Midtown Lunch

If you follow the street food scene in Midtown, there was an interesting article on DNAinfo yesterday about how carts have been effected by the food truck crackdown in Midtown. Not surprisingly most of the cart owners are happy to see less competition, but with one exception… the owner of Bap Cha (on 49th btw. 6+7th) said that more people came to eat when the trucks were on his block. It also mentions an increase in food carts (like Wafels & Dinges, and the new Kati Cart by the owners of the Desi Truck), a fact that caused Gothamist to proclaim carts the bigger winners in this whole battle. But let’s not break open the champagne just yet.  Even though carts don’t fall under the meter law, they still face prohibitive laws of their own (laws that are usually ignored until there is a complain lodged, just like the meter law.)  We’ve been hearing that many food truck owners have been asking around about starting a cart, as a hassle free alternative to running a food truck.  And it’s true that carts are taking less flack right now, while the cops focus their attention on the trucks. But it won’t take long for them to turn their attention back to hassling carts, especially if those new carts attract the same crowds and attention as the trucks have over the past 6 months.