Pakistan Day Festival

Pakistan's mountainous North West Frontier Province — the frontier is with Afghanistan, via the Khyber Pass — is home to the chapli kebab, which rarely sets foot in the five boroughs.

At heart it's simply minced meat flavored by the likes of cumin, pepper, and onion, often shaped like a slipper, or "chapli" (today's were more rounded), then fried or grilled till crisp at the edges. Most of the work is done with bare hands — this fellow used one to shape and deposit the patties and the other to ask patience of the crowd — and that's how they're eaten, too, using flatbread or just your fingers.

The man at the center of the action was once connected to a place called the Frontier Kebab House, which seems to be long gone; today he was sitting barefooted on a plywood platform atop egg crates, working a single large fry pan, facing ranks of imploring festival-goers. Securing a plateful of chapli kebabs would have been near-impossible without the help of my three newfound dining companions — thanks again!

Pakistan Day Festival
Madison Ave. between 23rd and 26th Sts.
Mid-August