1) My office, which was previously at 57th and Park Ave., signed a new lease in a building downtown off of Water and Wall. My 35-minute, each way, commute on the notoriously packed 4/5 train just got upgraded to a cool five minute walk out my front door. Perfect timing, because I couldn't handle another 8 a.m. homeboy fist-fight, and was going to go postal if I had to listen to another rap song blaring out of some idiot's around-the-neck Beats.
2) I finally caved in and let my favorite film-studies graduate, Katie Gagnon, drag me to the movies...two weekends in a row! I've historically not been a big fan of movie theaters; I can't sit still long enough to enjoy a full movie, they're always so cold, and I can't stand hearing people shoving greasy popcorn into their pie holes. However, I think I have turned over a new leaf.
3) And finally, and the whole point of this post, I tried the famed Korilla BBQ! Another benefit of working in the Wall St. area-- food carts that serve something other than chicken over rice and previously frozen knishes, are lined up and down the streets.
This is definitely not a post exclaiming that I've found some hidden gem in the land of truck-food. Korilla BBQ is quickly turning into a franchise-like operation with an addictive following. They've been featured on The Food Network's, "The Great Food Truck Race," have multiple cart locations from the FiDi all the way up to West 116th and has received shout-outs from multiple major New York blogs including, Serious Eats and Refinery 29. Korilla BBQ certainly doesn't need another review by an amateur blogger to help drive traffic to their Tony the Tiger style truck. But, being the self-proclaimed street-food connoisseur that I am, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to toss my $.02 in. (shocking)
Korilla BBQ has a simple, Chipotle-style menu.
Step 1: Choose your vehicle: taco, burrito, or a chosun bowl (fancy talk for a rice bowl).
Step 2: Pick your protein: chicken, pulled-pork, ribeye steak, or tofu. (why bother?)
Step 3: Pick your rice: sticky rice or bacon and kimchi fried rice. I actually think that's a mistake on their menu. I should call them and tell them to fix that. No one would ever actually pick white rice over bacon infused rice. That's my number one favorite food mixed in with my number three favorite food.
Step 4: Choose from a nearly unlimited list of toppings including: kimchi slaw, three different hot sauces, and a handful of veggies.
I wanted to sample a few different options but knew I'd regret my gluttony when my 3 p.m., post-lunch coma hit and I was found slumped over in my chair, possibly drooling. So, I exercised some self-control and chose a trio of tacos. I went for two steak, which the menu refers to as bulgogi, and one shredded-pork. I topped it with the only realistic rice choice, Korilla sauce and cabbage. Troy mentioned that I really should have tried one of the three kimchi options, since that is really the only thing making these tacos Korean, but I don't really like vegetables, so why would I like fermented ones? It was a totally unreasonable request.
The tacos were doubled-up, soft corn tortillas, which are my favorito! The beef is by far the best choice one the menu; it has the perfect sweet, grilled flavor that all BBQ meat products should include. Pretty big fan of the Korilla sauce, too. But then again, it’s mayo-based, so that's a no-brainer. My favorite part of the meal was the adorable little container it was served it. It was as if it was custom created to perfectly cradle three little warm bundles of deliciousness.
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$7 gets you three tacos, which are more than any 5'2" girl needs for lunch. It's a great value for a lunch outing. I'm just glad to have an alternative to lamb gyros after a recent dinner experience rendered my intestines useless for days. Just last week I told the cart server that yes, I did in fact want all three kinds of hot sauce. He must have taken that as some kind of challenge.
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