Midtown Lunch

Thanks to Lunch’er Harry for posting this little tip in the forums… a new burger truck popped up on 55th and Park Ave. on Friday called Wall St. Burgers. All we know is what’s on their website. Grass fed angus burgers, crispy chicken wings, tempura battered onion rings, seasoned curly fries, and it’s called Wall St. Burgers because the owner quit his job on Wall Street to open the truck (a storyline we’re starting to get a little sick of, but we’ll reserve total judgement until we taste the burgers.)

Ironically enough, while this new truck was testing the waters of Midtown East, a few older trucks were getting kicked out of their spots…

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Just because we’re afraid that fully legalizing food trucks might open the door to a corporatization of street food, doesn’t mean we don’t want to show support.  In fact it’s important that the government knows that for every complaint they receive about food trucks (likely from brick and mortar businesses), there are scores of consumers who love and support those same trucks. Doing this will help ensure that the city thinks twice about passing new laws to further restrict street vending, and will hopefully help to encourage them to be a little more lax about enforcing the laws that currently exist.

The New York City Food Truck Association has created a petition that does just that.  Show your support and sign it today!

Anybody who has read this site for any length of time knows how much I love street carts and food trucks.  For 5+ years Midtown Lunch has celebrated, promoted, and advocated for the great street food in New York City.  But it might surprise some to discover that I don’t actually want to see food trucks (or any street food for that matter) fully legalized in Midtown. And you can read why in this op-ed I wrote for the New York Times.

We miss you Jamaican Dutchy Cart

This has been a relatively quiet week in Midtown for food carts. We haven’t heard too much commotion because most of them have chosen to set up elsewhere. The Financial District has seen Go Burger, Schnitzel & Things, Cevap Truck and Desi Truck all set up shop on the days they used to come to Midtown. Most of the trucks who have braved the pressure up here have stuck to the 30’s and the far east or west. It seems Comme Ci, Comme Ca has indeed found a non-metered spot on 36th and Broadway and has operated without too much trouble both there and on 55th and Lexington this week.

Sadly, Korilla BBQ has not had the same luck. They were booted from their new Garment District spot yesterday (on Broadway between 35th and 36th) and had some trouble at a dinner spot near Penn Station Wednesday evening when they were told they were not allowed to operate before 7pm.

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After the NYTimes article on Wednesday officially named Midtown off limits for food trucks, you’d think we’d have been left high and dry yesterday. But fortunately for us, there is a strong bond between these mobile food vendors and our hungry bellies, and they don’t want to go down without a fight (the food trucks or our bellies). The scene in Midtown was definitely quieter than usual yesterday, but a few trucks decided to give it another go. Crisp on Wheels, Gorilla Cheese, and Wafels & Dinges all seemed to make it through the lunch shift without too much trouble. Korilla BBQ took to the hinterlands and set up out of bounds on Ninth and 39th Street, and it sounds like the only problem they had was running out of meat. Hell’s Kitchen and Flatiron may get all the love in the coming weeks.

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It seems as if the ramp up in police pressure on the food trucks of Midtown has claimed its first permanent victim. The Treats Truck sent out this unbelievably sad email to their followers this morning:

To my dear customers,

We will not be midtown for the time being. The police have let us know that they no longer want food trucks in the midtown area. Two of our spots dear to our hearts (and our first two regular spots since the early days) have been 45th & 6th Ave and 38th & 5th Ave. We have so many wonderful regulars, and you all have made serving you such a pleasure. We are so sad to have to take our truck elsewhere. We hope to be able to return someday. For now, we cannot. We wish we could. You have all made the past four years very special. You can always order for delivery for your offices or come by our new spots. You can call to find out where we are each day.

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In the last few weeks, our beloved food trucks have suffered through lots of ticketing and harassment in Midtown. We previously reported that many of the streets in the 50’s on the west side of Midtown are potentially off limits and Downtown trucks have had their problems too. It seems that this week the trouble has begun to move further down Midtown. The ML favorite Comme Ci, Comme Ca tweeted that they had been forced to move from their usual spot on 38th Street and Broadway on Friday. When I went by yesterday around 1:00, they had not been bothered yet, but the guys were anticipating more drama. And if problems arose, they have another nearby spot in mind as back-up that should be more legit since the street is not metered parking.

But wait, there’s more…

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We here at Midtown Lunch have long recognized the precarious position that gourmet food trucks are. Stuck in a grey area between legal and illegal, most veteran food trucks have chosen to lay low and fly under the radar, rather than stand tall and fight the all powerful rent paying brick and mortar businesses who would love to see them disappear.  Well, now that the fight between cops and food trucks has escalated Lunch’er Meghan has said enough is enough:

I work in midtown (52/51st and 7th), and suddenly all of my favorite trucks are being driven off by the NYPD.  This used to be one of the best spots for food trucks, and now it is becoming a ghost town.  Apparently it just takes one business owner to complain and the cops will force the trucks to leave their spot.  Could you maybe do a post on effective ways to fight this?

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It seems the truck crackdown is becoming an epidemic in Midtown West. Brownie warned us a few weeks ago that 50th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue was becoming another hot spot for food trucks. And sure enough, on Tuesday, Desi Truck was forced to move from that location halfway through the day. They arrived at Hanover Square in the Financial District around 3:00, which is later than almost anybody eats lunch. The owner told me they plan on making this their new permanent weekday location as the parking in Midtown is getting too insane. He also told me in the coming weeks, they will launch a second truck at the corner of Spring and Sixth Avenue. Is this going to be a trend that all of our beloved Midtown food trucks will be forced to re-locate well below 14th Street?

In other 50th Street news, Big D’s Grub was also forced to close by police yesterday and strangely enough, the Sombrero Cart has returned.