Two weeks ago, a troop of brave Midtown souls gathered in Bryant Park for our annual Street Meat Palooza! They sampled chicken and lamb over rice from 17 different carts and trucks, all to crown the winner of them all. For those of you playing along at home, the 2008 crown went to Famous Halal Guys’ daytime cart (SE corner of 53rd+6th), followed by Kwik Meal (SW corner of 45th+6th) and Kwik Gourmet a year later. Since Comme Ci, Comme Ca won last year, they were out. Who would be our new winner?!!

I’ve been crunching the numbers for days in ways that make my inner-economist proud, and it’s time to reveal the results.

17. Times Halal

Location: NE Corner 40th Street & 8th Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: 13

Last year’s judges found Times Halal mediocre, and this year’s judges didn’t hold back either. First off, they didn’t even give us lamb, but that probably wouldn’t have saved it from last place. The “stringy chicken” and “mushy” rice were both “bland.” “Nothing stood out” and one even commented “I can’t even finish this.”

16. Mr. Khan’s Best Food

Location: NE Corner 45th Street & 6th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: 17

Mr. Khan’s bumped up a spot, but we can now all agree that unless something radically different starts happening at this cart, it’s one of our worst. The “lamb was mushy,” the “rice has no flavor,” the white sauce was mayo-based, and we all “hate carrots in [our] halal.”

15. XPL Halal Food

Location:NW Corner 52nd Street & 3rd Avenue

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

We went on a limb and had offerings from two XPLs this year. This one elicited responses of “just bad overall,” “nothing special,” “lamb too dry,” and “lots of average where average is just fine.” We’re not looking for average here! Someone did think they had the “coolest calming sauce” though I’m not sure what it was cooling since no one found it hot.

14. Trini Paki Boys

Location: SE Corner 43rd Street & 6th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: 8th

Oh, how the mighty do fall. We love Trini Paki here on ML, but the people have spoken and they do not like ice in their rice. Maybe that’s why it was “weird and mushy”? The “big chunks” of lamb was “good” though “average” and “gamy” and that’s about all that can be said there. Some carts just aren’t made for the Palooza.

13. Moe’s Falafel

Location: SE Corner 36th Street & 7th Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

Moe’s was one of the new carts suggested to us, and I’d say it did alright. What appears to hurt its chances of scoring higher were the “little pieces” of meat, lack of sauce, and onions. The meat did appear to be high quality, though salty, and many liked the peppers. But “whatevs.”

12. No Name Cart

Location: NE Corner of 40th Street & 3rd Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: 3

This cart came out of nowhere to do phenomenal last year, and now it looks like we might have to chalk that up to a fluke. The frozen veggie medley was panned across the board, and the fries and olives took away from enjoyment of the street meat- not that we want to focus on gristle and chewy meat. If only we gave “points for originality”, maybe this “all over the map” cart would have done better.

11. Biryani Next Door

Location: NW Corner of 46th Street & 6th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

I always have high hopes for the newcomers. Maybe some cart has been flying under our radar awhile and this is their moment to shine! If Biryani Next Door ups their game on the “dry chicken” and “bones in the meat,” they might have been a better contender. It was nice to see a cart giving us rice with actual flavor.

10. Amira Halal Food

Location: SW Corner of 43rd Street & 6th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

If we had a “best use of potatoes” award to hand out, it would go to Amira’s Halal. While the chicken provided ample flavor to this huge plate of food, it lost points for having salty lamb.

9. Best Fast & Fresh

Location: 33rd Street between 7th Ave & 8th Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

Right smack in the middle is where Best Fast & Fresh belongs. The meat was “chopped nicely” yet everything lacked something. The gyro style was nice, but the lamb either lacked flavor or was great depending on who you asked.

8. Magdy’s

Location: SW Corner of 40th Street & Madison Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: 11

After a few years off, Magdy’s came back and made another decidedly middle-of-the-road showing. Many liked the chunks of meat, grilled onions, and sauce ratio, but the meat was dry, “spongy,” and possibly undercooked. Also, “orange rice is orange.”

7. The Halal Guys

Location: SW Corner of 53rd Street & 7th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

This 7th Ave. branch of the Famous Halal Guys cart from 53rd & 6th brought the heat, enough that you really needed the white sauce. The huge platter and dark meat chicken evidently was enough to bump it up with most judges… but not enough to replicate their first year victory.

6. Gyro Xpress

Location: SW Corner of 40th Street & Madison Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: 11

Here’s where the tide turns from meh to “very nice.” The banana peppers, white sauce, and “chicken with actual chicken flavor,” won over most of the judges.

5. XPL Halal Food

Location: NW Corner of 48th Street & Park Ave

Price: $5

Last Year’s Rank: 12

This XPL has had a roller-coaster of a time in our rankings. In year one it was breakout cart, surprising everyone with its 2nd place finish. In following years it never quite lived up to that first year performance, but this year it’s back on top- likely because the judges were missing the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap. Juicy meat and tasty chicken led more than one person to call it delicious.

4. Rice the Great

Location: Northside of 50th Street between 6th & 7th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

We had a feeling that Rice the Great, a brand new cart on 50th btw. 6+7th, would be the sleeper hit of this year’s Palooza and they delivered with a 4th place finish. Their “bizarre rice” has raisins, and good God, they give you a bunch of salad, but the meats themselves? Nice-sized juicy chunks of well-flavored meat with a side of a dill yogurt sauce.

3. New York’s Best Halal

Location: SW Corner of 53rd Street & 6th Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: 5

Well, well, well, what do we have here? For the second year in a row the “Imposter Cart” has bested the “famous” cart they have modeled their food after. With it’s “hot, hot sauce” and “flavorful chicken” and pure heaven white sauce, it’s almost like they deserve though half-block long lines I’ve seen during lunch time. And yes, those of you judges who guessed, all got this one correct.

2. Everyday Fresh Halal

Location: SW Corner of 41st Street & Madison Ave

Price: $8

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

After winning Street Meat Paloozas 2 and 3 Kwik Meal (and Kwik Gourmet) are no long eligible to compete. But their imitators are doing pretty well. Last year Fahima Halal came in 4th. And this year another imposter surprised with an excellent showing. Nicely cooked meat, well-marinated lamb, a great white sauce, and a green hot sauce led many of our judges to place the obvious Kwik Meal inspired Everyday Fresh in their top two.

1. Uncle Gussy’s

Location: SE Corner of 51st Street & Park Ave

Price: $6

Last Year’s Rank: 2

After a second place finish last year it was finally Uncle Gussy’s turn to take home the big prize. The high quality meat, actually cooked on a grill, leads to some nice char. Top that off with their thick, tangy tzatziki, and you have yourselves a winner. Congratulations, guys!

And there you have it. Another Palooza is done and done. Agree? Disagree? Was your favorite not not even in there? Feel free to sound off in the comments. Because we’re only 340 odd days away from Street Meat Palooza 6, when a new plate of chicken and lamb over rice will be crowned Street Meat Champion of Midtown.

A quick thank you… to all of the Midtown Lunch’ers who nominated the carts, picked up the food, and judged the competition, despite our small mother nature induced scheduling snafu. Sampling 17 plates of street meat is a lot harder than you would think, and we’re thankful they all sacrificed their bodies for the cause. Also, thanks to all the vendors for doing what they do. None of them knew this competition was going on, and even though we crowned a winner, everyone is a winner in our eyes! Street Meat Palooza isn’t really about winning or losing. It’s about showing how unique and different every single plate of chicken and lamb over rice is, a fact that become infinitely more apparent when 17 of them are eaten side by side. Until next year!

Past Street Meat Palooza Results: 4 | 3 | 2 | 1