Sammy's Halal

You've probably heard about the area where I work: metal recycle shops, abandoned warehouses, truck yards, and auto repair centers. And my building. And no lunch options except a questionable pizza shop, questionable Chinese food, questionable diner food, and solid Thai food. That's about it though. But Jackson Heights (remember Little Columbia?), about 10 minutes away by subway, is abundant in good eats with plenty of Indian, Latin, etc. restaurants.

And Sammy's Halal. I've been ranting and raving about trying this place out ever since last year's Vendy Awards, which rates the best street cart vendors in the city. And Sammy's was #1 for all of New York! Considering how many Halal street carts there are, that's really saying something.

By the time I got to work this morning, I was desperately craving a buffalo chicken sandwich from anywhere. Don't ask me why, but that salty, spicy combination was making me drool at 9:00am. During a coffee break, some coworkers and I inspected the cafeteria to see if there was any sign of buffalo chicken being an option at lunch today (real busy day at work:o/ ) and it was definitely not an option so one of my coworkers suggested that we finally make the trip out to Jackson Heights to see if Sammy's was really all it's been made out to be.

We made it to the street vendor Mecca by lunch time and bowed down to Sammy's plastic trophy as we ordered a $5 chicken and gyro on rice combo with white sauce and spicy sauce and then made the road trip back to the cafeteria to consume our delictable meals. My poor Indian coworker doesn't eat meat, so he was stuck with his standard salad bar meal at work, but Sammy's Halal rocked! Spicy (and salty :-D) , but not overwhelmingly so, with fluffy rice, well-spiced meat, and even a little lettuce. I'll be back, Sammy, don't you worry...

I was sitting in the chiropractor's office today when it dawned on me that I had no idea how many times I've been to Europe since my first trip in 1995. I've been to South America three times, but I have no idea about Europe. And I realize that I'm pretty lucky to be able to just go to American Airline's website and book a ticket to Europe without even thinking twice. The rest of the world has to go and get a visa, but not us. Many people go through their life without seeing other parts of the world, so I am definitely fortunate for this.

J. Riley, I'm not done with my South America trip diary, which will appear below on the dates that they occurred. Lot's more important stuff to write about!!