Since the success of the halal cart vendors, there has been a surge of a different kind of food venue, Food Trucks. The surge in these food trucks has been remarkable and the variety in the food they offer is deliciously incredible. There are trucks that server Korean BBQ, Moroccan, Indian, Chinese, and all types of other lunch options. Then there are the trucks that server dessert, from cupcakes to ice cream.
One of these trucks has been serving up delicious Moroccan food all over NYC for the past few years. Some of you may have heard of them and others may be hearing about them for the first time, the name is Bistro Truck. Their weekly schedule consists of numerous locations where they server mouth watering items for lunch. These include Lamb and Chicken Merguez, Roasted Lamb Shoulder, Steak sandwich, Steak salad, and other daily specials.
The steak sandwich is to die for, literally! It consists of succulent strips of beef steak, placed on a hero with caramelized onions, chipotle mayo and little bit of greens. I visit their Wednesday location religiously, down by the financial district at Old Slip and Water st, just to have this sandwich. You can imagine my excitement when I hear from the owner, Yasir and Elsa, that they would be opening a new restaurant in the lower east side area of NYC.
After a few gut wrenching delays due to licensing and permit issues, the restaurant, named Rustic Lower East Side, finally had its soft opening on September 5th, 2012. I was itching to dine at the new establishment and my chance finally came this Friday when I was able to sneak in an hour or so for dinner before my flu like symptoms got the best of my energy.
The restaurant is a small cozy spot along Ridge St on the lower east side. It seats approximately 20 people including the 5 seats at the bar. The menu is currently limited due to the recent opening but it still offers quite a selection of Moroccan food. There are the usual options from the truck, like the Merguez sandwiches, the lamb burger and the Roasted lamb shoulder. However, what catches your eye are the exotic options such as the Grilled Lamb Liver Crepinette, or the Braised Oxtail, or the Stuffed Organic Young Chicken.
Not being much of an adventurer with my stomach, my friend and I stuck to the safer options. We ordered the Short Ribs dish and the Lamb Meatballs dish. We were served an assortment of olives to start us off for the dinner. The dishes are meant to be shared so they brought out the Lamb Meatballs first. As we dug into the food, the aroma filled our nostrils and our taste buds were tingling with flavor. The dish consisted of 5 or so meatballs and we devoured it pretty quickly. The sauce was very tasty and it also consisted of a poached egg, possibly a quail egg.
As we sat waiting for our second entree, we noticed that another table had ordered the ribs as well. From afar, it looked really good and our mouths were watering to try it out. The Short Ribs dish consisted of two racks of ribs with roasted garlic and sauteed half onions all covered in a creamy sauce that our best guess concluded to be mushroom sauce. The ribs were delicious, but a little hard to eat with a fork and knife. However, we did our best to eat every bit of meat on those bones and lick our fingers for good measure.
The staff was attentive and took great care of us. Even better, the owners of these two establishments, Yasir and Elsa, were there checking in on their customers and even had their daughter at the restaurant. There was a very family oriented vibe to this small cozy restaurant, which is exactly what it needed to make our whole experience amazing. I will be sure to visit Rustic again to try out the more exotic items on the menu (maybe) and I hope that you will take time out to have brunch, lunch or dinner at this amazing restaurant.
You can find more information about the restaurant here and about the bistro truck here.
Follow them on facebook and twitter for updates on the location of the truck and news about the restaurant.
Lastly, the credit for introducing me to this great food truck, the restaurant, and its owners goes to Sumaiyah Ahmed, who, among her various volunteer duties, organizes a dinner club that visits a different halal restaurant across the tri-state area every month. Be sure to join the H(alal)Train on its next stop!
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