bagels we can't wait
to try them
bagel with lox spread and some red onion please
thank you
that bagel shop was awesome
Absolute Bagels has a really loyal local
following they've been around for a
really long time
and I can see why those bagels are
super fresh we saw them coming out of
the oven and getting thrown into that
window there was a queue out the door
I'm so excited about eating this so I
ordered an everything bagel so
everything meaning that the bagel is
topped with all the toppings so we've
got poppy seeds we've got sesame seeds
 dried garlic bits and inside I
got lox spread and some fresh red onion
okay so what is a bagel first of all a
bagel is probably the most popular
Jewish food in New York City it's
essentially a bread ring that's boiled
and then baked and what this one is
filled with is lox spread so lashings of
cream cheese and in the cream cheese is
lox and I've learnt since being in New
York City that lox is actually salt
cured salmon so it is not smoked salmon
like a lot of people believe it's salt
cured salmon and it's very intense very
salty I also asked for some red onion
because I think that that red onion's
going to be quite tangy and fresh and
balance out the richness of the bagel
whoaaa it feels warm it looks so good
whoa holy moly this bagel is sensational
the texture is out of this world you
crunch through the top of it it's got a 
great crispy texture and inside it's chewy
and it's dense ohhhh the filling is quite
subtle so the cream cheese is very
creamy obviously punctuated by sort of
salty bits of the lox and that onion
is really tangy and crispy ohhh
the bagel has just got the perfect amount of
chew ohhhh this is good
now that was a good start we're now
heading off to meet up with our first
group of friends absolute experts in
Queens so we're going to Queens for a
late-night taco spot this place doesn't
come out onto the street until at least
10:00 p.m. if it comes out at all so
this is a proper street food so we're
really looking for with this video to
super like get into the nitty gritty and
explore New York and show you a side
that you probably haven't seen it's
definitely a side that we've never seen
in our previous trips so we can't wait to
really explore all the boroughs
of New York City
there are hundreds and hundreds of places to eat in Queens so it really pays to know people luckily
we have our friends with us Greg and Jumi from Food and Footprints so they have a YouTube channel
as well and they are Queens locals so we are so
lucky to be eating with them we've roped them into
taking us around to their best street food spots in Queens right? Yea, excited!
so we're outside one of their favourite spots
what is it?
all right so
this spot is a nighttime only tacos al
pastor so this is the only one in New
York City that has the big trompo the
heavy flame this is the closest you can
have to Mexico City right here in
Queens ohh it's our favourite we've been here so
many times we love it excited to share it 
with you guys
let's eat
al pastor is one of my favourite tacos
in the whole world what I really love
about it is the spectacle of it so you've got the trompo
this huge vertical spit
which is layered with pork meat that's been
marinated in adobo and adobo marinades
vary so they definitely contain vinegar
chilli and spices but they vary between
cooks, chefs to chefs
and then at the top of the trompo you have this
pineapple and the taco master is basically shaving off really thin slices of the pork
and then whipping off a bit of pineapple
to finish off the tortilla and then the tortilla
is topped with onion and also
cilantro and then you've got some lime on
the side I can't wait to get in and taste this thing
okay so I've got my plate of al pastor tacos I'm going stick some lime over
the top of one of them get that on there
and then we've got guacamole and also a
red salsa and a green salsa so salsa roja and salsa verde I'm going to
do like a little bit of salsa verde on the front 
and then a little bit of salsa verde
in the middle
and then where's that guacamole I'm gonna grab it after that guy
alright so whip a little bit of that over the top
okay I think that's gonna make for a
really good mouthful actually there's a
sliver of pineapple I'm gonna add that
to it as well all right
I can see why this place is Greg and Jumi's
favourite spot for al pastor, this is
incredible so the meat is sliced super thin
and there are really great layers of fat and
lean meat the onion is really sharp and
tangy the cilantro really fresh and then those salsas
add a really good kick the tortilla is
beautiful too holy moly so good
we are inhaling
these tacos they are super special we can see why you guys love them
absolutely so thing with this cart
they're usually here and usually they
come out after 9:30pm or 10:00 o'clock but
sometimes they won't be here so there's
a little scarcity element that makes it
even more special they really just have
the attention to detail down so he
passed that tortilla on the trompo
so it gets the juices of the meat and
then we always like to ask for it with
one tortilla so you can really taste more of
the meat he takes that pineapple coming
in so you have the savoury sweet
we like the sauce roja cause it
has a smoky flavour it's special we've
been here probably 100 times and we never get
tired of it we're always in awe of him
cutting the meat cutting the pineapple
he's really just like trimming that
trompo down like like a bonsai tree
it's like an art they really got it down
here
we are so lucky to be eating with these guys they are so passionate about the food here in their community and
ohhhh we're gonna annihilate these
it is now the next morning and we're
back in Queens and we're still with Greg
and Jumi so this is a brilliant part of
New York these train lines behind us are
the same ones we were under for the
tacos and the 7 train runs along
these tracks and they call it the
International Express because of the
amount of different neighborhoods that
you pass through while you're on the
train we are now going to have some
Peruvian street food it's gonna be a
wild
just like the tacos last night this is a
street vendor again so a little cart
right on the footpath and what I love
about this is all the smoke billowing up
out of the cart right up to the train
tracks and Greg and Jumi have told
us about
when you're on this train which is going
over us now you pull into some of the stations and you get a waft of the smell
and I can see that would happen here
cause there's a station right above us and the
smoke's going right up through the tracks
we've got our stack of anticuchos in
front of us so these are the beef hearts
and they're sitting on a bed of papa a la huancaína so just some
boiled potatoes with this sauce over the
top which has just got some cheese and crackers
and yellow pepper
it looks really creamy but beef hearts
holy moly they're just glistening in
the marinade it's made up of garlic
there's onions, there's cumin and it smells
phenomenal
I'm gonna be greedy and go
for this middle one because I really
like the look of that nice fatty bit
right on the end
Wow they are delicious and first thing
I've got to say heart sometimes can be
tough it can be cooked wrong that is so
tender and juicy ohhhh, yeah, it's amazing
you've got a really strong hit of all the spices coming through so really really flavoursome
and they've got a really
good smokiness from being on the grill
which makes total sense because the air
is full of smoke here and that smokiness
is really coming through the meat it's
coated it really really nicely and it's
got a quite a a chilli taste like a fresh
chilli so that's in the marinade and
you're getting a really nice burst from
that really coating my mouth so good guys
amazing
let's rip into this potato so it's a big
half boiled potato can you cut that for
me please one of those bendy forks that just does not
work thank you very much we'll coat it in
that sauce
oh really interesting so that sauce
with that colour I thought was going to
be very bold in flavour but it's not
there's a lot of potato flavour there so
you've got a perfectly boiled potato and
then you've got just a little chilli kick
very mild just works really well with
the potato ohhh and the chilli's building now
so I definitely wouldn't call it spicy
but it's got a perfect little tingle
it's really really good perfect balance
there now Greg and Jumi have told me
that it's really good with the
house-made hot sauce so you've got a
nice runny sauce full of spring onions
oh that is so good
that is a match made in heaven that
brings the spice level up ohhh
that's almost hiccup inducing so you've got a much more strong kick of spice
and the spring onion flavour really
strong, amazing
okay it is time for sweets these are picarones so they're made from a dough
that's made up of sweet potato and
squash there's some anise in there and they have
just been covered in this syrup and
I believe the syrup has a bit of orange
juice in it? Is it orange juice guys? Orange, orange peel
alright I think we're just gonna dive in
okay I'm gonna grab one whoa they're nice and hot
holy moly they're delicious they're really
really light and fluffy
that syrup imparts this beautiful orange flavour, ohh gotta go for another bite
they've got this beautiful chew
as well when you watch them going
into the hot oil the dough is really
sticky it's got a real great texture
this is amazing I can see why you guys 
love it
we love it so much we come here
every weekend and we don't miss a picarones or two, so good
that was a very very special spot I'm so
glad we got to stop there, why is it your favourite guys
we went to al pastor last night and 
then we had the Peruvian this
morning so Antojitos Donafela
they only come out on the weekends for
breakfast and lunch they're the only Peruvian
street food cart in New York City so
it's really special it's run by a family so
it's a mother, daughter and aunt it's
just a spot that we have come
across one day and just by chance and
then we just build a relationship with
them really sweet family they're nominated
for Vendy awards really excited for them
and they're doing very special things
and these guys are pretty special too so
you've got to check out their channel
because they uncover the most amazing
places all around the place but
particularly here in Queens so we'll
chuck their channel down below and up on
the screen you have got to check it out
and also they do food tours all around
this area street food tours so check out
their channel for information on that
thanks so much guys for taking us around we had the best time
we hope to see you soon, it's been an honour
it's time for our next stop and it is a
classic New York dish New York style
pizza so we've come across to Harlem now
and we're with another friend for this
we're here with Chris who is a pizza enthusiast
and he's brought us to 
Patsy's which is one of the best slices
in New York City
we've come to Patsy's which is regarded
as the place that started the trend for
New York style pizza so pizza by the
slice so a very thin base and sold by
the slice so if you buy a whole pizza here
it's called a pie so you can buy a pie
version here but this place is known as
being the first place that started
selling pizza by the slice and you can
only get the simple style so just tomato,
cheese very thin base and this place has
been around a long time since 1933 and
there is another really neat thing about this
place and that's that they use a
coal-fired pizza oven it's the only
place in New York that you'll find a
coal-fired oven
I really like this pizza place it has a
great feel about it so you walk in it's
quite dark and stained almost the roof
from that coal fire oven and they are
churning through the pizzas even at this
time of day which is three o'clock on a
Monday there's quite a big queue and a lot of pizza getting cooked
and look at these slices so got a
beautiful thin base nice and pliable a
whole lot of mozzarella on top and the
tomato sauce has got sort of quite
chunky bits of tomato you can see in
there and when they were putting that sauce
onto the bases the smell was amazing a
really good sweetness and a really good
tang now a New York style pizza you got to
give it a fold otherwise that thing's
gonna just collapse in your hand
oh look at the base of it you've got
that beautiful little char from where
it's been in the coal fire oven and the
pizza topping is unreal so simple and
so good
real nice acidity from the tomato and
I like how there's not too much cheese
it's not absolutely loaded up so it's
not just all about greasy cheese it's still
 quite nice and dry but it's got
that perfect balance between wetness and
dryness so the the base hasn't got all
squishy it's so good
this is Chris's favourite place to come
for a slice yeah most definitely one of
my favourite places for a plain cheese
slice, this is it
check out this awesome big bubble on the
bottom so yea actually Chris
pointed out my fingers look at that you
got the nice little black bits and all
the powder from the flour on my hands
got that beautiful bubble that's
exploded they've really kept it in the
oven that perfect amount of time
it's just really perfectly put together
they've taken obviously very simple
ingredients and done them very very well
they're showing why they've been here for so
long
completely maintained a quality I love
it thank you for bringing us here
no problem man
pizza expert
for this next stop we've headed back out
to the borough of Queens and we're
meeting up with another friend who is a
local here in Queens and food-obsessed
just like us
so this next one is a really neat little
place that's just behind the camera under
this little awning and it's actually a
grocery store so this lines up perfectly
I think with the rest of the places
we've been showing you which we hope are
giving you a bit of a different sense of
of New York a New York that you might not
have realised existed and it's
definitely a new New York for us we are
loving seeing this side of the city it's
such a great place to explore and here we are at our first stop
so as Thomas mentioned before we're here at a tiny little grocery shop
and there's a pop-up restaurant inside
serving Indonesian food we have wanted
to eat at this place for years it's
called Warung Selasa so let's go and get
some delicious Indonesian food
this place is totally our jam so Indo Java is
an Indonesian grocery store and Warung Selasa the little pop-up restaurant is
right at the back of the shop so Dewi
who owns Warung Selasa she comes
here every Tuesday she cooks up a
delicious Indonesian meal and it's all
through word of mouth there's no signage
out front saying that there's a
pop-up restaurant if you are in the know
you come here on a Tuesday and you eat
delicious Indonesian food
Dewi is bringing us into her little
kitchen so this is Dewi whose food is legendary
hi, how are you? Dewi what is the nickname for
your kitchen?
Love kitchen
Love kitchen because it is so tiny check it out
in here yeah
tiny tiny kitchen, it's really tiny, but big flavours
from that tiny little love kitchen comes
a really big plate of food check this
out
it looks incredible so let me talk you
through what we've got this here is a
chicken thigh it's been it's been cooked
in gula Java which is coconut palm
sugar and also some kecap manis which
is sweet soy sauce we've got some kale
here and it's in a coconut curry sauce
with some turmeric very light some spicy
braised beef this here's some spicy tofu
we've got a braised egg some garlic
crackers to add a bit of crunch some
rice in the middle with some serunding on
the top which is toasted grated coconut
and then a huge blob of sambal which is
chilli sauce and this atmosphere is
utterly charming I love it so we're
sitting at the back of the grocery shop
just on plastic stools we've got two little
tables here and we're just surrounded by
all the groceries got a couple of
fridges next to me filled with frozen
tempeh and meatballs and whatnot this is
going to be such an amazing experience
I want to construct the ultimate mouthful
okay so we've got some chicken I'm gonna
get some rice with that toasted coconut
over the top a little bit of that kale
for some greens and then a little bit of
sambal too all right
holy moly I feel like I've been
transported right back to Indonesia that
mouthful was incredible the
chicken has got so much flavour it's
sweet it's spicy the rice is perfectly
cooked it's really loose it still has a
bit of chew the sambal is a really
actually quite a gentle heat so you can
really taste all the flavours in the food
and that kale it's quite bitter it's
beautiful all right let's get some of
this spicy braised beef some more of
that rice with the serunding the
serunding is so so aromatic so I can
smell that toasted coconut it's a
beautiful beautiful fragrance all right
let's continue compiling this mouthful so 
some more kale and I might grab a little
bit of egg oh let's get into this egg so
oh it's served on a banana leaf so it's
also really visually appealing and then
I'm gonna grab one of these crackers so just go
boom boom
hmm I'm loving all the various textures
of this dish the kale hasn't been cooked
right down so it's not all mushy it's
still got a bit of bite that beef quite
spicy and really beautifully soft crunch
of those crackers the rice is just
sensational this is such a memorable
meal and for me food that's memorable
it's not just about what's on the plate
in front of me of course the food here
is sensational so obviously that helps but
it's about the atmosphere it's about the
people, it's about who you're eating with, it's about the sounds, it's about the smells and
this is just every aspect of this dining
experience is one that I'm gonna remember forever
because this is an Indonesian grocery
shop you can buy Indonesian drinks so
a teh botol is the perfect combination for
this food so you see this all over
Indonesia when you're there and it goes
so well it's a quite a sweet iced tea so
it goes really well with the spicy food
and we have to definitely say thanks to
these two who are at the only other
table in this place Julie and Nigel for
bringing us here so Julie an absolute
food expert in Queens and Nigel you may
remember from our video at the Queen's
night market so he's a chef at one of
the stalls that we ate at on that night
the dessert the last thing we had so we
will link that video up above thank you
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