NYC Food Truck Lunch: Falafel Platter From The King of Gyro

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

We were up by Central Park a few days ago, and were surprised by what we saw. Across from the Plaza Hotel entrance, on 59th St just west of 5th Ave, was a halal cart called the King of Gyro.

We're sure the Plaza Hotel is not thrilled with their guests smelling a halal cart every time they come and go from the hotel, but maybe the King of Gyro was a cut above based on the fancy location.

They had a standard NYC street food menu, with chicken, "lamb", or falafel over rice or in a pita sandwich, as well as kebabs and Italian sausage. We decided to order a falafel platter for $7.

Instead of serving whole falafel balls, they chopped the falafel into pieces and placed it on the rice. We accepted the standard white sauce and hot sauce.

The falafel was a little dry, but having both white and hot sauces helped. By chopping up the falafel balls, the sauces were able to cover more of the surface area of the falafel.

Mixed in with the falafel were some grilled onions and peppers, which perked up the flavor a little.

One thing you should know at the King of Gyro - the hot sauce was most definitely hot. If you don't like spicy things, you should probably skip the hot sauce at the King of Gyro.

The bed of yellow rice under the falafel was good. It was nicely spiced, moist and tender, but not too soft.

Next to the rice was some iceberg lettuce and tomato served as a "salad''. White sauce was used as the dressing. We don't usually eat the "salad", but it's there if you want it.

You won't find the King of Gyro on the latest social media, but you will find them near the entrance to the Plaza Hotel, on 5th Ave and 59th St. They are not the best (or worst) NYC street vendor, but they appear to be reliable, and are inexpensive, which is exactly what some people want.