Midtown Lunch

For the last few weeks, Yassir Raouli, the owner of Bistro Truck has been quietly running a food cart from multiple locations around the city. He decided to close the food truck back in 2012 due to difficulties with permits and to focus on his downtown restaurant Rustic LES. But now he’s back on the streets.

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Whenever Bistro Truck brought their refined Moroccan food to Midtown, I went a little lamb crazy. I was a big fan of their food and was very excited when they expanded into a restaurant last year. Yesterday we got some sad news that the truck won’t be back on the streets this season. Owing it to the difficulties facing vendors like impossible parking regulations and high permit costs, the crew are going to focus on their restaurant Rustic LES. They also hint at a possible “Bistro Truck” brick and mortar. Is it too much to ask for them to make it in Midtown?

A few months ago, there was speculation that Bistro Truck would be opening up a brick and mortar restaurant in the Lower East Side. Well, it’s all true and they’re almost ready, but they just need a little more financial support. So they launched a campaign on the Kickstarter-esque website Smallknot to help put the final touches on Rustic L.E.S. Pretty awesome rewards are promised for certain dollar amounts (like gift certificates to both the truck and the restaurant and private cooking lessons with Chef Yassir Raouli), but if they surpass their goal by 150% everybody who donated is invited to a lamb roast block party. You can watch a video about the campaign and make a donation at the smallknot website. I wonder how much it would cost to bring the truck back to Midtown?

Followers of The Bistro Truck on twitter may have noted with concern the recent tweets saying that yesterday was its last day on the road for a while. Yesterday afternoon, a notice when out from their PR folks saying that chef Yassir was heading to Morocco to “gather inspiration” and that “big plans” and “exciting news and updates” would be coming when he returned.  Zagat Buzz apparently received the email and speculates about a potential brick and mortar launch. We can’t say either way, but have no idea how we’re going to manage 2-3 months without that delicious mixed grill platter.

Those of you who work around 53rd and 6th Ave. might have noticed this truck setting up shop today for some event… it’s actually the Bistro Truck, repurposed for a week long promotion to spread the word about turkey.  They’ll be giving out free turkey burgers every day this week starting tomorrow, but won’t be in Midtown until Friday (on 52nd and Park).  We can’t say we love turkey, but we love free stuff and the Bistro Truck can make anything taste delicious!  As for today’s craziness?  We were told it was a media only preview event… but who knows? Maybe they’ll start giving stuff away to slackjawed passerbys…

Ever since they launched in 2009 and ultraclay gushed over their mixed grill platter, the question on everybody’s mind concerning the Vendy Award nominated Bistro Truck is when will they join the truck shuffle and come to Midtown. Up until two weeks ago, they were comfortable staying at their usual location in the Flatiron District on 17th and 5th Avenue. But as we previously announced, they’ve added four new locations to their roster and Midtown East got lucky on Thursdays when they’ve been showing up on 55th between Park and Lexington.

Besides a tasting at the Vendys, I had only tried the Morroccan truck once before. So last Thursday I was pretty excited they’d be nearby. I arrived at 1:00pm and was surprised to discover no line. While it was refreshing not to have to wait an hour at a food truck, I feel like a bigger Midtown welcome is in order for these guys.

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It’s been two years since we pondered when the Flatiron staple, Bistro Truck would make it’s way to Midtown. Since then, it has been stationed on or near the same block of 5th Avenue at 17th Street pretty much every day, but that’s all about to change.

Starting Monday, the Moroccan food truck will be spreading the love, taking its blend of North African, Southern European and global dishes around town. On Mondays they’ll be on 27th between Park and Madison, Tuesday in SoHo on Hudson and King, Wednesdays are their sole day in Midtown on 55th between Park and Lexington, Thursdays they’ll be down in the Financial District serving to Downtown Lunchers on Water and Wall Streets. For the loyal followers in Flatiron, they’ll still be in their current spot every Friday.

They’ll also be offering a newly streamlined menu, which I hope doesn’t stop them from offering some of the daily specials that have made them great like the fish tacos and the mixed grill I loved so much.  Check it out after the jump…

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Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays at 10am? Answer… how about a new column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we’ll post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or as we’ll call it from now on: Flatiron Lunch.

The Bistro Truck is such a tease. When Zach posted about their opening last year, he mentioned that they might come up to Midtown eventually. Nearly a year later and we still get no love. So, after spending all winter drooling over the tweets about their specials, it was time to take matters into my own hands and hop the bus down 5th Avenue.

Except for some recent difficulties that have left them renting someone else’s truck, they have been showing up to the same spot on 5th Avenue near 17th Street pretty faithfully. That’s just bad news for Midtowners because they serve some great Moroccan specialties along with burgers, frites and regularly changing specials that I’d love to have closer to the office.

Some more on the menu and the food after the jump…

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