NYC Food Truck Lunch: Pork Schnitzel Platter From Schnitzel & Things

Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.

We went back this week to the very first food truck we ever patronized back in 2009, Schnitzel & Things (S&T). A few weeks after that fateful lunch (which would change our life for the next eight years), S&T were nominated for a Vendy Award in the Rookie of the Year category.

This was the first of several annual pilgrimages we made to the Vendy Awards. Schnitzel & Things went on to win the Rookie of the Year award in 2009, and were one of five finalists in the main Vendy Cup category in 2010.

A lot has happened since then. While S&T no longer has a food truck, they do have a street cart that makes the rounds of various business areas during the week. A few days ago, we went down to Greenwich and Murray St, where a small crowd gathered around the S&T cart for lunch, one of half a dozen food carts on that block featuring Indian, Korean and a few other cuisines, including that quintessential American lunch, Nathan's hot dogs.

We went for the classic pork schnitzel platter ($10), which comes with two side dishes and a condiment, all of which you choose. You can get any schnitzel on ciabatta bread for a couple of dollars less, and they also serve bratwurst. The full menu is here.

The schnitzel is pounded until it's very thin, breaded, then deep-fried. It's unreal how thin they get these cutlets. With the thinness of the cutlets, they have to be careful not to overcook the cutlet, but one thing we've learned over the years is S&T are masters at this. The pork was tender and not dried-out, while the breading was hot and crispy. Squeeze on a little fresh lemon juice and yum! Is there anything better?

Well, the side dishes are pretty good too. We know from experience the cucumber salad and Austrian potato salad are both excellent. This time we tried fries and a cold beet salad. The beet salad wasn't on the menu, but there was a small handwritten sign saying they had beet salad.

We enjoyed the fries, which were slightly crispy and pretty light on the salt. The beet salad was very good too, with small specks of feta cheese mixed into bite-sized pieces of soft yet firm beets.

Yet another delicious lunch from Schnitzel & Things, one of our favorite NYC street vendors. They've been doing this for over eight years, and have rightfully built up a strong following among NYC workers needing a reasonably-priced, awesome lunch to break up the day.

You can find Schnitzel & Things on Twitter here and on Facebook here. We highly recommend searching them out.