Falafel Olympics
There are many staples of a Y&B diet - top ramien, mac'n cheese, cold pizza and a sudden interest in vegetarianism. Whether you are new to being a veghead or a longtime lover of tofu, the results of our recent West Village experiment may be of great interest to your meatless palette. For the best in veggie fare a few comrades and I ventured on the cheapest taste testing outside of free weekend samplings at Costco - a falafel olympics! There are many highly praised falafel joints in this fine city but to stay within walking distance and our lunch hour, we opted to try the cheapest deal around, the highest praised online and a newbie spot in the West Village. Read on to see how their fried balls (alone and in a sandwich) stacked up against each other...
{Cheap & Dirty}
Price: $2.50 (falafel sandwich)
Tasting notes: More fried, greasy & cold
{Touted Local Favorite}
Price: $5.50 (falafel 'green' sandwich)
Tasting notes: Tasty herbs & crunchy
{Newbie to Falafel-Making}
Price: $8.15 (falafel platter)*
Tasting notes: Flavorful, crispy & Mmmmmm
* It would be good to note here that The Hummus Place did not actually make a falafel sandwich and thus a full lunch special was ordered to have all ingredients on hand to procure a sandwich of equal standing.
Award Breakdown
Not surprisingly, we discovered you pay for what you get. We all agreed that Mamoun's fast food falafel was not quite up to par with the others and surprisingly (in a blind tasting mind you) The Hummus Place falafel unanimously out ranked our local fav, Taim. Watch out Azuri, there's a new falafel king in town!
The Hummus Place (7th Ave) {GOLD: Best Falafel}
Taim {SILVER: Best Sandwich & Best Pita}
Mamoun's {BRONZE: Best Value & Fastest Service}
Other flavorful fried chickpea balls around town...
Alfanoose (Financial District)
Azuri (Midtown West)
Moustache (West Village)
Olympic Pita (Midtown)
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