Midtown Lunch

Those of us who love eating street food, but hate taking lunch back to our desks, have a common problem.  Where should we eat?  There are a number of indoor pavilions and outdoor seating areas scattered across Midtown, but sometimes I just wish there was a place right next to the carts to just saddle [...]

It was all fun and games earlier today at many of Midtown’s street carts, but on Tuesday there was an organized protest on the steps of City Hall by street vendors who feel an increase in hostility from powers that be. “The top spokesman for the Police Department, said that no broad crackdown was [...]

A few reports have come in today about police activity in front of the Vendy Award winning Biriyani Cart (on 46th and 6th.) According to Lunch’er Chris it might have had something to do with the crowds of people waiting on line for biriyani in front of Cafe Europa (the generic Midtown deli on [...]

Thanks to Lunch’er Robert for sending along this cartoon from Non-Sequitur.
Related:
Own A Print of the Elwood Smith Vendor Wars Cartoon from the New York Times

The overhyped by the press, but underwhelming from a food standpoint, La Cense Burger Truck announced on Twitter yesterday that they’d be hibernating until Spring. Winter is traditionally a slower time for street food sales, but for most vendors it’s still worth coming to work (as long as you don’t sell ice cream.) [...]

Yesterday, street vendors is Brooklyn took to the streets to protest against what they are calling “police harassment”. According to one vendor who parks on Clarkson Ave. in Flatbush, the cops have been trying to get rid of them ever since a dispute between two vendors ended in a fight last month. That sounds [...]

It feels like the fervor over street vendors has reached a peak this year, but it didn’t happen overnight.  It started more as a slow trickle years ago. Two German brothers selling sausages on 54th Street. A former chef from the Russian Tea Room doing an upscale version of lamb over rice. A [...]

Sean Basinski from the Street Vendor Project is taking questions on City Room, and it’s pretty clear that NYT readers aren’t quite the street food fans we are (i.e. “What are the safety regulations of vendors? Often they appear to urinate without washing their hands – some into their own carts? Is that the etiology [...]

A quick update on Eliana, the hot dog lady who had her cart seized by police last month when they kicked all the vendors off the NW corner of 43rd St. and 6th Ave. With the help of the Street Vendor Project, she got her cart back and returned to her regular spot last [...]

Where have I seen this before?
Fahima Halal, the cart run by Muhammad “Kwik Meal” Rahman’s brother, decided not to return to 45th and 6th today (after spending the weekend parked right next to his brother’s cart.)  Instead he went back to 42nd and 9th, and was greeted by two hot dog carts ready to give [...]