Kwik Meal Kin Opens New Cart, Touches off Feud Over 45th & 5th
It sounds like the cops were pretty busy with vendor complaints on Monday. There was the ice cream fist fight on 50th & 6th, the Schnitzel Truck twittered that cops were called to a vendor fight downtown, and there was this thing on 45th & 5th…
I got word a few weeks ago that the owner of Kwik Meal, Muhammed Rahman, has a brother who opened a new cart on 45th & 5th, and was selling biriyani (in addition to chicken and lamb over rice.) Even though this new venture is not associated with Kwik Meal (this year’s Street Meat Palooza winner) in any way, I was still excited to try the food- after all, cooking skills could be genetic, right? Sadly though, by the time I made it over to the corner, the brother’s cart had disappeared.
You may remember that Kwik Meal, which currently has four carts in their empire, used to park another cart on the corner of 45th & 5th called Kwik Meal 2, before it was stolen from the garage it was parked in. They still operate Kwik Gourmet on 47th and Park, Quick Delight on 45th & 3rd, and Kwick Meal IV on 37th and 6th. But 45th and 5th has remained Kwik Meal-less… until Monday.
Once Rahman heard that his brother had parked this new cart in an old Kwik Meal spot, he apparently decided he wanted the spot back. On Monday he moved the Kwick Meal IV cart from 37th & 6th to 45th and 5th, touching off a heated argument between Rahman and the hot dog vendors that park on 45th & 5th. (The same vendors who presumably chased Rahman’s brother away from the spot a few weeks ago.)
Rahman explained that he had “paid” for the spot on 45th and 5th many years ago (in a deal with a vendor who used to park there) and was still entitled to it, even though he hasn’t parked there for awhile. The argument escalated, and the cops were called- but since the Kwick Meal IV cart was parked in a legal spot it was allowed to stay. They were still parked on 45th & 5th yesterday, but it seemed like the issue hasn’t been fully resolved. Rahman hopes to keep the Kwick Meal IV cart in that spot… but you never know.
As for his brother, I found out that his new cart (called Fahima Halal Food) is now parked on the NE corner of 42nd & 9th serving up biriyani and real lamb meat instead of gyro (naturally.) It’s a tad bit out of bounds for street meat, but you know I won’t be able to resist.
Related:
Rule #1 of Vendor Fight Club is You Don’t Talk About Vendor Fight Club
Meal O’Bama Pressured Into Changing Name to Kwick Meal IV
Posted by Zach Brooks at 9:30 am, August 6th, 2009 under Fahima Halal Food, Kwik Meal, Street Vendor Issues.
8 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
That sounds so shady – “paid” for the spot. Haha.
First, Biryani vs. Aamir, now Kwik vs. Fahima.