53rd and 6th

53rd and 6th or The Halal Cart or The Spot or Chicken and Rice or Platters is a popular halal gyros stand on the south-west corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The cart is most recognized by its primary dish which is a platter of chicken and/or gyro meat with rice,[1] while it also serves a chicken and/or gyro wrap. The cart has somewhat unusual hours as it usually opens at around 7:30 pm,[2][3] and does not close until 4 am.

• 1 Menu
• 2 Locations & impostors
• 3 The white sauce
• 4 Customer demographics
• 5 Vendor achievements
• 6 Incident
• 7 In popular culture
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Menu

The menu is simple, and the two most popular orders are the $6 platter and the $4 sandwich. The platter is served in a tin tray and includes meat (chicken, gyro meat or both), rice, iceberg lettuce (or, instead, extra rice), slices of pita bread (can also be substituted for extra rice) and sauce (white, hot and/or BBQ). The sandwich consists of meat (chicken, gyro meat or both), iceberg lettuce and sauce (white, suicide hot and/or BBQ) wrapped inside a pita bread. The third, infrequently ordered, menu option is a platter that does not include rice, and this option costs $5.

Beverages (including soda, Snapple and water) are available for purchase for $1 (cans) or $2 (bottles).

All of the food is prepared on site, in front of the patrons.

Locations & impostors

A second cart resides across the street from the original cart, on the south-east corner of 6th Avenue and 53rd Street. In contrast with the original cart, this cart is open both during the daytime and at night (approximately noon to 5 am, with a cook switch at 7 pm). During the day, tomatoes are sometimes included with the salad. The cart also offers falafel and kofta from time to time. Contrary to some skeptics, that cart is run by the same owner.[4]

A third cart exists on the south-west corner of 53rd Street and 7th Avenue, and begins serving food at lunch time.[5]

A fourth cart has been recently added on the corner of 52nd and 6th. This cart was previously owned by a competitor but has now been taken over by the owners of the 53rd and 6th cart.

A different cart appears on the same location (the south-west corner of 53rd and 6th) during the daytime. It is not affiliated with the famous cart that appears at night, yet it seemingly attempts to confuse customers into believing that the carts are affiliated.[6]

Another cart is outside Lehman College in the Bedford Park area of the Bronx (not affiliated with the original cart).

The white sauce

The stand is famous for its white sauce. The recipe for the white sauce is kept secret. Operators of the stand maintain that this homemade condiment is not mayonnaise, but have admitted that it may contain mayonnaise in some part as well as yogurt and claim that preparation of the sauce is extremely time consuming.

Customer demographics

The stand originally catered to the late night taxi/cab driver crowds, but through the immense popularity of the nightlife crowd, the lines grew to 2-hour waits. Occasionally, on weekend nights, a police checkpoint is set up on 53rd street between 6th and 7th avenue. On a typical night, there may be 50 or more people in line between midnight and 4 AM. The typical average wait time for the food during these hours is between 45 minutes and an hour. [7][unreliable source?] It is not uncommon for people to brave the elements and wait outside in the cold for more than an hour to get a platter.[8]

As recently as 2003 the customer base was predominantly of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent. In more recent years a large influx of other ethnic groups have started frequenting the stand as well. Students from nearby (and some not nearby) universities, tourists, and business people all frequent the streetside vendor.[citation needed]

Vendor achievements

Chicken and Rice have their own sweatshirts and bags. The sweatshirts are bright yellow with two concentric red circles in the middle with words between the circles that read: "The Best Halal. Delicious. 53rd and 6th. Chicken and Gyro." Across the circle is a bar that reads: "The Best in New York." The same design appears on their bags, which are also bright yellow.

In 2005, Chicken and Rice was one of four finalists for the "Vendy Award" presented by a New York City street vendor advocacy group known as the Street Vendor Project. Chicken and Rice eventually lost out to Rolf Babiel from Hallo Berlin, a sausage cart on 54th and 5th.[9]

In addition, the popularity of the cart has been further aided by high profile customers. Chef Christopher Lee, who was one of Food & Wine Magazine's best new chefs of 2006, mentioned in an interview with the magazine that he "can't stay away from it" and once was there on Christmas Eve waiting two and a half hours in the cold.[10]

Incident

On October 28, 2006, a fight that started in line ended with 23-year-old Ziad Tayeh stabbing and killing 19-year-old Tyrone Gibbons. Tayeh was later found not guilty, as the jury found that he acted in self-defense. The fight began after one accused the other of cutting in line.[11][12]

The New York Times once reported that the owners have hired bouncers.[13]

In popular culture

The food cart made an appearance in an episode of the television show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

References

External links

• Unofficial Website of 53rd and Sixth
• Review of 53rd and 6th
• 53rd and 6th profile on Yelp, Inc.
• New York Times writeup featuring 53rd and 6th