Midtown Lunch

We all know how buildings have used planter boxes to keep unwanted street vendors from parking in front of their real estate, but this morning a building on 59th btw. Park+Lex took a different tactic: cleaning the sidewalks. Wafels and Dinges added another cart-not a truck- to their fleet recently (you might have seen the original South St. Seaport cart on our Downtown site) debuting it this morning on 59th. In retaliation, the building surrounded the cart with cones, and proceeded to power wash the sidewalks. In the rain. W&D stood their ground, but around Noon the cops came and kicked them out of the spot (presumably because the building complained?) They’re still looking for a new spot. As of 2:50pm they’re on 58th btw. Lex+3rd.

The silver lining in all this is the Wafels and Dinges Truck has a new cart that they plan on parking in under-served areas of the city (including Midtown!) And, since it is a cart it will have a slightly easier time finding parking than the truck (even though that wasn’t the case today.) Follow them on Twitter for the location of the new cart.

After yesterday’s incident on 55th Street, the owner of Uncle Gussy’s (an old school Greek vendor on Park and 51st) felt compelled to send us this email:

My name is Nick and I operate Uncle Gussy’s.

I just read your article on what is happening with the food trucks and their issues with other food trucks. I know both Papa and Eddies Pizza (both have excellent pizza) [but yesterday] there was a chaotic scene in Midtown. They both worked things out, for which I am glad they did (Papa has been there for quite a while.) But if trucks start making a circuit out of this area you better believe they will close that street to all vendors, mobile or not.

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Photo Thanks to Ambitious Delicious

I guess twittering street trucks aren’t the only ones being affected by the UN street closures today… according to Ambitious Delicious the secret service just forced the famous 53rd & 6th halal cart to move so that the Obama motorcade could come down 53rd Street. Official proof that Obama *isn’t* a Muslim? We say yes!

Of course this isn’t the first time a street vendor has been upended by the President. Remember this?

An interesting thing happened on 55th street today that other food truck vendors would be wise to pay attention to.  Because of all the UN madness on the east side, Eddie’s Pizza Truck was forced to find a new spot this morning for their Thursday service. Where did they choose?  55th btw. Park+Mad… right next to the Papa Perrone truck, who also sells pizza.  Naturally, Papa Perrone wasn’t too happy about it, not just because they both sell pizza but because he’s worked hard over the past few years to cultivate a relationship with the building on that block- who in turn have agreed not to complain to the cops, provided that the block doesn’t turn into a food truck parking lot.  So when Eddie’s showed up this morning, Jon Paul (aka “Papa Perrone”) explained the situation, hoping that they would find an alternate spot.  Obviously nobody wants to see a repeat of what happened on 48th Street a few weeks ago.

Eddie’s response?  Kill them with kindness…

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Last Tuesday the cops permanently banned food trucks from in front of the Fox News Building after the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck parked alongside the Frites N Meats Truck on 48th btw. 6+7th. And it looks like 52nd Street might be next… yesterday the Frites N Meats truck were kicked out of their spot on 52nd and 6th by the very same cops- and told that if they came back their truck would be seized. Wafels and Dinges usually spend Fridays on 52nd so I guess we’ll find out today if it was an isolated incident or a permanent ban… UPDATE: Frites N Meats got kicked off of 52nd for parking just East of 6th Ave. (an area nobody has ever successfully parked in.) Most trucks park West of 6th Ave.

Related:
Frites N Meats Calls For Rickshaw Boycott
Prediction: New Carts & Trucks Are About to See Some Serious Backlash

Following our coverage of last week’s spat between the Frites N Meats Truck and the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck the WSJ hit the streets of Midtown with a camera to interview a few food truck owners about the unwritten rules of street vending (aka you don’t park in another vendor’s spot).  The video is mostly worthwhile, although focusing on competition between trucks parked next to each other is a red herring. (There’s also something funny and ironic about hearing Vadim from FnM talk about an understanding that trucks came too in the past year and a half- as if these unwritten rules haven’t been used by vendors for decades.)

The real problem created by Rickshaw and Frites N Meats parking together on 48th is not one of competition.  It goes back to the original issue that we’ve been talking about forever… the fact that vending from a truck in Midtown is almost entirely illegal, and the more trucks that park in Midtown, the more attention they draw to themselves in high traffic areas (i.e. right in front of the Fox News Building) the more chance there will be of a crackdown.

The video makes it seem like the spot on 48th in front of Fox is *now* off limits.  The truth is, it was always off limits.  It is not legal to park on 48th btw. 6+7th, and trucks have been getting kicked out of that spot for years.  For whatever reason, the building finally decided to allow the one truck a day to park there, until that one truck turned into two.  And now the spot is done.   So, what’s the answer?  According to the video some of the new school trucks are forming some kind of organization to lobby the city on their behalf.   Check it out, after the jump…

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Like sand through the hourglass… another day, another fight between food trucks. Apparently the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck decided they wanted to test out 48th & 6th today, a spot that Frites N Meats has been cultivating on Tuesdays and Fridays for awhile now. The result? Security from the Fox News Building called the peddler unit of the NYPD, and everybody got kicked out (and according to FnM owner Vadim, the word permanently was used.) This spot on 48th has seen its fair share of trouble in the past, but clearly the trucks worked things out with the building who doesn’t seem to mind the trucks (Cravings is there on Mondays, Frites N Meats is there Tuesdays and Fridays. Eddie’s Pizza is there on Wednesdays, and Schnitzel is there on Thursdays) as long as it’s only one per day. I guess we’ll see what happens tomorrow when Eddie’s Pizza shows up to the spot. As for the trucks today? Rickshaw has settled on 52nd and Lex, and Frites N Meats has settled on 52nd and 6th, although you’ll probably want to check the ML Twitter Tracker just to be safe.

More after the jump…

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Fights between trucks is nothing new, but fighting with a cop? That’s kind of crazy. The rumors swirling around Midtown today is that on Tuesday an ice cream truck driver got into some kind of “altercation” with a police officer.  Nobody wanted to say exactly what happened, or who started it, but we’ve heard that the ice cream truck driver is now in the hospital- and has been fired from his job.  One thing is for sure, even though the driver wasn’t a licensed Mister Softee vendor (he drove one of the generic trucks) yesterday was a tough day for *all* ice cream vendors in Midtown.

Miss Softee didn’t want to speak on the record about any of this (after all, there’s a saying about vendor fight club) but she did want to point out how unfair it is that one bad driver could ruin it for all the good Mister Softee drivers, trying to follow the rules.

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