The Halal Guys (53rd and 6th)

The Halal Guys cart at West 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan is the corner that turned a New York street-food style into a national chain. The stand grew from a hot dog cart operated by Egyptian immigrants who shifted to halal chicken and gyro over rice, and its yellow-signed carts remain among the city's best-known sights. The cuisine is halal Middle Eastern street food adapted for New York: chopped chicken and sliced gyro meat served over yellow rice with lettuce, tomato and a pita, finished with the two sauces that define the dish. The signature is the chicken and gyro combo platter, with a falafel platter as the vegetarian alternative. White sauce, a creamy garlic-and-yogurt style condiment, and the fiery red hot sauce are the emblematic pairing, and visitors are often advised to add the hot sauce cautiously. There is no dining room. Customers order at the cart window, watch the meat chopped on the flat-top, and eat from foam or aluminium containers on the sidewalk, on a nearby ledge or in a park. The atmosphere is fast, loud and unpretentious, with a queue that forms in the evening and late at night, when the cart serves office workers, theatre-goers and after-party crowds. Hours run late, roughly from 10AM to 4AM, so it doubles as a post-midnight meal. Prices are in the $ range and portions are large enough that many visitors share a platter. Because it is a street cart there are no reservations and no beverage programme beyond canned drinks and water. Other stands nearby sometimes imitate the branding, so visitors who want the original should look for the corner of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue and the established signage. The Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall are all within a short walk, which makes the cart a practical budget lunch in Midtown, where sit-down meals are far more expensive.