I've heard a lot about the great street food in NYC. Are there any great places in or around Central Park?

We purchased about the worst food of our lives from a kiosk in the Borghese Gardens in Rome (even the pigeons wouldn't eat it!!!), so I'm a bit nervous about street/park food going forward. Are there certain types, or areas near the park, that we should be looking for, food-wise?

When I lived in New York City I parked my car in a garage wherein a man stored the cart from which he sold hot dogs.

The only facility for cleaning the cart was a filthy little bathroom intended for the convenience of garage workers.

Do you want to hear more?

missypie, most of the great street carts are in midtown and Wall Street - basically, where they get a lot of customers from corporate jobs. Specifically, there are a number of good carts on Wall Street itself and on 6th Ave in the 50's and along 53rd Street by the MoMA. And if you're out late in the theater district, a dog or a chicken gyro might just hit the spot.

In Central Park, there are carts with the run-of-the-mill pretzels and frozen treats. Probably the best of these is at the south end of the boat pond, which sells crepes and empanadas.

Don't let htty scare you off - there are award-winning vendors out there, and a huge variety of cuisines! (Have you heard of the Vendy awards? Check out their website streetvendor.org for specific carts.) Look for carts with long lines: they are the most popular and so have good food, plus the turnover means the products will be fresh. But the carts are regulated and so are as clean or dirty as anything else.

Oh, and the fruit vendors have some of the best produce in the city! Don't hesitate to check them out, maybe on your way to Central Park to have with a picnic.

Do you think it would be a better bet to bring a picnic for our time at Central Park? My kids love parks and intersting playground equipment, so I want to do more than just take a glance at the park.

You definitely could do that - bring pre-made sandwiches and other goodies and hang out at Sheeps Meadow or the Great Lawn. You could pick up eats at any deli or restaurant.

There's also the Boathouse restaurant at the boat pond, another cafe on the east side (I'd need a map to say exactly where), and another one near the zoo. The Boathouse is pricey and a little upscale, but they have a take-away window also that's more basic.

One of the best people watching venues in the world is on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a hot dog and a Snapple.

Don't let htty scare you off. Millions eat from the food carts and they are regulated.

The only carts I eat off of in NYC are the fruit carts. You don't need to pack a picnic. See this: http://www.centralparknyc.org/suppor...-rest/restincp

There was an (apocryphal?) story in the New York Times some years ago in a section devoted to city life.

According to the report a line of New Yorkers was standing at a fresh juice cart on 57th st on a hot day. The person squeezing the juice would wipe some of the sticky juice residue off the juicer every so often - thus holding up the line. A Park avenue Grand Dame of a certain age - in her Chanel suit and pumps - called out: "This is New York young man - we don;t want it clean, we want it now.

If you're really that worried about clenliness you shouldn't be eating from the carts. They are - in general - reasonabley clean - but none could be confused with a hospital emegency room.

Grab great food for a picnic right at Columbus Circle at the wonderful Whole Foods. It is one of the nicest locations in the country and they have all sorts of ready to eat foods!
I love it!

Now THERE'S and idea!

Another possibility is the cafe at the Conservatory Water within Central Park just off Fifth Avenue between 78th and 72nd Sts. It has sandwiches and such with umbrellaed tables on a patio overlooking the pond. While you eat you can watch the magnificent model boats sail by. You can also visit the Hans Christian Andersen (with duckling) statue as well as the well-known Alice in Wonderland statue which are located next to the pond.

Take a look:

http://www.centralpark.com/pages/att...ory-water.html

OR get sandwiches/cookies/salads at Le Pain Quotidien at 58th and 7th Avenue. Walk straight into the park at that entrance and you'll run right into a playground. I can't vouch for how interesting the equipment is, but it always seems pretty crowded. There are a few ball fields around there too--always fun to watch a good kickball game!

That's the newly renovated Hecksher (sp?) playground that coolbluewater mentioned. It's also close to the Time Warner building with the Whole Foods in the basement that TxTravelPro mentioned.
hhty gave you a link for the Central Park Conservancy, who's website has good info on playgrounds and other stuff in the park - take a look at the kids section and also the "virtual tour" (though it's a bit frustrating to use!).

Missypie, I'd still recommend trying a street cart vendor if that interests you! There is a lot of great stuff available (as well as the mediocre stuff), and it's very New York!

I'll give you another story: My old boss was a hypochondriac germophobe extraordinaire - but she regularly insisted on having an assistant get her hot dogs from the vendor on the NE corner of Madison and 55th Street. The cart serves some of the best grilled hot dogs ever - the line is always around the corner! (BTW, she never got sick from the dogs.)

Did you know there's even a pizza guy with a brick oven on a cart??

You can get great take-out sandwiches at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center.
But if you want the cart food, go for it...we all eat it and I have never heard of anyone getting sick...why should they be any dirtier than the kitchen in a pizza place, for example?

Because they don't have cleaning facilities.

Not sure which side of the park you are planning to be on, but a stop at Zabar's (80th & B'way) for meats, cheeses, bread, olives, crackers, cookies, and then a quick walk into the park around 79th St isn't exactly a shabby afternoon!

http://www.zabars.com

Cleaning facilities? Not sure what you mean by that but I doubt if my local pizza place is any cleaner than a food cart!

missypie; Rachel Ray is one Foodnetwork as we speak in central park eating some kind of Dosa (vegeterain) and some other stuff. Might help you out, I think you can check it out on foodnetwork.com

Hey Crunch, this is from NYC and note carts in Central Park aren't included:

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducts inspections of all food service establishments in the city. These establishments include restaurants, retail bakeries, and "take outs." These inspections are unannounced, and are conducted by Public Health Sanitarians who are trained public health professionals with college degrees and backgrounds in the sciences.

During inspections, these Sanitarians spend most of their time evaluating food workers' practices, including the manner in which they receive and store foods, how they process foods, and the temperatures at which they cook, hold, and reheat foods.

htty, you're just being inflamatory. Of course the street carts are regulated.

From the official nyc.gov website:
"The Department of Consumer Affairs regulates and issues licenses required for vending general merchandise and the Department of Health regulates and issues licenses and permits for food-related street vending.

Mobile Food Vending
To sell food on the street you must obtain BOTH a license from the Department of Health AND a permit for the Food Cart as well.

To obtain a license and permit, contact the Department of Health directly. Before applying for a Food Vending License you must take a 20 hour course on Food Handling given by Department of Health."

Check it out for yourself here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/nycbiz/h..._vendors.shtml