Taking it to the Streets—Family-based food trucks deliver New York flavors to Gettysburg and Hanover
By Karen Hendricks | Photography by Casey Martin
The bright green food truck, proclaiming “NY Halal Gyro,” was a curious sight when it first rolled into downtown Gettysburg about 10 years ago.
“At first, people didn’t know what the food was,” says Balal “Billy” Bhatti, the entrepreneur behind NY Halal Gyro. “The only other food truck around was Uncle Moe—who, by the way, is a great guy.”
“So one weekend, I started giving out free food,” Billy explains. “I knew I had a good product—people just needed to try it. I did that on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday—and then Monday, I had a line around the block.”
His business has been rapidly expanding ever since that first sweet taste of success.
Balal “Billy” Bhatti was born into the food truck scene in New York and is following his parent’s footsteps. The food truck can be found in Gettysburg, Hanover and Shippensburg, staying open in the evenings until the food sells out.
Hello, Halal
NY Halal Gyro has a simple but fine-tuned menu—printed directly on the side of the truck: Gyros, Lamb, Chicken, Falafel, Rice Platters, Chicken over Rice and Combo over Rice.
“We have a very small menu, so nothing goes to waste,” says Billy, gesturing around the kitchen-on-wheels, all of his ingredients at his fingertips. That includes a giant rice cooker, holding 30 pounds of cooked rice daily—the foundation of every boxed meal he passes through the window into customers’ hands.
“I’m prepping a Chicken over Rice right now,” he says, while chopping and flipping the meat sizzling on the grill. Spicy scents fill the truck; he pre-seasoned all the chicken earlier in the day. His prep also included chopping up all the lettuce that accompanies the meals.
Grabbing a take-out box, he adds crispy lettuce on one side, spoons a generous layer of seasoned rice on the other side, topping it all with the seared chicken. Next, in a flair of showmanship, his customer peering through the window, Billy shoots a steady, zig-zagging stream of white sauce across the top.
“Everyone likes the white sauce—they say you can never have enough white sauce,” he says, smiling. The secret recipe, he says, begins with a yogurt base. Brave customers also ask him to add splashes of hot red sauce. The final touch is a side order of pita or gyro bread—complimentary with every meal. The take-out box is so full, it barely closes, but Billy expertly pierces the box with a fork—which also helps seal it all together.
“There you go, boss,” Billy says, handing it to his customer, who says he’s a regular.
Felix Rodriguez lives in Hanover, but he’s a Brooklyn native.
“It’s a taste of home, of New York. My favorite is the Chicken over Rice—it takes me back home,” Felix says.
Likewise, Laura Smith is another regular. Her therapy practice is across the street from NY Gyro Halal’s Hanover location—perfect for lunch breaks.
“I’m here about twice a week for either the Combo over Rice or the Chicken Gyro,” says Laura. The combo includes both chicken and lamb, and it’s Billy’s best seller. “It’s just delicious—you can tell they put care into their food. It’s so fresh, and I always feel good afterward. When I’m working, I don’t want to eat something that makes me feel bad or tired.”
She loves NY Halal Gyro’s food so much that she and her husband often visit the Gettysburg location for dinner.
Billy is on a first-name basis with many of his customers—and there are several reasons for that.
His “government name,” as he calls it, is Balal (which rhymes with halal) Bhatti.
“Nobody can say that, so everyone just calls me Billy,” he says, laughing.
One of the most often-asked questions he’s asked is, “What does halal mean?” Billy’s answer is a lesson in New York City history and culture.
“Back in the 70s and 80s, there were a lot of taxi drivers—yellow cab drivers—and a lot of hot dog stands everywhere. Almost 100% of all taxi drivers are Muslim, but the hot dog meat wasn’t halal meat. Just like Jewish people eat food that’s Kosher, Muslim people eat halal food,” Billy explains. “So New York’s hot dog vendors started selling halal chicken on rice.”
Born into the Biz
New York’s food truck scene is a business that Billy was born into, back in his native neighborhood of Queens. He’s following in the footsteps of his parents, who established the family’s first food trucks in the Big Apple.
About a dozen years ago, the family relocated to south central Pennsylvania to purchase and run a convenience store in McSherrystown, a venture that only lasted a year and a half.
“I loved, loved, loved this area—I really didn’t want to move back to New York,” says Billy. “In Gettysburg, you don’t get a city vibe exactly, but everyone knows everyone, and there’s always something going on. It feels safe, and people are so nice.”
Billy and his family sold their New York-based food truck business to his cousin and rolled their experience into Gettysburg’s food truck launch in 2016. Billy was 16.
Today, at the age of 26, Billy and his brother, sister-in-law, father and aunt all rotate between three food truck locations in Gettysburg, Hanover and Shippensburg—with plans to expand to York soon as well.
Food trucks aren’t the only trucks the family owns—they also run a trucking business. Billy says the two complement each other.
“Sometimes when my brother and I need a break from the food trucks, we take a load—we get in the semi-truck and go to California or somewhere far away,” says Billy. “We take 10 days, and when we come back, it’s a reset.”
Most days, when he’s not driving across the country, Billy also begins the day behind the wheel—by driving to Baltimore, Harrisburg or Virginia—the closest locations for Halal meat. The drive is followed by prep time, food truck business hours and, if he’s estimated correctly, each food truck is open until the food sells out.
“Then I clean, go to sleep, wake up and do it all again,” says Billy. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I’ve been doing it so long, it’s like second nature and I enjoy it. It’s not a boring job.”
NY Halal Gyro locations:
157 Carlisle St., Gettysburg
Baltimore Street, Hanover, near Center Square, by Rite Aid
201 N. Queen St., Shippensburg
Find them on Facebook at Nyhalal Gyro and Instagram @nyhalalgyro
