Visit This New York City Corner Spot To Enjoy The Original Location Of This Iconic Halal Cart

Stand at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and West 53rd Street in Manhattan, and you'll be a stone's throw away from a few different major attractions: the Museum of Modern Art, Radio City Music Hall, an incredibly overpriced steakhouse owned by Salt Bae. But you'll also be right near the original location of The Halal Guys, which began as a humble food cart before turning into an empire of delicious Middle Eastern food sold at affordable prices in cities all across the country. (You can even get it at Yankee Stadium, though at a much higher price than you'll likely get on the street corner.)

The Halal Guys started life as one of many hot dog carts in New York City back in 1990, but it didn't stay that way for long. Mohamed Aboulenein, who ran the cart along with his associates Ahmed Elsaka and Abdelbaset Elsayed, believed that hot dogs weren't quite satiating enough for their clientele and began selling halal dishes such as chicken, gyros, and pita. Word of mouth quickly spread, especially among the many Muslim cab drivers in New York City, and the Halal Guys became a beloved institution. Lines used to extend down the block; thankfully, these days, there are enough locations that you can still get a solid, reasonably priced lunch in a hurry.

Much as Chinese and Mexican immigrants serve Americanized versions of their national cuisine, so too do the Halal Guys. Their food has all the typical hallmarks of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine — your gyros, your falafel, your pita bread, so on and so forth. The big hit is their chicken served over rice, which was developed early in the chain's existence and became an instant favorite. Chicken and rice, of course, is an old-school chicken dish that has become so commonplace that it's almost underrated despite its ubiquity.

Then there's the famous white sauce, which has become a cult hit in its own right. It's not quite tzatziki, but it's not quite anything else, either. The sauce is tangy, creamy, fresh, and delicious. (Mind you, you'll get a similar condiment at just about any other halal cart in New York City, but none quite like the Halal Guys' white sauce.) If you manage to recreate it at home, you can probably use it for all tzatziki-related uses, including as a base for cole slaw — but until then, you'll just have to head to a Halal Guys' cart if you want to drizzle some on your wrap.