Patacon Pisao (the original truck)

Before the storefronts on Essex Street and in Elmhurst, there was this truck on West 202nd Street, parked between Ninth and Tenth Avenues since the mid-2000s. It is still here, still the one regulars call the original, and still open long after the rest of the neighborhood has gone to bed.

The patacón is the Maracaibo street sandwich that gives the truck its name: green plantain smashed flat and fried crisp, used in place of bread around shredded beef, grilled chicken or pernil, with beans, cheese and sauce. Add pastelitos, the fried turnovers, and eat at the curb. It is messy, filling, and exactly right at one in the morning.