a generous helping of golden yellow rice
sits underneath 12-hour marinated
chicken seared until tender
roasted gyro meat sliced straight from
the vertical spit
packed together with crisp lettuce
tomato onions and peppers along with a
few delicate slices of pita served soft
and warm from the stove
but it's the extra creamy secret white
sauce and notoriously spicy red sauce
that made the halal guys chicken and jar
platter and new york legend
the word halal refers to a specific way
of butchering meat in the religion of
islam but in new york because of this
one food cart people also use halal as
shorthand for a whole collection of
street meats sandwiches and combo
platters the most famous of which is a
platter with only five key ingredients
it's like one of my favorite foods to
eat so i came the first time i remember
and i ate it and i was in love instantly
and it was like one of the best things
i've ever in my life so now
yeah
they're egyptian just feels like
feels like home yeah
combination sure the combo platter
starts with a layer of golden yellow
rice which is made from scratch off-site
before heading to the cart
this basmati rice takes the longest to
make stirred for over 45 minutes and
prepared in 40 pound batches enough to
fill 60 to 70 platters
but really it's the chicken that takes
the most care and attention it's always
marinated for 12 hours
and although the recipe is secret middle
eastern street meats generally use a
marinade of herbs lemon olive oil salt
and pepper
the halal guys wait to chop the chicken
until it's fully cooked this way it
stays tender and becomes as juicy as can
be after we cook it and well done we
cover up by the bitter bread you will
get the flavor of the chicken and the
pita bread
next comes the beloved beef gyro which
is half cooked on a vertical spit
another secret recipe the seasoning
likely has a mix of traditional gyro
spices like salt pepper paprika and
oregano cooks shave it as soon as the
meat becomes a dark brown color using a
mechanic slicer rather than a knife
because it's quicker and more consistent
back at the cart the gyro shavings are
placed on the stove and chopped into
even squares initially the halal guys
serve gyro meat in long shavings like
many other halal food vendors but they
switch to smaller pieces in order to
keep up with demand and finally but
maybe most importantly comes this
question uh white sauce all over yeah
just like just all of the chicken okay
no problem like a lot of it yeah
you have to get the sauces most
importantly the white sauce
i personally never asked the exact name
of it
but that really makes the meal it's just
white sauce right i think we all call it
white sauce carts across the city have
tried to mimic the recipe but the halal
guy says no other place has cracked the
code based on the to-go packets of white
sauce this creamy substance is a
combination of mayo black pepper vinegar
salt and a few other ingredients
but one thing we're sure about the red
sauce isn't for everyone we call the
high sauce 9-1-1
because it's very very spicy i
personally have not tasted it
what ever never i don't eat spicy i
cannot tolerate spicy the sauce has a
scoville rating between one hundred
thousand and one hundred thirty thousand
which is over forty times hotter than
tabasco hot sauce
the cart guys won't let you walk away
without telling you just how spicy it
can be and recommend taking a couple of
packets to go rather than drizzling too
much on your platter i love the white
sauce and i love spicy so i definitely
love the red sauce too recommend both
next time we'll get barbecue okay wait
this barbecue
oh dude
30 years ago there were few halal carts
in manhattan until the halal guys opened
one on west 53rd and 6th avenue it
didn't take too long to win over
customers particularly cab drivers
looking for an easy way to eat halal at
that time they didn't find any halal
food in new york city so they came up
with the idea there's a lot of muslims
here why can't we provide full halal
meal for muslim cabbies and it started
that way
now street meat is everywhere but those
cabbies have spread the word about the
platters and gyros specifically from the
halal guys we have deals for cab drivers
okay like better pricing couple of bucks
cheap or something discount not to
mention there's even an express taxi
line for drivers only it's unfair but
this is their policy that if you're a
cab driver you don't have to wait in the
line you just skip from here and we give
your your santa show whatever the me and
you keep going so
halal street food has become a staple
meal for new yorkers in a rite of
passage for visitors
the cart has been praised by magazines
radio stations and celebrities just
something you have to try it's like you
can't go to new york and not try guys
what does it remind you of home
love sweetness not sweetness spiciness
oh my god the chicken is so tender
the rice is exquisite and the white
sauce
i would die for the white sauce
just how the white sauce complements the
chicken
and the spices that it's marinated in
i really loved it i regret not trying it
sooner now i'm going to spend the rest
of my life eating more of it
hot sausage
yeah you have it right now right yeah
all right no problem enjoy your food sir
thank you so much thank you have a
wonderful day thank you thank you