Hallelujah! Food truck season is officially upon us. We’ve already told you about Urban Lobster, Chinese Mirch, Munchie Mobile, and Blend Latin Cuisine which have all debuted in the last few weeks. And it turns out this is just the beginning…

Gothamist reported last week that Marky Ramone’s Cruisin’ Kitchen has been parking in the Flatiron for the last few weeks. The truck serves varieties of meatballs all inspired by the Ramones drummer and his famous marinara sauce (which you can buy in jars on the truck). I’ve tweeted with them a bit and they told me they plan to come to Midtown by the middle of the month.

Also, Thrillist revealed last week that La Superior, a popular Mexican taqueria in Williamsburg launched their mobile truck La Ruta 1 (does this mean there are more to come?) serving tacos, tortas, and esquites. Thanks to the folks at Vendy Awards, we learned that the Morocho Cart has been serving Peruvian dishes in Union Square. Shorty’s (yes, the philly cheesesteak bar on Ninth) will be giving Phil’s Steaks a run for their money when they debut their truck this week. And Pizza Luca is a 1952 Chevy flatbed truck mounted with a wood fired pizza oven. They had their first service over the weekend and I can’t wait to check this one out.

Since we are barely into May, my guess is that this is only the start of the 2012 food truck invasion and the difficulty in finding a place for them to park. Note to newbies: Do not overcrowd 50th and 6th Ave.

Now through May 15, 35 of our favorite food trucks will be helping to raise funds for Citymeals-on-Wheels, an organization that delivers meals to the city’s housebound elderly. All the trucks will be collecting donations, while two rotating trucks will donate 5% of their revenue each day. It’s a partnership with the New York City Food Truck Association and you can find a list of participating trucks here. Who knew that Korean tacos could actually be used for good?

I had never been to City Hall and certainly never sat through a hearing before. But as I mentioned yesterday morning, I attended one in which the Street Vendor Project (the organizers of the Vendy Awards) and their representatives attempted to pass two bills (Intro. 434 and 435) into law regarding the unreasonable $1000 fines that food vendors are susceptible to.

I was there representing Midtown Lunch and our perspective as food cart lovers. It was a fascinating and eye-opening afternoon. In the morning, the Council Board questioned the five departments that regulate food carts (Mayor’s Office, NYPD, Department of Health, Department of Consumer Affairs, Environmental Control Board) and then testimonies were given from many different perspectives – everybody from vendors, lawyers, historians, and food writers like myself. I actually was the last one to testify at 3:30pm (I guess I was the lowest on the totem pole) and was proud to support the vendors and their plight.

Sean Basinsiki, the Director of the Street Vendor Project, told me it might be a few months before the bills are actually voted on and the outcome is determined, but the turn-out and arguments were compelling and the hopes are high in favor of the vendors.

As you may know by now, the Street Vendor Project has been working on passing two bills that will lower the price of tickets for food vendors. The tickets can now cost up to $1000 per violation . And the violations might be as minor as setting up a foot too close to an intersection. If a vendor gets a few of these tickets, it can easily put them out of business.

There will be a hearing at City Hall today starting at 10am to get these bill passed. All who are available to come out and show their support are encouraged. I will be there representing Midtown Lunch and fighting to save our vendors from being shut down due to exorbitant fines.

You can read the composed testimony I will be giving and watch a short documentary about the campaign after the jump.

Good morning. My name is Brian Hoffman and I write for a very popular food blog called Midtown Lunch. We’re devoted to finding affordable, delicious lunches in the business districts of New York. I work in the areas of Midtown and the Financial District where the lunch options seem to be limited to high end steakhouses, generic bodegas, and fast food chains. I imagine the reason for this is because the rents and property taxes for storefronts in Manhattan are so astronomically high that only the established and wealthy corporations can afford to pay them. Like most people, I like to take advantage of my limited lunch break, and since I’m not a fan of the highly processed and bland food served at many fast food chains and unfortunately can not afford to dine at high end restaurants every day, I look for other options.

Food carts and trucks provide that option for me. And have for many people in this city for hundreds of years. They offer an authentic, carefully prepared meal that is affordable and filling. It makes getting through the rest of the work day much easier. This is true for myself and the thousands of devoted lunchers who read our site every day.

Now I understand like all businesses, food carts and trucks need to be regulated. But I have seen some of my beloved carts disappear because they’ve been ticketed and can no longer afford to operate. My understanding is that each ticket given to a mobile food vendor can be as much as $1000 per violation. And the violations might be as minor as being a foot too close to an intersection. We’re not talking about crimes here, we’re talking about honest mistakes. That seems pretty extreme to me when a ticket for jumping a turnstile in the subway system, an actual crime, is only up to $500. Isn’t the point of these tickets to reprimand and remind rather than destroy businesses and livelihoods?

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the owners of these food carts and trucks are not in a financial position to afford the expensive rents in Manhattan and so a $1000 ticket for a violation that might be beyond their control or due to an innocent mistake like putting their license in their pocket instead of around their neck might cost them their entire business. This is a major life-changing consequence for a minor infraction.

So please reconsider the amount of these fines. They were once $250 and that’s a reasonable amount. $1000 will put these small business owners out of business. Please allow them to operate legally and fairly. And please allow me and people like me to have our lunch. Thank you.

The Street vendors of New York – Short documentary from Samuel Enblom on Vimeo.

However, more and more food vendors are settling down to one particular neighborhood. In Midtown, Uncle Gussy’s, Jianetto’s Pizza, and Valducci’s can usually be found at the same spot day in and day out. Downtown, you’ll always find Souvlaki GR and Our Heroes. Even Wafels & Dinges have become a little more idle with three of their carts always parked at the same place — one at Columbus Circle and two at Central Park.

This seems to be a strange phenomenon, but I have a few theories as to why this may be happening. First off, the more difficult and complicated the legalities of operating a food truck become, the less attractive the idea of hustling and bustling becomes. If you ingratiate yourself with the businesses, police and community of a certain intersection, the odds of being asked to move are greatly reduced. That means fewer tickets, fewer changes of having to pack up and move after you’ve already started cooking and essentially more profits. And, as the stationary food carts in Midtown have proved, it might be more profitable to foster a regular customer base in one place than stretch yourself too thin and risk not finding the proper foot traffic. This idea was hammered home on the Great Food Truck Race, as trucks stayed in one city for two days and risked losing business when faced with having to find a new parking spot.

While many trucks still bring the love to multiple neighborhoods, the popularity of the WFC and LIC food truck courts have shown that people might just be willing to travel to food trucks as opposed to the other way around. And I won’t be surprised if we continue to see more trucks make the commitment to stay put.

We noticed this tweet today from Luke’s Lobster when asked if they plan on returning to their regular Bryant Park spot. Turns out the police have continued to crack down on food trucks parking in that area and have threatened “severe penalties” if they continue to show up. We used to see Taim around these parts at least once a week and even the smaller guys (namely the Mediterranean Grill truck who briefly parked on 39th) have been victims of police harassment. This was a prime location for many trucks and a great lunch option for those that work nearby and don’t want to settle with the food kiosks inside the park. I wonder if this has anything to do with Dan Biederman, who recently called street vendors “terrible citizens” and just so happens to be the head of the Bryant Park Corporation.

Remember when Dan Biederman, the President of the 34th Street Partnership, called our favorite lunch vendors “ugly” and “terrible citizens” a few weeks back? Well, the vendors aren’t going to take those sort of demeaning attacks. Today at 10:30am, dozens of vendors will join the Street Vendor Project to rally outside the Partnership offices on Sixth Avenue (between 40th and 41st Street) demanding an apology from Biederman. If you can slip out of work and want to show your support, come on down.  Vendor Power!!

UPDATE: After this post initially went up we got word that Solber Pupusas and Paty’s Tacos will both be at the event… with more vendors to be announced soon.  Stay tuned!

First of all, who the hickity heck lives in this part of Midtown? Secondly, this would make it much less pleasant for us ML’ers who value the carts for their delicious, affordable food as an alternative to the generic and overpriced chain restaurants in the area. Not to mention that most of these vendors are legitimate businesses and provide job opportunities for many immigrant workers in this city. And as much as we love Wafels & Dinges around these parts, who wants all the carts on the street to look the same??

The campaign is still in the early stages and I doubt it will get much traction behind it. And anyway, all of this  sounds eerily familiar and is just another hurdle in the ongoing fight for the freedom of our street meat.

In case you missed it on Eater yesterday, our very own Blondie & Brownie scored a book deal this week!  The project is tentatively titled “New York ala Carte” and will be a “guide to the city’s gourmet food cart scene, with more than 60 recipes from New York’s top vendors.”  We don’t want to give away all the secrets, but I think it goes without saying that many of our favorite Midtown Lunch vendors will be highlighted (and you might see the names of a few more ML contributors popping up to help with the project.)  As the project starts to come together we’ll be sure to fill you guys in before anybody else, but for now you can get a few more details about the book over on their blog, and make sure to congratulate them in the comments.