The Monday Vendy Effect: Excitement or Fatigue?

vendy effect
Photo courtesy of Lunch’er Scott

What kind of effect does winning a Vendy Award have on Monday business? Not sure… although today’s line at the Schnitzel & Things Truck (who won the Rookie Vendy) was pretty damn long on 52nd btw. 6+7th. Was it the Vendy win, or the fact that today was the first day you could get the Schnitzel Burger in Midtown? The Biriyani Cart (which won People’s Choice for a second year in a row) had the same long line as always, while business at the NYC Cravings Truck (a Rookie nominee) was a bit slow. The real effect will probably happen once all the newspapers and TV stations start doing stories on the winners… the Country Boys Truck was on Fox 5 this morning, The Biriyani Cart is scheduled to be on WNBC tonight at 7pm, “Ricksaw” Dumplings will be on the Tyra Show tomorrow, and I spotted the New York Times snooping around the Schnitzel & Things today.

One thing is for sure, participating in the Vendy’s takes a lot out of you. Both the Schnitzel & Things Truck, and the Jamaican Dutchy were late to their spots today!

Related:
Diary of a 2009 Vendy Awards Judge

14 Comments

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Or debilitating boredom?

    I’m not looking forward to the second Thursday after article.

    The thing that would not die the unnatural death it so richly deserves.

  • I JUST missed the burger today! I knew I should’ve gone to the ATM earlier! Oh well, hopefully they will have some next Monday.

  • Scott and I got there first (I was there at 11:42 and the window was closed). We let these two anxious/aggressive people cut in front of us. That picture was taken around 12:10pm, with only 5 orders in.

    Scott and I both got the schnitzel burgers. Scott thought it was one of the better burgers he’s had, and I felt that it was one of the best burgers I’ve had. They could easily go toe-to-toe with The Burger Joint or 5 guys, and compete for the “best burger” status. When I do burgers, I prefer onion rings over fries, and usually put an onion ring in my burger so it gets that crispy/oniony thing going on. The schnitz burger can come with any sauce, but the chef recommends the ginger+scallion+garlic sauce. Between the crispy schnitz, scallions, and burger goodness, it put it over the top for me for my “best burger ever” experience (the fact that I love scallions probably helped here). My only (terribly minor) problem was that it wasn’t american cheese (to me, burgers need american cheese), but they did offer pepper jack, swiss, and and some other cheeses (maybe munster or something).

    When we were done with our lunch at 12:45, the line was still as long as when it started. I hope they get enough business to merit more frequent visits to midtown.

  • RE: “We let these two anxious/aggressive people cut in front of us.”

    Are you kidding me, adamprato?

    Are your SURE that there are ‘aggressive people’ in New Yawk City?

    And YOU let THEM intimidate YOU?

    Surely, you jest. LOL.

  • I 2nd bossman…………….Zachova…remember that black pudding salad…then look at the generic bluuuurrrhhhggg of most carts.

    Also, i still have a bet with paddy power(irish bookmaker here, i know sounds like a mick super hero) that one vendor will shoot another within manhattan b4 new years.

  • Cupcake Stop was being interviewed by somebody today as well.

  • One was a blue collar guy who looked like he could be a cousin of mine. I know these guys get short lunch breaks. I can take my time, so I let him go and didn’t give it any thought (though the girl behind me wasn’t as happy). The other one that cut was this asian guy who looked a bit bewildered. I told the girl behind me to shrug the cutting off as the food comes out fast, and the more people who honor Schnitzel & Things in midtown, the better chance that they’ll be in midtown more often, so it’s a win-win situation.

    Also, I didn’t say I was intimidated, I said that the people who cut were anxious/aggressive (the construction worker was aggressive in a friendly-but pushy way, not in a threatening/intimidating way, and the asian guy was anxious, but probably just a trader). I let the construction worker guy know I was there first, and he defended himself, but that I was happy to do him the favor and let him cut since his lunch break is shorter and that if he liked the food, then Shnitzel & Things would be back more often. He actually thanked me and we were cordial.

    So yeah, us “New Yawka’s” know a thing or two about confrontation.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    See Zach, you use the word diary and the cretins go amuk.

  • I would assume that for us regulars we should hit some “not vendy nominated’ carts for a couple weeks. Give some love to the El Rey Del Sabor, or Kosher Oasis… until the food-tourists get over the hype.

  • Now that redhook is out of the running for a repeat performance at the vendy’s, ERdS needs to step up their game to try to compete for next year :)

  • My fears are that the Vendy’s will result in way too long lines at my favorite spots. The wait already was long at The Biriyani Cart. Now I’ll have to skip it for a month till cold weather keeps people from going far or outside at all! BOOO!

  • Mama: not me. I’m gonna eat only at vendy-nominated places for the next 2 weeks. In fact, I will be eating at the Vendy-Nominated Rickshaw Dumpling Cart every single day, so I can scarf down their craptastic overpriced ‘gourmet’ dumplings while I read and re-read their glowing self-promotional advertisement on being a true Vendy-Nominated star of the NYC food scene. (Of course, each day I’ll then proceed to hurl right in front of their truck, point at the sign and yell “This is BS!!!” They deserve no less.)

  • stevenp – love the post :D, couldn’t agree with you more!!

  • Maybe I’m being over-protective of our local favorites here in Midtown, but does anyone else have a problem with a far-away, weekend-only purveyor winning the Vendy?

    I realize that it’s the ‘Vendys’ and not the ‘Midtown Street Foodys’, but somehow it just doesn’t sit right.

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