Food Therapy: Street Food

Good food is good food.  It can come from a 3-star Michelin restaurant or it can come from a street vendor.   And do I love me some good street food!  Here are my 3 favorites (so far and in no particular order):

1. Otafuku: This "blink and you'll miss it" hole-in-the-wall is located on 9th Street between 2nd & 3rd Ave.  It serves two highly addictive japanese street foods: okonomiyaki and takoyaki.  Okonomiyaki is a sort of vegetable pancake served with a topping of your choice (pork, beef, shrimp or squid).  Takoyaki are little balls made from pancake batter filled with either octopus or cheese.  The secret to the addictive taste is the sweet/salty brown sauce that tops both dishes.  The yakisoba is pretty good as well.
2. Halal Gyro Cart:  The evening gyro cart (7:30 pm - 4:00 am) on 53rd St & 6th Ave (SW corner) is good...ridiculously good.  I sometimes wonder if they add some sort of special narcotic to either the meat or the white suace.  Why else am I and every other person in line willing to wait 30+ mins for a gyro platter?  The lamb gyro meat is always fresh due to such high demand and their white sauce is incomparable.  This is THE place is you have the munchies after a late night out.  Be warned...the later it gets, the longer the line is.  (Note:  The gyro cart across 6th Ave on 53rd St (SE corner) is not an imposter.  They added another cart due to their cult following.  This cart also offers a BBQ sauce that is almost as good as the white sauce.)
3. Hallo Berlin Cart:  This day sausage cart on 54th St and 5th Ave (NW corner) really hits the spot when you're craving a good sausage.  And there aren't that many places in the city that serve a good bratwurst or kielbasa.  The line is thankfully not as long as the one you'll find at the Halal Gryo Cart.  But I do usually wait about 10 mins or so.  I am a huge fan of the smoked kielbasa.