Thursday, December 11, 2008

Take a Bao and Ethnic Fast Food in NYC

Fast food is taking all sorts of new shapes and forms, especially after the great success that has been Chipotle. With Qdoba following short thereafter, it was evident that ethnic fast food would be a trend in the making.

Then there was New York Hot Dog and Coffee, a Korean-styled hot dog joint that opened up in the West Village to unanimously rave reviews, opening the doors to fast Asian food! And while I haven't yet mustered up the courage to try their bulgogi dog, a hot dog with traditional Korean beef as a topping, I'm really excited about the next iteration of NYC's ethnic fast food trend: Take a Bao.


Let's face it. Steamed buns (or bao) are a gift from the gods. I've written about them before, but I only ever eat them in roast pork varieties. Take a Bao will change that for me, whenever it finally makes its splash on the NYC dining scene. With fillings like pomegranate steak and spicy sesame citrus chicken, these aren't your average buns. And at $4.50 a bun, it's not terribly pricy either. At least I'll selectively ignore that Fay Da sells the best roast pork buns in the city for $0.95 a pop.

Regardless, this is one chain that I'm keeping my eye on.

Take a Bao, currently in LA at 10250 Santa Monica Blvd.

1 comment:

Alison said...

In case you haven't stumbled upon it, I discovered my favorite fast food place in Barcelona (I generally don't ever eat fast food but I love falafel). Turns out there are 3 locations in NYC, though it's more prevalent in Europe.

Maoz Vegetarian (http://www.maozusa.com/). You order a pita with falafel and then stuff as much of their salad bar items into your pita as possible. I've never seen a fast food place with such a fresh tasty salad bar (even had fried cauliflower, though I hear other locations aren't so elaborate). For 4 Euros and traveling with a vegetarian it was perfect.