4. Trini Paki Boys Cart
(43rd Street and 6th Avenue, Manhattan)
Photo: Kevin Ornelas
Predating NYC’s current obsession with gimmicky food trucks, the Trini Paki Boys Cart is one of the city’s most unique variations on a classic New York staple: the roadside halal cart. Mohammed Khan, a vendor of mixed Pakistani and Trinidadian parentage, and his Trini mum Fatima serve up halal “street meat” with a Caribbean flavor twist, but what really makes Trini Paki Boys so incredible (and so surprising to find in a sanitized, corporate stretch of Midtown Manhattan) is Trini staples like shark and bake (fried shark meat sandwich) and doubles. Get both with tamarind sauce.