As a globally diverse metropolis, New York’s food truck scene shines a spotlight on almost every cuisine under the sun. Celebrate National Food Truck Day in the city that never sleeps with these favorites from every borough.
Bronx Night Market
Address:
1 Fordham Plaza
Bronx, NY 10458
Hours: Saturdays 12pm-7pm
An open-air food and drink festival, 35 trucks, carts, and stands celebrate the diverse cuisines that make up this vibrant borough. Try local favorites like Mysttik Masaala’s Indian street food, Wah Gwaan’s Caribbean-inspired tacos, and skewers from Yakitori Tatsu. There’s also a host of sweets vendors like crowd-pleaser Sam’s Fried Ice Cream, plus a showcase of local artisans, and live music. Open every Saturday through November, it’s ticketed to reserve a spot but free to enter.
Queens Night Market
Address:
New York Hall of Science at Flushing Meadows
47-01 111th St
Queens, NY 11368
Hours: Saturdays 5pm-12am
Queens is known to be one of the most culinarily diverse boroughs, and the food at the Queens Night Market represents exactly that. With nearly 40 food vendors, you can try everything from Romanian-Hungarian chimney cake at Twister Cake to Trinidadian shark sandwiches from Carribean Street Eats. Expect food stands instead of trucks, but think dosas to momos, ceviches to cachapas, and a whole lot of deliciousness in between. Tickets are $5 for a timed entry.
Red Hook Food Vendors
Address:
160 Bay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11214
Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11:30am-8pm
Five trucks serve up authentic Latin American flavors every weekend to hungry soccer players and spectators at the Red Hook ball fields. Taste Colombian salchipapas and don’t miss El Olomega’s Salvadoran pupusas oozing with cheese. The Red Hook Food Vendors are old school New York, and have been serving the neighborhood for decades. They closed the 2020 season for permitting and pandemic reasons, they are back for 2021. Pro trip: visit on the earlier side, before the afternoon soccer matches.
Smorgasburg World Trade Center
Address:
Fulton Street and Church Street
New York, NY 10007
Hours: Fridays 11am-7pm
Smorgasburg World Trade Center is a more recent iteration of the popular outdoor market that got its start in Williamsburg. Five vendors serve up food from stands at The Oculus Plaza (it will go up to 10 by mid-summer). Taste pan-fried buns and dumplings from Mao’s Baos, smash burgers from the popular Burger Supreme, and pit-smoked barbecue tacos from Carlitos Barbecue Taqueria. As summer picks up, more vendors will be added, so plan repeated visits to scope out the new eats.
Smorgasburg Williamsburg
Address:
90 Kent Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Hours: Saturdays 11am-6pm (starting 6/26/21)
Smorgasburg Williamsburg, the flagship summer weekend food festival in Brooklyn, reopens Saturday, June 26 with over 35 vendors. The food line-up is still being finalized, but expect to see a combo of old favorites and new faces. This market is mostly food stands instead of trucks, but worth a visit to sample some of the city’s most popular food vendors.
Birria Landia
Address:
78th Street and Roosevelt Avenue
Queens, NY 11372
Hours: 5pm-1am every day
The Tijuana-style birria taco was arguably the taco trend of 2020, and in Queens, Birria Landia is the spot to eat them. Their birria de res slow-cooked beef in a guajillo chile broth, served as a folded taco that is soaked in the broth then griddled to crispy perfection. Served with a consommé of the same guajillo broth for dipping (or drinking), this is one trend that’s here to stay and the perfect late night bite.
Birria Landia
Address:
53rd and 6th Ave
New York, NY 10019
Hours: Mondays 11am-midnight
The Halal Guys have been serving up gyros and halal plates to Midtown Manhattanites since the mid-1990s. Often impersonated but rarely improved upon, you can’t go wrong with the beef gyro combo served with tangy yogurt sauce and fiery red hot sauce. While they’ve franchised across the country, this original midtown cart is where it all began.
Wafels & Dinges
Address:
6th Ave and 42nd Street
New York, NY 10018
Hours: Mon-Sun 10am-10pm
102 W 35th Street, Manhattan
With the goal of giving the Belgian waffle a “serious upgrade,” Wafels & Dinges has been serving up crisp-yet-fluffy waffles with your choice of toppings for over ten years. From the churro waffle topped with dulce de leche dipped in cinnamon, to the baconana with bacon and bananas dipped in fudge, your sweet tooth can’t go wrong.
NY Dosas
Address:
50 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-3pm
A stalwart of the NYC street food scene, NY Dosas has been cooking light-as-air dosas and uttapams for nearly 20 years. NYU students and South Asian food fanatics alike love the spice-laden pondicherry dosa with potatoes and veggies.
Tong
Address:
37-08 73rd Street, Jackson Heights (73rd Street and 37th Ave)
Flushing, NY 11372
Hours: 2pm-midnight every day
A relative newcomer to the NY scene parked outside of the 73rd Street Duane Reade in Jackson Heights, this Bangladeshi street food truck is getting much-deserved attention for its fuchka. A popular street food snack, fuchka are puffs of fried semolina dough filled with spiced potatoes or split peas, topped with red onions, chiles, and cilantro that are then doused in a tangy tamarind water. It’s a burst of sweet, salty, sour, umami, heat that shouldn’t be missed.
King Souvlaki
Address:
31st Street and 31st Ave
Astoria, NY 11106
Hours: Mon 9am-11pm, Tues-Weds 9am-12am, Thurs-Sat 9am-5am, Sun 11am-11pm
This family-owned and operated business has been serving wood-fired gyros and hand-skewered souvlaki for decades. A go-to for Greek street food, locals love their lamb and beef gyro pita stuffed with hand-cut fries. Cash only but they’ve got an ATM built into the truck.
Makina Café
Address:
Dekalb Ave at Washington Park, Brooklyn (Fort Greene Park)
New York, NY 11205
Hours: Friday-Saturday 11am-9pm
Run by NYC’s first Eritrean-American female entrepreneur, Makina Café serves “habesha” meals (inclusive of the tribes of Eritrea and Ethiopia). Pair injeera or rice with a meat and two veg (or three veg if you prefer). Favorites include siga wot (slow cooked beef stew with onions and berbere sauce) and tikel gomen (cabbage, carrots, and potato in a turmeric ginger sauce). Top with your choice of lemon olive oil, berbere sauce for a little heat, or makina sauce to crank up the spice factor.
Do you know of a permanent food truck spot that didn’t make the list? Has a truck closed or their hours changed? Click here to leave us a note so we can keep this article up to date.
The post New York’s Food Truck Lots & Spots (Updated For 2021) first appeared on Roaming Hunger.