Midtown Lunch

The New York Post weighs in on the new fancy street food trend, and does what they do best: attack for the sake of attacking. The article laughably attacks Le Gamin, Schnitzel & Things, and the newly launched Bistro Truck, despite admitting that the food is pretty delicious.  But my favorite part is where the author blames food trucks for her own slovenliness…

“Who wants to wait 20 minutes for fancy restaurant fare from a cart when half of it is going to wind up stuck in your computer keyboard?”

Uh… and that’s different from eating a plate of old school halal street meat or take out from a brick and mortar restaurant- how?  (Teachable moment: Don’t eat your food over your keyboard, no matter where it comes from!)

Oooh- and it wouldn’t be a proper anti-trend piece without a twitter insult or two…

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Just because so much has been written about street vendors verbally threatening other street vendors doesn’t mean that people should get the impression that it never gets physical. In fact earlier today two ice cream vendors got into a fist fight over the corner of 6th Ave and 50th Street. The cops were already on scene when I walked up, and an ambulance showed up shortly thereafter (although it looked like only one vendor was hurt, and it was just a black eye.) I’m not sure exactly what happened because both the Police sergeant and the vendors pretty much refused to talk to me- but it looked like the vendors were given the opportunity to press charges and both get arrested, or make up with each other and just receive tickets. It looked to me like they both chose citations (natch), and the ice cream truck left pretty soon thereafter.

As contentious as you normally hear the relationship is between cops and vendors, this interaction looked pretty civil. I guess the cops mind less when the vendors are beating up each other.

One thing everybody involved can agree on is this: Don’t say anything to the short fat guy with a camera asking questions.

Lucky for us Lunch’er Rich was on the scene when the fight broke out and emailed in a first hand report…

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Been getting a lot of emails about tonight’s “special” episode of No Reservations, dedicated entirely to street food.  My hunch is it’s a glorified “best of” episode featuring clips of street food that Anthony Bourdain has eaten over the past few years (but who knows?)  Either way it’s must see TV for anybody who loves the street food, and from the looks of the commercial there will be some NYC action. (I even spotted the King Tut cart on 6th Ave. in Midtown.)

Check it out after the jump…

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It seems like every day a new street vendor pops up, many of them leaving behind careers in other industries to do so (Cupcake Stop I’m looking in your general direction.) And with this new wave of interest Midtown Lunch has gotten its fair share of emails and comments from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for advice… but I’m sure it pales in comparison to the number of phone calls that the Street Vendor Project gets! (The Vendy Awards might be their biggest attention grabber, but helping vendors is their actual reason for being.)

Well the SVP has responded to the current demand for info by offering a new class for people who might be looking to leave their job for a career as a street vendor. According to the listing it will conduct the class four times a year and discuss topics such as:

1) How to get a license, permit, cart, and spot.
2) Laws, rules, and regulations you need to know.
3) How to deal with police, store owners, and other vendors.

The first class is being offered Sunday, August 16th from 6-8pm. It costs $150, and is limited to 12 people. Get more information, or sign up here on nyccharities.org

Since their opening two weeks ago the Schnitzel & Things Truck has been moving around daily, with stops in Williamsburg, Dumbo, Downtown Manhattan, and Union Square, using twitter to let their 1000+ followers know where they are going to be.  Eventually they hope to make it to Midtown, and yesterday they got pretty close- parking in Madison Square Park.  As is usually the case for a new vendor parking in a new spot, things didn’t go so smoothly.  I checked in with the owner to find out exactly what happened.

“We got harassed by 4 different dudes as soon as we showed up.. But we weren’t having it man.. Whatever, it was the usual, you know the “I’ve been on this block for 15 years” routine:) and??? You want us to move because??? Take a walk.. They wouldn’t leave us alone, I called the cops on them for harassment:) then they brought their own cops, it was a freaking mess but funny, cuz they couldn’t do anything.. We reasoned with the cops and they didn’t do anything but leave and the guys were left in bewilderment ..

And then came the real threats…

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Yesterday, Grub Street pointed out a really interesting essay about a Hot Dog Vendor in Midtown. It’s part of a new anthology of New York Stories from the website Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, and a hot dog vendor parked on 34th street who spends the day charging different prices to different people.  It’s like I’ve always said, the price of things at carts (especially drinks) is always negotiable. (I’ve had vendors try to charge me $2+ for water, and $3+ for Snapple.) This is especially the case in Midtown, if a vendor suspects you are tourist.  Of course when you hear the vendor talk about how hard the streets have made him, with daily harassment from the cops that result in $250-$300 tickets, it kind of makes me want to pay the $3. (Although I still probably won’t.)  [Uncle Ayman’s Hot Dog Stand via Grub Street]

Photo courtesy of AntyDiluvian

The issues that new street vendors face here in Midtown are pretty well documented on Midtown Lunch, so much so that it seems like many of the latest street vendors to hit the scene are avoiding us.  The Schnitzel Truck, for one, vowed to park in Midtown for lunch- but decided to hold off until they “worked out the kinks”. The new Bistro Truck also hopes to end up in Midtown at some point, but plans on starting off in Union Square.  It’s a smart strategy.  After all, Midtown during lunch is the prime real estate for food carts. More customers means you have to be on your a-game.  It’s why there’s so much competition for spots, and also why there’s so much trouble for new vendors when they show up.

But is that “trouble” spreading to other neighborhoods?

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Photo Courtesy of Danny from Food in Mouth

“Saw this after work yesterday on 32nd. The truck was right next to wichcraft, and there was a No Standing sign there. That cop was just stern as hell. Wrote up the truck and didn’t want to hear it from the ice cream guy. The ice cream guy was so disgusted.” –Lunch’er Danny