You've heard of the food pyramid? Here's the man with the "water pyramid."
The piragua (small; $1.50) is the Puerto Rican counterpart to the Dominican raspado; if there's a difference beyond the name, I couldn't tell you. Each begins with ice that's shaved free from a block (the scraper-scooper itself is sometimes called a raspado, though here the brand name was "snow plane"), then tamped down into a cone (that is, a pyramid of frozen agua). Then it's flavored with a colorful pour from one of the bottles that crowd the top of the cart; the custom-blended vanilla in my cup took its golden hue from condensed milk.
Also shown below: a papa rellena ($2), mashed potato stuffed with ground beef, then fried; shrimp-filled cups of fried green plantain (two for $5); a platter ($10) of rice with gandules, or pigeon peas, with masitas de cerdo frita, or chunks of fried pork; the edge of the rice cauldron, showing the desirable pegao, or crisped rice, stuck to the side; a pair of pork beauty shots; and a handwritten sign that offered "cool water" for sale, but to my mind whispered that agua wants to be free.
Salsa Street Party
111th St. (Lenox-Madison Aves.)
Early July
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