LONG ISLAND CITY — Burmese Bites, a popular food vendor that draws long lines each weekend at the Queens International Night Market, will open a food cart Tuesday at Court Square Park in Long Island City.
Owner Myo Thway — whose cooking earned a "Critic's Pick" write-up in the New York Times last year — will be serving his authentic Burmese cuisine on weekdays at the park, located in front of the Long Island City Courthouse on Jackson Avenue between Thomson Avenue and Court Square, across the street from the Citigroup Building.
For the first few weeks, he plans to operate during lunch only from around 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., when customers can expect to see some of the dishes he's best known for, including palata, a flatbread made of wheat dough that gets stretched, folded and cooked on a griddle.
"It's kind of flaky," Thway said of the dish. "The edge is crispy and the middle is — I will call it delightfully chewy."
The food cart menu will include his most popular dish, Keema Palata, which consists of the grilled palata stuffed with minced chicken, onion and egg and topped with a cucumber yogurt sauce.
Another favorite on the menu is the chicken curry palata, a chicken and bean curry with a side of palata to dip into it. The menu will also feature Ohno Kaukswe, a coconut chicken noodle soup.
"It's going to be for lunch only to begin with, at least probably for a couple of weeks until things are settled," Thway said.
After those first few weeks, he hopes to expand his hours to include dinner, when he'll add more dishes to the menu, including "evening snacks" like a tea-leaf salad and spring rolls stuffed with seasoned potatoes and onions.
He also eventually plans to offer mohinga, a popular fish soup that Thway said is often considered the "national dish" of Myanmar.
Burmese Bites has a contract with the city's Parks Department to operate the concession at Court Square Park through 2021, according to the agency. Thway will be at the park from Mondays to Fridays starting on Tuesday.
Burmese Bites will operate a cart in front of Court Square Park on Mondays through Fridays in Long Island City (DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly)
He will also continue to serve his food at the Queens International Night Market in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park on weekends, where he's gained a following of fans as one of the more popular vendors at the weekly food festival.
"Queens night market KING! Take note lines are long and they can sell out so come here first!" one reviewer wrote on Yelp. "This vendor is killer and I can't wait till you guys open up a restaurant."
