Bistro Truck
Guest Post time!Today we have a special guest from Delicatesseny with a post about the Bistro Truck. Normally on her blog the posts are in French and today we give it to you special because you don’t need to use Google Translate!
Many conversations I have with Americans end up the same way. They ask me a very funny question : voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir “Where should I go to eat something French and affordable in the City?” I never know what to answer to that question. Something like a big “huh?” pops inside my head and right after that I find myself answering : “Well, you know I barely/rarely eat French since I’m living in New York now.” And 90% of the time I can read a huge disappointment on their face. So when Danny asked me to write something about French food, I realized that his request will put me into a very uncomfortable situation.
Where do I will find something French and under $10 for lunch? Tough question that reminds me this French proverb, “Impossible n’est pas Fran├žais,” litterally “Impossible is not French”, which I would translate as, “There is no such word as can’t.” With all my French logic/pride, I tried to convince myself: “Maybe the Bistro Truck is the answer for some affordable French food.”
This truck serves Moroccan/Mediterranean influenced food, which is a very popular cuisine in France. Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian foods are part of French culinary culture and people enjoy couscous, kebab and tajine as much as steak frites.
On the Bistro Truck menu, the Merguez ($7), a sandwich named after the famous lamb sausage, caught my eye, because it’s pretty difficult to find them at the grocery store here in the US. As you may know it, it’s a spicy sausage, made most of the time with lamb, but it’s not rare to get a beef/lamb mix, and seasoned with pepper, cumin, paprika, raz-el-hanout and coriander.
At the Bistro Truck, the merguez sandwich is a piece of baguette, stuffed with two honorable sized sausages, cheese, roasted tomato and caramelized Chermoula onions, and Belgian Fries on top. Sounds super yummy, tastes just ok. It’s “ok” because of the price. A seven dollar sandwich is basically the price of the ham and cheese sandwich with little cornichons from Bouchon Bakery at the TWC.
Here at the bistro truck the baguette is not crispy, and the dough is very compact. The baguette is the most disappointing part of the sandwich. The undercooked fries ($2.50) are also a letdown. Not a big deal though, these fries are Belgian fries, not French, it doesn’t hurt my French feelings. Here again the crispy aspect is missing.
BUT, the merguez itself was a winner. Spicy enough, tasty enough with a strong lamb meat taste. One of the best merguez I’ve had the chance to eat in New York.
Posted by Danny on May 12, 2010 at 7:15 pm
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