Yummy falafels

Roadside stands are ubiquitous in NYC - newstands selling newspapers and magazines; foodstalls selling bagels, pretzels; and drinkstalls selling coffee, juice, water. Business people and tourists alike rely on these roadside mini-'shops' for their daily nutrition. The NFT (Not for Tourists) guidebook I use mentioned only one roadside stall, and it's Sam's Falafel in Liberty Plaza (now known as Zucotti Park) not far from our apartment on Wall St. Now, I noted this falafel place in the guidebook because Kim (one of my friends back in Japan, a fellow JET from America) said to me, "Jean, I'm so jealous you're going to New York city - you have to eat all the falafels for me". A few weeks ago, I happened to be in the park for a free music event around lunchtime, and I spotted this Sam's Falafel nearby with a huge queue of people waiting for Sam's falafels. I took a shot of the long line, knowing that before I leave NYC, I will be one of those people in line for falafels.

The line:


This morning I took my younger sister Honey shopping at the nearby Century 21 department store - man, this girl is a serious shopaholic! Brand names + discounts = big spending for her. It's dangerous shopping with her because even though I'm not a big brand person nor a shopper, I walked away with a Guess bag. Anyway, two hours later, and five bags bought (yep, she bought four - and we hadn't even gone to the clothing section yet!), it was lunchtime. On our way back, we walked pass Zucotti Park, and even though it was just past 12pm, there was already a line in front of Sam's Falafel. We stepped in line and munched on the fried pieces of pita bread (kindly provided) while waiting for our turn to order. There were only two choices: combo platter for $5 which includes hummus, salad, dolmades, pita and a lot of falafel (10 pieces?); and falafel sandwich for $3 which includes three falafel, hummus and salad in half a pita. We bought the combo platter to share, which was plenty - we were full with some leftovers.

Verdict? It was really cheap and very yummy. Probably not very healthy since the falafels are deep fried, but I'm glad I tried it :) The package didn't look so photogenic after the 5 or so minutes walk home, but I took a shot of it anyway (there's a nicer looking photo of the combo by someone else here).

The yummy falafels: