Ridgewood Food Cart Roundup

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Mollie

Need to try next time: El Bochinche on St. Nicholas Ave

Welcome to our official recap of Food Cart Month(s) 2013! We’re suffering from food cart fatigue so this will be brief. Here’s what we learned:

While Ridgewood is not yet a major player in the food cart scene like 7-train Queens or Midtown, we’ve got plenty going on! We have a pretty legit halal cart, a wildly popular empanada cart, a taco truck that makes tasty fish tacos and cemitas, some llapachingos with potential, and of course our old friend the tamale cart. Continue reading →

Breakfast at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Tamale Cart

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Mollie

Salsa roja y mole tamales

Food Cart Month wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention the tamale cart that sits prominently outside the Myrtle-Wyckoff subway station and is our beacon of deliciousness. We often visit first thing in the morning as we head out for the day’s adventures. The delicious, hot tamales make a filling breakfast, and they also travel well and serve as a satisfying lunch component later in the day (try one with soup or a salad!). Plus, they’re cheap — just $1 each! Continue reading →

Llapingachos, Ayacas de Pollo, and Locro de Papas

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Mollie

Llapingachos, an Ecuadorian speciality

We’re trying to wrap up Food Cart Month (s), so here’s a quick look at the Ecuadorian (yes, again) cart that’s parked outside the Gates Avenue Food Bazaar on Sundays and sometimes Saturdays. (Sometimes there’s a second unrelated Ecuadorian cart parked across the street, but it’s a bit chaotic and unappetizing so we’re focusing on this one here.) Continue reading →

Grover Cleveland Salchipapas Cart

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Mollie

The last couple of weeks have been very busy, not to mention rainy as all heck, so we’ve extended Food Cart Month into June. On Memorial Day weekend we double-Ecuadorian-carted it, first stopping by the cart outside the Grover Cleveland Park fútbol fields, and then the one near Food Bazaar. This was our first visit to the Grover Cleveland cart. The Mexican lady who runs it sets up shop every weekend, when the fields are full of hungry athletic folks. Grilled chicken & pork skewers and our old friend salchipapas are the main offerings here. Continue reading →

What Happened to the Tacos La Carcachita Truck?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Mollie

Fish tacos

Here’s a look at last night’s tacos from Tacos La Carcachita, home of the best cemitas in almost-Ridgewood. You may have noticed the Carcachita truck’s absence for the past week and a half (due to repairs) — and in its place, the loaner waffle-wich truck that advertises “private and corporate waffling” (haha). Continue reading →

El Palacio de las Empanadas Ecuatorianas

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Mollie

Chicken empanada

Our next food cart stop might be the busiest cart in Ridgewood. El Palacio de las Empanadas Ecuatorianas greets you as you enter the Myrtle Avenue BID (on the Duane Reade side). As the day progresses and appetites swell, there’s often several people hanging around the cart, catching up on the day’s activities while they enjoy their chicken and chicken and cheese empanadas ($1.50 each). Continue reading →

Bakhtar Halal Cart on Fresh Pond Road

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Mollie

Chicken & rice atop a chess table in Benniger Playground

Food Cart Month continues! Today we checked out Bakhtar, the Afghan-owned halal cart in front of Rite Aid on Fresh Pond Road. The cart offers the same fare as its flagship Wyckoff Heights Hospital location: chicken over rice, pitas and gyros, falafel, biriyani, and, most uniquely, chapli and shami kebabs (flat minced-meat patties, the latter of which also contain chickpea or lentil flour). Continue reading →

The Evening Nut Lady By Gem

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Mollie

Roasted coconut

In case you missed it, awhile back we quietly tweeted that May is FOOD CART MONTH here at Ridgefood. We will attempt, weather and energy permitting, to visit every food cart in Ridgewood. There aren’t very many, so this isn’t really very impressive, but hey!

Previously we’ve told you about several borderland carts: Tacos La Carcachita, where the cemitas are big and meaty, and an eponymous Sundays-only Ecuadorian cart that serves salchipapas (french fries and hotdogs, basically) and whole fried fish to voleibol players in Evergreen Park. Continue reading →

Muy Meaty Cemitas at Tacos La Carcachita

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Mollie

Milanesa de pollo cemita from Tacos La Carcachita

We just got back from Monterrey, a strikingly beautiful yet largely non-touristy desert-mountain town in northern Mexico. (Fun fact: in Monterrey, they serve tacos on diminutive soft flour tortillas in addition to the traditional corn ones. It’s a cool culinary nod to neighboring Texas that we’ve never seen anywhere else in Mexico, where corn rules the tortilla scene.) Anyway, our trip was short, which meant we returned to Ridgewood craving more Mexican food.

Since we happen to love cemitas — the chipotle’d, sesame seed–topped sister-sandwich to the more common torta — we stopped by Tacos La Carcachita, the Mexican food truck we’ve been meaning to check out forever. The results were pleasing!

Continue reading →

Voleibol, Salchipapas, and Whole Fried Fish in Evergreen Park

Posted on October 10, 2012 by JTP

A plate of Ecuadorian salchipapas

Few would praise Ridgewood for its bountiful park space, though we love what we’ve got in Grover Cleveland, Rosemary’s Playground, Mafera Park, etc. With such a limited selection, though, it’s surprising not many people know about our second-biggest park: Evergreen Park, just across the freight-train tracks in Ridgewood’s east-side “Cemetery Sliver.” We’d bet even fewer are aware that Ridgewood has a burgeoning, if modest, rival to the Red Hook Ballfields emerging on Sunday afternoons out there. Continue reading →