RAPPER’S DELIGHTS
Hip-hop gourmet Action Bronson’s guide to his favorite — and most delicious — NYC street treats
NOTHING will stop rapper Action Bronson from finding the best food from every corner of the world. Not even indigestion.
“I have a stomach of steel,” the Queens native tells The Post. “I think I have all the enzymes that are just good. I don’t need Activia,” he says of the tummy-friendly yogurt.
Bronson, a 320-pound, whimsically obscene hip-hop artist and foodie, has an unabashed love for street fare: hot dogs, gyros, zeppoles, mystery meat. He writes about his favorites from around the globe in his new book, “F - - k, That’s Delicious” (Abrams), also the name of his food travel show on Viceland. Harrison Ford is a fan, calling the show “really, really interesting” in a GQ interview.
A former chef at his parents’ Middle Eastern restaurant in Forest Hills who never quite abandoned his culinary roots when he made it big in the rap world four years ago, Bronson’s hunger has taken him everywhere from Spain, where he savored Peruvian-style fried octopus on squid-ink bread, to South Africa, where he scarfed street meat “like you’ve never seen before.”
He admits there was one food that got the best of him — and it was the one he least expected: Nando’s, a common rotisserie-chicken chain in the UK.
“I’ve eaten all kinds of crazy s - - t, but I got sick from Nando’s — unbelievable,” says Bronson, whose tough hip-hop exterior turns tender when he gets to talking about food, reliving childhood memories of his Albanian nonna’s fried dough and her pasul, a white bean and spice soup.
There are few places where Bronson likes to eat more than New York City. You’re just as likely to see him rolling up to a no-name taco truck at midnight for a cheap No. 3 special as you are to find him pounding down pasta at classy Williamsburg Italian restaurant Lilia — he lives nearby and frequents the neighborhood spot for chef Missy Robbins’ creamy, saffron-topped agnolotti, straight from the counter.
Food also inspires Bronson’s raps — his early mixtape “Bon Appetit . . . Bitch!!!!!” for example, includes tracks such as “Dabble in Truffles” and “Ceviche.” On the following pages, Bronson shares his thoughts on some of the Big Apple foods that fuel him.