The Foda Egyptian Sandwich in Astoria specializes in a delicacy that has spread from its hometown of Alexandria to cities throughout the country.

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A school of thought about the liver believes that the liver should not be cooked for too long, so as not to lose all the rosy pink inside and gradually turn dark brown. Anyone who has eaten kebda Eskandarany is unlikely to agree with this view. This beef liver sandwich has spread from its place of origin in Alexandria to souks, street vendors and takeaway shops across Egypt.

The liver is cut into slices about the same thickness as lasagna, and then quickly sautéed with spices. When it leaves the pan, there is no pink inside. It has no interior at all, only the front and back, both of which are roughly decorated with minced garlic, paprika, pepper and other spices under the luster of hot oil. At this point, the liver is stuffed into a slit made of soft, pale aish fino, whose fluffy softness is between Amoroso's cheese steak rolls and hot dog buns.

A common complaint about a well-done liver is that it tastes dry and dirty. A cream-colored tahini stripe is responsible for the first charge. As for the second one, the fresh green peppers and everything else in the sandwich together turned the uniform from an insult to a deep compliment. Egypt imports most of the beef liver raised in the United States and purchases more than 100 million pounds each year. After eating an Alexander liver sandwich, you begin to understand why.

If every American city had a Fuda Egyptian sandwich cart, more liver could be eaten in the United States. In fact, apart from Wednesday, only one is established in Astoria, Queens every day. It operates near Steinway Street, which is full of hookah cafes and grocery stores.

Even if you don't know that Ahmed Foda, the owner and chef of the trolley, bake fino bread every morning before dragging the trolley to a regular location on the sidewalk. You will see it in the limes and lemons that Mr. Fuda has been squeezing on his liver nearby, as well as small plastic bags of kimchi, seasoned with pickled lemons, and he hands you to chew.

Other patterns are hidden in the boxes and drawers of Fuda's carts. One is a pale green light green juice mixed with vanilla pieces and vegetable mince. The menu on the outer wall of the cart calls this "spicy Egyptian salad dressing" or "halal whiskey." You plan to sip hawawshi from its plastic seasoning cup between a bite. This is the staple food of Kailin street life. It can be grilled sandwiches or barbecue pie, depending on who makes it.

Foda’s hawawshi is located in the sandwich camp, surrounded by a split bread pan that resembles a pita, until you take a bite, you will find the toasted English muffins make a loud, satisfying crunch. Inside is crushed ground beef patties, the same flavor as kofta. Foda's beef can be a little lean, but if you order hawawshi with grilled cheese on it, you can get extra juiciness. When you eat it, halal whiskey functions like dill pickles on a cheeseburger, but in a liquid state.

Fuda is not a cart for people in a hurry. Every time I go, whether there is a long queue of customers or I am alone, Mr. Fuda will take my order and tell me it will be fine in 20 minutes. "I keep everything fresh," he said.

not all. Ful medames are cooked ahead of time to allow time for the broad beans to soften and collapse into a creamy spread. It seems that you can drink olive oil indefinitely. The same goes for Foda's tameeya, which is made from broad beans but tastes like a falafel. Later, when you wait, it is shaped into a flat wheel and fried. It comes from oil with sesame seeds and looks like it is sprinkled on a very small cake.

It seems that the dish that takes the longest preparation time is koshary. This dish caused me a 20-minute waiting time, but I can’t imagine being so rushed that I don’t have time to eat Foda’s koshary. Layered on a soft bed of lentils and rice are intermittent spaghetti and short pasta tubes, freshly boiled, so they remain firm and do not clump. In this process, the chickpeas and garlic are cooked together, and the final piece is a golden fried onion.

Mr. Fuda supplies what he calls garlic sauce—garlic-infused chickpea water—as well as concentrated, spicy, cumin-flavored tomato sauce and rust-colored oil cooked with ground spices. You make the rest yourself, add seasonings at will and stir the whole mass together.

You can supplement koshary with fried pork liver or thin porphyry-colored, slightly spicy beef sausage. However, if you eat the whole bowl of starch and beans by yourself, you will most likely not feel hungry again for a long time.

What does the star rating mean? Due to the pandemic, the restaurant has not received a star rating.

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