Midtown Lunch » Frites N Meats

Frites N Meats Not Coming Back to Midtown

The ML Team — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:30:52 +0000

If there was ever proof that we are a bunch of fatsos, here it is. The Frites N Meats free french fry tour never made it Downtown yesterday, because after a stop in Midtown and a stop in the Flatiron they ran out of frites! But fear not our fat friends to the south… they’ll be hitting up the spots they missed with more free fries over the next few days. As for their return to Midtown? The brothers told DNAinfo that because of all the trouble trucks have been having in Midtown these days, they will not be returning. (So it’s a good thing you scored those free fries yesterday.)

Frites N Meats Returns Today w/ Free Frites

The ML Team — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:00:49 +0000

As promised last week, the Frites N Meats truck will make its triumphant return today by traveling all around NYC giving out free french fries. And the best part is, they plan on starting off their run in Midtown! According to this schedule on their blog, the truck will be on 52nd and 6th from 11 to 11:30am with free frites, before making their way down to the Flatiron and Financial Districts. Of course the schedule is just tentative, so make sure you check their twitter or the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out.

Frites N Meats Set to Return on Monday

Zach Brooks — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:00:26 +0000

If you checked the Twitter Tracker this morning you might have seen that Frites N Meats is gearing up to return four months after the horrible accident on the West Side Hwy that put one of the guys in the hospital and ended up with the owner being arrested and charged with reckless endangerment. According to their blog they are going to be back on the streets Monday. Can’t wait that long for some street food action? Papa Perrone is on 55th w/ panelle sandwiches, Coolhaus is on 40th and 6th w/ Blue Bottle ice coffee, Crisp on Wheels is on 51st and Park, Kimchi Truck is on 47th & Lex, Wafels & Dinges has one of their carts on 60th & 5th, Eddie’s Pizza is on 46th btw. 5+6th, and Luke’s Lobster is on 55th & B’way. As always check the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out.

Street Vendor Knife Fight; Frites N Meats Arrested

Zach Brooks — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:30:02 +0000

A street vendor was arrested on Friday after he knifed a rival hot dog vendor in the face…. and that wasn’t the only street food news on the blotter this weekend. The owner of Frites N Meats was arrested and formally charged with reckless endangerment, following last month’s explosion on the west side highway. They still hope to get FnM back on the street by August. [via Eater]

Great… Another Thing For Food Trucks To Worry About

Zach Brooks — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:30:20 +0000

Add community boards to the growing list of things that food trucks now have to worry about! In light of the Frites N Meats explosion on Monday, a member of the Tribeca community board expressed concern about about food trucks being “roving firebombs”. Even though DNAinfo has discovered that the Frites N Meats may have had more than the legal number of propane tanks on their truck at the time of the explosion, it seems a bit hyperbolic to punish all food trucks because of one rule breaker… especially considering this is the first incident like this that I can remember, and food trucks have been a part of the NYC landscape for years and years. Sadly, the anti-food truck movement will look for any reason to get rid of street vendors and this is now going to be added to the list of reasons.

Speaking of the Frites N Meats Truck… members of the NYC Food Truck Association will be donating a portion of their proceeds today to help the Frites N Meats Truck get back on their feet.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/04/is_propane_safe_for_food_truck.html

Frites N Meats Explodes on the West Side Highway

Zach Brooks — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:30:08 +0000

Did you see the crazy late afternoon food truck news yesterday (seemingly ripped from Friday night’s episode of CSI: New York!?) After serving up lunch yesterday on 46th btw. 6+7th, the Frites N Meats Truck exploded on the West Side Highway en route to serving dinner in Tribeca. It’s not entirely clear what caused the explosion (DNAinfo mentions something about the truck getting into an accident with a car, while the New York Daily News makes it sound like propane tanks on the truck spontaneously caught fire and exploded) but the two employees on the truck were taken to the hospital with “serious but not life threatening” injuries. The owner Hiassam checked in late last night with this update:

We can’t believe this happened, we are shocked… My brother, Mohamed got banged up pretty good, he will be in the hospital for a short while, everyone else is ok. But thank God it was not worse. If you publish anything, please Thank everyone for us, the fans, the twitter followers and especially the FDNY, NYPD and EMS. Please Thank them for us. Yes…the truck is destroyed but in the long run, everyone will be fine (it could have been worse.)

Obviously the truck will be off the streets indefinitely, and we wish Mohamed a speedy recovery.

Frites n’ Meats Under New Ownership, Promises to Improve

Chris H. — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:00:38 +0000

One thing we didn’t realize when we posted our write-up of Frites N Meats earlier this month was that they were under new ownership as of October ‘10. Ali, who previously worked in the truck, and his two brothers have purchased full ownership from the famously cantankerous previous owner, Vadim Ponorovsky, and are now working on damage control – trying to repair the truck’s relationship with other vendors, and earn back goodwill from lunchers around the city. Apparently they’ve also taken the constructive feedback from the comments and forums to heart and are working to make the burgers juicier without compromising on the “natural taste and quality of the meat.” Everyone deserves a second chance, so if you pay them a visit let us know if they’re making good on their promises of improvement.

One Year Later: Frites n Meats is Good but Could be Great

Chris H. — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:30:57 +0000

Over a year has come and gone since we’ve written about the food that Frites n Meats offers to lunchers all over the city. Since then, they’ve shown quite the penchant for generating non-food headlines, whether it be the frequent tussles with other food trucks, their indirect involvement with an increased crackdown on food trucks in Midtown, or even DeBragga-gate of 2009. As interesting as it may be to read and report on restaurant and food truck drama, it’s always been about the food here at ML, and I decided to fight this week’s cold weather with their spicy jazz burger and a cup of chicken noodle soup.

Frites n Meats offers a rotating weekly menu of special burgers, and this week, the ‘Spicy Jazz’ burger’s card was up. The usual burger suspects, a modestly portioned patty of grassfed angus, cheddar cheese and lettuce get some added pizzazz from roasted red peppers, jalapenos and a spicy mayo condiment. There’s a yearning to make this burger ‘gourmet’, given the pedigree of the proteins (DeBragga) – and flavor wise it’s fine, with appreciable beefiness and the slight funkiness of grassfed cattle. However upscale cheese (Murray’s) and a bourgeoisie bun (Balthazar) can’t cover up for all of the sins of the posh burger patty, which ended up mushy and pulpy instead of juicy and meaty. Additionally, it’s aggressively priced at $8.50, which doesn’t leave room for additional side dishes if you’re sticking to the ML minimum of $10. Unfortunately there will still be room in your stomach if this burger is your sole source of lunchtime sustenance.

The fries ($3.00) have markedly improved since downtown Chris’s assessment a year ago. The double fried spuds are well prepared – assertively crisp, fluffy in the middle, satisfyingly greasy, and lacking the burnt flavor that sometimes plagues other double fried frites. In short, it’s an admirable attempt at a food truck french fry.

Frites n Meats also offers a weekly soup special ($3.50), this week’s being chicken noodle soup. Their take on this comfort food classic is a likable, crowd pleasing soup – lightly creamy and silky, and the flavor balance of chicken, salt and parsley strongly evocative of the classic Campbell’s brew. This soup, like their finely fried frites, outshines the burger.

Despite my lukewarm reaction to the burger, there are still plenty of reasons to visit Frites n Meats. They’re quite good at keeping the menu spiffy with constantly changing specials, and it seems like they’ve taken feedback to heart given the improvement of their fries. Additionally, the $8 skirt steak sandwich seems to have flown under the radar and certainly sounds intriguing. As much as I love a sensationalist story, I’m hoping our future coverage of Frites n Meats will be nothing but appetizing analysis rather than another belligerent byline.

Today they’re parked on 26th and Park Ave. You can follow the Frites n Meats truck on twitter or on the ML Twitter tracker to keep updated on their location and weekly specials.

52nd Now Off Limits To Food Trucks?

Zach Brooks — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:30:01 +0000

Last Tuesday the cops permanently banned food trucks from in front of the Fox News Building after the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck parked alongside the Frites N Meats Truck on 48th btw. 6+7th. And it looks like 52nd Street might be next… yesterday the Frites N Meats truck were kicked out of their spot on 52nd and 6th by the very same cops- and told that if they came back their truck would be seized. Wafels and Dinges usually spend Fridays on 52nd so I guess we’ll find out today if it was an isolated incident or a permanent ban… UPDATE: Frites N Meats got kicked off of 52nd for parking just East of 6th Ave. (an area nobody has ever successfully parked in.) Most trucks park West of 6th Ave.

Rickshaw And Frites N Meats Still Fighting

Zach Brooks — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:30:34 +0000

Following yesterday’s story about the dust up between Rickshaw and Frites N Meats, Rickshaw owner Kenny Lao told Grub Street that the notoriously hot headed FnM owner Vadim used racial and homophobic slurs against him. Vadim responded by saying Kenny is just trying to shift focus away from the fact that he ruined the spot on 48th for everyone else.