Midtown Lunch

Earlier this month, we showcased a video from Save the Food Trucks, an organization that is working to keep the food trucks alive and operable in the city. Well, for the next few Wednesdays, they’ll be releasing some fun little videos featuring food truck owners answering what they would serve to Mayor Bloomberg for lunch. We have an exclusive peek of the first three videos in the series with a few familiar faces to Midtown: Eddie Song (Korilla BBQ), Kim Ima (Treats Truck), and Vendy nominee Adam Sobel (Cinnamon Snail), whose truck has been seen on the weekends here at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market. We already know that Mayor Mike likes his burritos extra spicy. Maybe he’ll take them up on the offer.

Check out the videos after the jump.

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Speaking of Street Meat… the Vilcek Foundation, an organization that honors and supports foreign born scientists and artists who have made significant contributions to society in the U.S., has dedicated their entire Fall 2011 newsletter to immigrant street food vendors. Here at Midtown Lunch we’ve always seen what a huge contribution immigrants have made to the vibrant street food scene of New York, so it’s nice to see somebody else recognizing the connection.  The newsletter has features on six immigrant food vendors from around the country (including two in NYC: Dessert Truck and Veronica’s Kitchen), and the introduction was written by yours truly!  Check it out…

A few weeks back I was contacted by a new organization called Save NYC Food Trucks, who were putting together a video about the problems facing food trucks in New York. So many of us are aware of these issues, but you’d be surprised how many people (mostly those who don’t read Midtown Lunch) are completely oblivious. The video was released this weekend and features truck owners like Kim Ima (Treats Truck) and Eddie Song (Korilla BBQ) talking about their business and the obstacles in running their trucks. It’s sort of a Public Service Announcement to inform people about the issues. Watch the video after the jump, and while you’re at it, like their Facebook page, be sure to sign the petition, and forward this video on to friends who may not know what’s going on.

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If you follow the street food scene in Midtown, there was an interesting article on DNAinfo yesterday about how carts have been effected by the food truck crackdown in Midtown. Not surprisingly most of the cart owners are happy to see less competition, but with one exception… the owner of Bap Cha (on 49th btw. 6+7th) said that more people came to eat when the trucks were on his block. It also mentions an increase in food carts (like Wafels & Dinges, and the new Kati Cart by the owners of the Desi Truck), a fact that caused Gothamist to proclaim carts the bigger winners in this whole battle. But let’s not break open the champagne just yet.  Even though carts don’t fall under the meter law, they still face prohibitive laws of their own (laws that are usually ignored until there is a complain lodged, just like the meter law.)  We’ve been hearing that many food truck owners have been asking around about starting a cart, as a hassle free alternative to running a food truck.  And it’s true that carts are taking less flack right now, while the cops focus their attention on the trucks. But it won’t take long for them to turn their attention back to hassling carts, especially if those new carts attract the same crowds and attention as the trucks have over the past 6 months.

From here on out we will officially refer to food truck crackdowns as “shitnanigans”.  Also, I’m picturing the theme song from Superman playing the background… let’s show them our support!

Totally off limits to food trucks?

On Monday we mentioned that a number of Midtown East trucks had been kicked out of their spots, and hoped that it was just some passing phase and not a concerted effort to rid the area of trucks entirely.  After the Midtown West crackdown last month, many trucks sought refuge to the East making Park and Lexington in the 40s and 50s the last place for Midtown Lunchers to go for their food truck fix.  Well it looks like that migration didn’t go unnoticed, and now the crackdown has spread to the other half of Midtown.

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