Eating ALL of NEW YORK'S Iconic Food

I gotta get no cheese. That is going to be a very hot bite. You know that right? Yes. The savoriness of this hot sauce is out of control man. It's not because it's got Viagra in it. Hey everyone do you want to know what are the most iconic New York restaurant chains? The ones that really define New York in its past and present. Everything from 100 years ago to 10 years ago. We're gonna go do it in this video and our first spot is Cat's Deli. All right so Cat's Deli actually has a history that stretches all the way back to 1888 so they do things very traditionally but I would say it is an iconic chain. Like even if someone's visiting New York City for one or two days I still tell them to go check out Cat's Deli. Now I will say this I've been here before and you can get the regular pastrami or the corned beef or even the brisket on its regular rye with no other sauces but I personally I gotta get it with other like mayo, maybe some lettuce, tomato, some cheese. I'm excited though. I would like mayo. Yeah oh yeah mayo's okay. Not tomato. I'm not getting lettuce and tomato. I'm just getting mayo. I need mayo and cheese. I'm gonna get it. I gotta get no cheese. The cool thing here is you can actually sample the meat before you buy it. It's kind of like a gelato spot. I get a half sandwich with a matzo ball. All right so I got my order guys and I want to be up front. This is not the most traditional Cat's order. I got club bread which is the white bread and I got mayo but I think the mayo is crucial because I've been to Cat's before and I just got the mustard but I always thought something was missing. Here you got your two types of pickles. Your more pickly picklies and then your you know more fresh pickles and then you got your matzo ball which is a traditional Jewish food. It's essentially like a big dense bread ball in chicken soup and I'm actually gonna try all of this with smalah after I take a bite without smalah of course to be respectful. So guys this is your Cat's pastrami on club bread with mayo and mustard. This is just a half sandwich too. The mayo makes a difference. Okay I already know that Cat's sandwich is delicious all right that goes without saying but I really want to know how our new chili oil smalah is going to taste on it because it kind of is inspired by the Italian and Chinese chili oil has a little bit of Sichuan peppercorns for that numbing vibe but also truffle inside as well so I'm just going to see how it goes on all these iconic New York foods because you know it's also a product that we are selling right now smalahsauce.com. Smalah on Cat's pastrami. I mean honestly the pastrami it has a little bit of spice to it obviously the bark of the pastrami is is peppery and obviously the pastrami itself is very salty but I think smalah works great and it really goes good on pairing up with the mayo side which the creaminess of the mayo kind of does tone down the smalah so it adds this nice kick and this is like a Sichuan pastrami that's how it tastes like. Trying smalah on the matzo ball. I know it goes great on carbs too so went really good on the matzo ball. Wow all right so overall I had no expectation of how it was going to taste on the pastrami and the matzo ball because those are not usually dishes you would imagine you would put chili oil on but it really balances out with the mayo and if there especially if there was cheese on this thing it would have been amazing and on the matzo ball surprisingly it went really well because this is a carb so you know what I'm just excited to try smalah on other iconic New York foods. All right you guys we're at the world famous halal guys they started with one cart on 53rd and 6th and now they got 100 globally with 400 in the works. You're looking at it right here. It started off being I believe chicken and lamb but this is chicken and beef now and of course instead of red sauce we got the white sauce here because the red sauce is going to be smalah. Yeah be liberal with it guys. My goodness I'm so excited to try this. Here we go. Halal guys with smalah. It actually works really really well because their regular hot sauce is so fiery. I still like that one too but I'm telling you guys anything that's white whether we're talking about a noodle, a pasta, rice, a carb, smalah works perfect on it. Yeah here we go on the pita. This is like a perfect vehicle to deliver that you know the textures and the complexity of smalah. You really taste the truffle when it's on the pita. It really started like a national trend from just one cart on 53rd and 6th because you got to think about it now even bodegas carry it and I don't remember them always having it before halal guys blew up. Listen guys like I said anything white whether we're talking about a carb or even a cheese we're gonna try it on this baklava cheesecake but just you know just a part of it in case it doesn't work. I think it's gonna be okay though I'm not saying it's gonna be a 10 out of 10 but because ultimately the baklava cheesecake is still so sweet it overpowers it but it has a nice like you know almost like a spiced rum vibe to it. Okay smalah on the baklava cheesecake here at halal guys what I recommended I'll tell you this it's interesting and it might be worth sacrificing a corner for it. It's definitely not bad somebody's gonna like it but like we said smalah it's gonna work better on some things than other things. All right everybody we're at empanada mama and this is a new new york classic because they have multiple locations now in new york they started at one location but they got really popular and now they just got them all over the city and I feel like empanadas are kind of like a pizza where it's just like a blank slate because it's also kind of like a dumpling in fact now I think about it it's kind of like a pizza dumpling because there's breading but it's also shaped like a dumpling anyways you can put anything you want inside the reason why empanada mama is so popular is because they got flavors like bourbon chicken the viagra mac and cheese these are not traditional empanadas but they are delicious look at that bourbon chicken holy all right guys you guys know the deal we're putting smalah on everything that's the theme of this video shout out to the sponsor smalah bourbon chicken if you haven't had it it's delicious it's like this style of grilled chicken that kind of comes from new orleans and anyways let's go all right this one is the mac and cheese one also a very popular one um as you can see they are freshly fried I like the fried flour ones oh okay so this one has ham on it usually at mama empanada you'd use the green sauce the aji but you know of course we're using the red sauce the small again smalah prevails on anything cheese anything cheese or creamy I'm telling you it's 10 out of 10 last but not least you got one of their most famous flavors it's the viagra and I'll tell you why it's not because it's got viagra in it but it's got a lot of shrimp and supposedly I guess you know the folklore is you eat the seafood and the shrimp and it you know gives you that extra power when you need it like viagra but anyways this is one of my favorite there's a seafood stew it's got imitation crab meat but real shrimp inside real plump shrimp look at that wow because this one was rather light in flavor so the smalah just kicks it up holy crap you can tell the way that mama's empanadas runs their business here it's they know they're confident the empanadas are the next big thing obviously there's a huge latin population in new york caribbean population where they all eat empanadas and honestly I think it can be like another hot dog pizza type thing just like the halal cart chicken and rice is also in the mount rushmore of classic new york foods now the pastrami is too I think empanadas are making their way up there especially ones with the new york flavors bacon egg and cheese you got romeo and juliette nutella banana you got pepperoni pizza pernil reggaeton flavors I don't even know what those mean but shout out to mama's empanada man easy to hold like a big fried dumpling maybe that's why I like it all right and just to show empanada mama it's full respect you got to try something with the aji but I'm gonna lace it I'm gonna drizzle it with a little bit of smalah so it's aji and smalah is this gonna be like the lost tacos number one with the guac in the smalah that was crazy because it was like a whirlwind of flavors because you had kind of like the lime uh citrusy burst of the aji and then you had that kind of smooth umami spicy kick from the smalah so actually I would say that really worked well too I was kind of impressed man yo you gotta check if you have not had empanadas in new york what are you doing next up on our iconic pizza crawl through new york city with smalah of course we got prince street pizza man every weekend I see tons of tourists the line is going down that way um it's really crazy now I'm not gonna lie I didn't come to prince street for almost two years because there was some controversy online I didn't like what happened uh so that was my boycott but I think they figured things out and the pizza is still kind of good so what we got is the white slice and we got the spicy pep this is probably the most famous right here big slice guys I already can tell you that it's a let me just go ahead and pour small on it double spicy baby this is a challenge to not make it fall be careful though that is an extra kick but that's delicious I know I'm looking crazy right now but I'll tell you the smaller on top of the spicy sauce already it's kind of mixing in with the oils of the pepperoni so it's almost like the pepperoni were made with smallah it's kind of delicious with the smallah on the spicy pep I definitely give that like a 4.5 out of 5 it really kicked it up perfectly I know my mouth is looking crazy but let me tell you this it's not prince street unless your mouth is getting messy to be honest it's a messy pizza it's very drippy very saucy but it's very delicious and I love the bread it's very fluffy all right here you got the white slice with fresh basil on it and I love small on white slices because it goes so well on cream you know alfredo pasta anything of that sort so let's drizzle it on oh my gosh now I know what you're thinking you're like yo Andrew that's a lot of oil but it's also a lot of flavor all right here we go this is gonna get messy again can I tell you that this is like a big delicious cheese stick right here I don't really know what sauce there is but man that is a lot of great stretchy cheese all right I give the white slice with the smallah four four out of five and I think it's only just because like there was just so much cheese so I had to put more smallah but the smallah just embedded itself into this one so well and again guys prince street had its controversy you know and again but you know people can move past things it's still a good business they really got known for popularizing this kind of Sicilian slice I know some people call it a grandma slice some people it's with a slight different variation I've called it a Detroit pizza but you know this is definitely what prince street is known for but you know I'll tell you this man smallah even goes good on the edge of the bread it's almost like can just go on your breadsticks I think that bite is delicious all right guys so for our next iconic New York food that we're going to be trying with smallah I'm talking about Xi'an famous foods man they have so many locations in Manhattan all over New York all the different boroughs they started in Queens owned by one family and they are known for their really thick handful noodles guys from Xi'an I think I've heard both things I heard from students from Xi'an that they really like this I've also heard some students say oh it's not as authentic but overall everybody loves it man and the flavors are great I mean look at this you can get spicy cucumber super spicy you can get the roja more here which is kind of like essentially your Chinese hamburger and what I love to see here is this little bit of onions the purple onions I like that so we're going to try it on smallah you see how the greens are sticking up that's what I like to see man that's real Xi'an style they got peppers in it too now it's already kind of spicy but uh let's see how the smallah kind of adds in with the Xi'an spices so they definitely have their own chili oil in here already Xi'an famous foods with smallah the smallah did come through I kind of tasted it first because I just poured it on yeah a little bit more here we go first of all everybody I want to give props because this is one of the top roja mores you can get in the city as far as the fattiness of the meat and then having real peppers inside I'd say smallah was a nice little addition I tasted it slightly obviously because there are so much other spices going on but I'm pretty glad guys honestly so far even if the food is already spicy and has its spices smallah works still well on it on to the next spot all right you guys we are in front of the iconic Mr. Softy brand truck this started in 1956 I got my man Frankie right here he told me that I have to get the chocolate and vanilla twist with the cookie crumble on top this is delicious guys I'm telling you there's something about there's something about this ice cream how's that how's that good I'm telling you guys the crispiness from the outside with the chocolate and vanilla twist it's classic but it's still got something a little elevated to it obviously guys putting smallah on the iconic Mr. Softy ice cream is a little unconventional but this is hot right now it ain't bad though people put laugama on it you should try which one is this supreme all right everybody our next iconic New York spot is none other than Joe's Pizza it's been around since 1975 started by a guy from Naples Italy and you know they're famous really for their coal burning ovens obviously there was like a whole controversy earlier this year about whether they're going to do away with coal burning ovens anyways I think Joe's is safe yeah and basically this is an iconic spot because everybody that visits New York City is always like yo I gotta try Joe's I gotta try Joe's whether or not you think it's the best pizza it is absolutely solid and it's a well-oiled machine back there so everything always comes out hot here I have the supreme it's got onions pep and sausage and yeah that's it and then you got the regular cheese and then I really like to get this white spinach slice just because this is a slice you can't get anywhere else let me just go in on the cheese first I know it's weird to say but I would say their sauce is like juicy like it almost does kind of taste very very tomatoey which is always distinctive try to fold this slice oh it's heavy it's heavy it's got a lot of topping that's why it's dripping what I love about Joe's slices is just like it attracts people from all over all different walks of life you can find them here you've got kids you've got different of different nationalities ethnicities spinach one good underrated spinach on pizza does work now how does it work with smile live which is our very own chili wall I'm very excited one of my favorite things to put it on is pizza right now let's try it on the cheese slice drizzle a little bit there smile on Joe's supreme slice apple Joe's white spinach slice you can really see the little drips right there look adds a little color to the slice it's beautiful smile on Joe's that's a new classic right there aren't you guys we are at lost tacos number one right now I'm here with my man Paz thank you for doing this um and we're gonna be trying smile on on these iconic tacos are you familiar with lost tacos number one I'm very familiar big fan um this is my first time trying a cactus taco I'm gonna dive right into this thing long story short guys in 2013 10 years ago these guys had a vision they just started with one in Chelsea market and now is blowing up I wouldn't be surprised if they got 50 of these in the future all right for me uh I think I got to start off with a classic autobata right here it's a nice healthy dose yeah it's healthy your mouth cheers my friend cheers honestly on the autobata it went perfect because some people like the autobata extra spicy anyway like a taquiera ramirez um what'd you think of it on the on the cactus this is fire I think this taco already has a kick to it but the savoriness of this hot sauce is out of control man do you think that lost tacos number one is the best taco chain in New York City I can't think of anything right now that would uh that would top that so yeah do you have like an individual cart or like taco truck that you like better I used to live in Brooklyn been up and down tried most of them there's a there's a truck in uh East Village right now and I think it's not there because there's construction on the street that's on Avenue A and second street uh when the construction is lifted I'm sure they'll be back but I don't know the name of the truck but you'll find it most days like or in the week it's fire that's your spot all right so for me I got the carne asada and I got this little fried pepper here now this is like the Mexican fried pepper but this really reminds me of a lot of Sichuan fried peppers as well let me eat just a tip it's hot glad I got this guac though it's a perfect carrier for the chili oil nice healthy dose I love pairing small ah with something creamy mayo guac it goes perfect all right here I got the pollo asada grilled chicken of course and I'll tell you this if you if you're questioning Los Tacos number one it's Tijuana style tacos and I got friends from LA who are said they're taco snobs and they came here and they still like it fresh made tortilla handmade they got corn and flour delicious stretchy the food is always still you know um juicy so not saying there's not great taco carts out here but I'm saying if you don't want to eat at the cart this is it Los Tacos numero uno all right you guys I'm souping up my quesadilla right here I got this with the corn shell I mean I'm sorry the corn tortilla he told me that it's better that way of course we're gonna soup it up with the smaller this is my very first time actually getting one here listen guys a lot of people say that New York doesn't have good tacos but I really think that that is outdated the past three years you got birria landia you got so many different chains Los Tacos number one I wouldn't be surprised if they have 50 of these up and down the east coast pretty soon yo david david toss that is going to be a very hot bite you know that right yes it's going to be very hot very spicy like I said guys small it goes perfect on pork I love small on pork plus we got the guac as a carrier all right everybody I'm at dim sum palace in Chinatown it's 12 a.m. here I have the Lao Sabao aka the sweet salted egg yolk bun aka lava bun and I'm gonna try it with small ah this is something that I don't know how it's gonna taste because it's sweet and salty inside and it's not usually something you would okay a little lavish there we go a little strike right there that wasn't bad I like trying small on sweet things and dessert like things because I always want to know how they do and honestly it's not bad to get this level of food at 3 a.m. at night in Chinatown is pretty impressive now I wish Chinatown still had the late night culture obviously since covid and everything things have changed so you know a lot of spots aren't open but this is probably one of four quality spots in Chinatown that are really open so here we got the Sing Tao Tao Mai Fun one thing I like about this dish and the way they cook it here it's not too bright yellow it's kind of got this brownish hue to it which means like it's got a lot of that like wok hay small ah on the Singaporean Mai Fun we've got the curry taste the kick of the curry mixed in with the small ah shout out to Dim Sum Palace they also I think own another spot called Dim Sum Sam over by Madison Square Park and that has like a whole more Hong Kong vibe but look the dim sums coming out bam and another thing I like about Dim Sum Palace is that they're doing things a little bit more modern you know they have your classics like pork siu mai but these are actually chicken and these are actually seafood so I'm gonna try the chicken one first none of this has pork I still like the pork ones but you know sometimes I just go for the chicken oh it's a nice white pepper mixed in with the small ah and by the way even though I'm using small ah on a lot of stuff I do want to acknowledge that Dim Sum Palace does have a very very solid la chiu yau and it has uh the chilies inside obviously it's gonna be a little different let me just put a little bit because I want to shout them out the difference between small ah is that this has a lot of like kind of a beany and a darker taste and I guess you would say in a way it tastes more traditionally Chinese but small ah cuts the difference between the Italian Calabrian chili oil of course and that oil truffle umami on this one both are good but hey this is a video about small ah so all right next up we got chicken xiaolongbaos aka soup dumplings New York loves soup dumplings they love the xiaolongbao but also in New York there's a lot of people who don't really eat a lot of pork so of course the chicken ones are very very popular also I'm not gonna lie I think Trader Joe's chicken xiaolongbaos might also help popularize it that's just a theory oddly enough but anyways here I got the vinegar with a little bits of ginger let me just dip it in bathe it in there yeah take a little bath I'm gonna let the small ah flow down the pleats of the dumpling just a little bit oh small ah goes so well on dumplings that I mean I don't even think you need the vinegar I'm just gonna pour it in the top let it flow down the pleats of the dumpling like a mountain range like the the lava flows down a volcano and the reason why I put dim sum palace in the new I the icons of New York City is because honestly this is a chain that you can only find in New York City and it is open late and it started in New York City so that's why it's a new classic all right you guys ever since 2001 in Madison Square Park there is now 400 locations of Shake Shack globally it is probably one of the biggest chains if not the biggest fast food chain to ever emerge from New York City and of course we gotta try small ah on it like we said guys we've got the iconic uh shroom shack right here shroom burger this is actually a fried portobello stuffed with cheese on top of their beef patty so one of the interesting things about Shake Shack's origin story is that it was actually started by Danny Meyer who's from uh 11 Madison Park that is like probably one of the most famous sort of like uh fine dining restaurants you can emerge from that does like new American fusion foods man look at that right there guys if you guys have seen Shake Shack's all across America like we said they really started expanding in 2015 so they really haven't probably been around more than like five years in your city and uh their whole idea was to mix like fine dining thinking with like an old school New York burger so let's try it with a little bit of small ah need to put that tomato back man pay attention to detail they got matching tomatoes on both sides here we go i'm gonna say that the small ah pairs pretty well with this because the portobello is stuffed with so much cheese to give you like the cheesy vibe of course there's mayonnaise in it the own shack sauce as well as the sort of the creaminess from the fat of the uh beef the small ah has truffle mushroom in it pairs really well with the portobello mushroom that's mushroom on mushroom umami on umami of course we can't forget the bacon cheese fries over time they've sort of added like avocado and bacon to the menu at Shake Shack you know more people they want different things as the years go along and uh yeah let's get into this um Shake Shack's fries are always very debatable sort of like in and outs because there's crinkle cut and then in and outs fries some people don't like those too so i think it's interesting that the debate of the New York chain versus the Cali chain that's supposed to have the best burger coast to coast they both might have mid fries i'm gonna settle it i think the Shake Shack fries might have the in and out fries by a hair by a hair because these taste like elevated school public lunch fries whereas i feel like the in and out ones there's a better potato flavor but it's kind of hit or miss i'm gonna edge it barely to the Shake Shack crinkle cut burger wise though i might go with in and out honestly guys i thought it went good on the Shroom Shack burger but it actually went great on these bacon cheese fries i mean i don't know it's just simple it's easy it almost creates like a whole different vibe with the melted cheese i'm sure they're using american man that's a 10 out of 10 all right everybody we're here at one of the newest 7th street burger locations 7th street burger has become a staple in New York City the guys actually are from Jersey but they are killing it they are making the best smash burger in the city for the price i've small-odd this up by the way already so here you go i'm splitting it i might small-odd up some more though hold on and i even have the chopped cheese fries here that's a new item i've small-odd that up small-odd chili oil on the 7th street single i think small-odd goes perfectly with the creamy kind of a special sauce that they have it's essentially big mac sauce but it goes great with that as you know the chopped cheese is an iconic New York dish and now 7th street is doing their version with the fries beef all over small on top let's go more small-odd for the kick oh man it's amazing on the fries because once it hits the actual fry and the sauce it all mixes in together obviously i did put a generous amount of small i'm not gonna lie but overall man it's small-odd with cream goes really well together