How Do You Keep Vegetarians From Getting To Their Lunch? Park a Hot Dog Cart in the Way!

Healthy Vegetarian Food Cart

A new cart popped up this morning on 52nd & 6th, and Lunch’er Yasmin sent in this report: “I was getting my daily fruit smoothie this morning when I noticed a new cart had been set up directly next to the smoothie truck on NW corner of 52nd and 6th. This DEFINITELY wont appeal to you, but might appeal to your vegetarian readers, or those on diets. Here are some crappy phone pictures…”

I was in the area when Yasmin emailed the photos, so I decided to swing by this new cart and found a “scene” that at this point should surprise nobody.

Healthy Vegetarian Food Cart

Ah, the old park a hot dog cart in front of your new cart trick! We’ve seen that one before… although in this case there is that extra F you to the particular clientele that would be interested in checking out a new cart such as this one. Strangely enough the vendor with the hot dog cart was wearing a Shendy’s Halal t-shirt (their cart is two spaces to the East) and appeared to be unofficially representing all the other vendors parked on that particular stretch of 52nd and 6th.

Healthy Vegetarian Food Cart

Eventually the cops came, and forced the hot dog cart to move (although as of 2pm it didn’t look like anybody was actually selling hot dogs from it. Purely a protest cart, I suppose.)

But what about the food, man!?! Vegetarians deserve a cart of their own, don’t they?

Healthy Vegetarian Food Cart

Veggie burgers, vegetarian chili, veggies, yams, beans, soup, brown rice and the like… choose any four options for $6. Not bad at all. They’re also open for breakfast, serving up oatmeal and fresh juices.

Healthy Vegetarian Food Cart

Apparently these guys are from Chicago, where they own a vegetarian restaurant. They’re committed to staying on 52nd and 6th, so look out for them tomorrow. I didn’t partake (naturally) but if any vegetarian early adopters want to check it out and report back, feel free. You know, provided there aren’t random planters installed in the spot tomorrow.

Healthy Vegetarian Food, NW corner of 52nd & 6th Ave.

33 Comments

  • If you’re ever feeling lonely Healthy Vegetarian Cart, come on down to Herald Square and I will devour you.

  • unions? serious? I dislike unions about as much as Bourdain dislikes vegetarians. Is it going to be like the freelancers union? Because if I ran the city’s food cart system, I wouldn’t recognize any damn union. I’d just make up the rules the city will enforce, and these dudes will just have to comply.

    Obviously, the rules now don’t work at all. If we’re submitting ideas, here are three simple ones:

    1. spot permit
    2. no more than x-number of permits to one entity (person or business)
    3. free market auction of the spot permits.

    fine all the people who break rules, and 2 year ban for stupidass people who do planters.

    see the great thing about an auction is that the city will have money to investigate who the fuck put down the planters, and can ban the person or fine them.

    oh, 4, change that stupid rules that allows disabled vets to automatically vend whatever and wherever they want. If we really wanted to give veterans an advantage, we could give them auction points that’s equal to some dollar amount, thus giving them an advantage or “free money” in the auction.

    City’s missing out. Create the market. Rake the cash. Watch people fall in line. Yea sure, some people who’ve been vending dirty water dogs and making 12k a year b/c they were lucky enough to score a $200 dollar permit will lose out on an auction. You can’t solve every problem.

  • Ah, my friend told me his idea to open up a vegetarian cart recently. It makes sense. Vegetarian or healthy or not, sometimes I wonder if there is anything to eat outside the office that isn’t greasy or make me go #3. This cart sounds safer.

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    5) Draw and quarter anyone mistaking a comment box as an opportunity to one up “War and Peace” (what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!)

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    just had lunch at this place and i really liked it and i have to say the best value i have seen here. everything is really fresh and the guys are super nice. they do the platter thing where you get to choose 4 items (pasta w/ sauce, yams, veg burger, beans, veg, etc) for 6 bucks which looked like a good amount of fresh food for the price. i opted for a “veggie burger” which is really just a falafel type thing that they smear on the inside of a warm pocket pita. they then heaped it with 3 big grabs of fresh grilled veg, nice light tomato sauce, heavily herbed and seasoned tofu that looked like rice, then some nice homemade hot sauce. it was a good size and filled me up completely without over stuffing. and here is the real kicker, IT WAS $3!!!! It was really quite tasty and i felt totally fine after eating (very unusual for my typcial street meat meal). I hope they do well, I’ll be back for sure at least once a week (never gunna give up my trini paki large 1/2 chicken 1/2 veg platter…)

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    They ran out of EVERYTHING!! Before I could get anything. *sob*. And I walked all the way up there from 42nd. . . Not a huge distance, but annoying when I got no food — and then I ended up at Raffi’s. . . and they were out of everything by the time I got back down there!

  • We spotted this cart yesterday too…and decided to go back this morning for some oatmeal. $2.50 for Hot Oatmeal with Raisins, Bananas & Vanilla Soy milk (or regular milk). Cinnamon upon request. Comes the size of a small wonton soup… good and very filling. Will report back next week when we try the lunch. …

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    Hell, find a place to park it in the Financial District and I’d be all over this one (at least once to see whether it’s good vegetarian food or that crunchy hippie garbage).

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    The portions are huge. The food is a little peppery, but not overwhelmingly so.

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    It seems like Shendy’s is involved in a lot of these “halal guys vs everybody else” wars. Weren’t they part of the cabal that drove off the adorable Happy Well Being cart ladies?

    I don’t care how well they do in the street meatapolooza. Shendy’s, as cart aggressors, should be considered off-limits. I work on the same block and I’m never eating at Shendy’s cart. Ever. You guys can give your money to violent a-holes. Not me.

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    At some point, were that veggie cart mine, I’d give a street person 20 bucks to flip that damn hot dog cart over and run away.

  • Shendy’s is two blocks north of where the HWBC was parked for several weeks, so probably not. There are three or four generic halal stands closer to Sixth on 50th than the HWBC location, and they rightfully receive none of my business. (The sombrero cart, across the street, was not a problem and continues to see me once a week.)

    If the hot dog guy is indeed connected with Shendy’s, I’m done with them, too. Too many other decent carts around to deal with arseholes.

  • Healthy Veg has been missing all week. Vegetarians are in withdrawal. Anybody have an idea what’s going on?

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