Airing of Grievances: Yushi & the Treats Truck
With my hosting company in full meltdown mode this week, and Midtown Lunch’s server on the fritz I realize that one cannot underestimate the restorative power of venting. If only I could have complained to somebody at my hosting company (or punched one of their employees in the face) it would have made me feel so much better. In that spirit, I’ve decided to post two emails I received this week. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)
First up is Yushi, the upscale Japanese healthy bento place on 47th btw. Park+Lex:
Zach- I wanted to give you a rundown of today’s Yushi encounter… I know, it’s super expensive and kinda on the healthy yet measly side. But I met my boyfriend there for lunch… he got a seared salmon salad and I got a seared tuna nicoise salad. The salads were just under $10 each but with drinks I ended up plunking down $25.67 (number burned on my brain and in my credit). Grumbling at the fact that my $9.95 tuna salad only had four TINY slabs of tuna in it, I sat down, prepared to savor every last morsel of that shit.
Anyway, today they had several girls walking around with trays of samples. Don’t know if this is a regular occurrence, but snaps for freebies. Boo and I finagled two prime beef/shiitake mini meatballs with teriyaki sauce each from one candy striper (delish and more filling than an entire $10 salad), then we were also given shot glasses of their tasty firecracker miso from another girl. All seemed well… until I noticed a third long-haired minx of an employee strolling the aisles with what appeared to be coupons in her hands. She seemed to be silently judging the inhabitants of each table she passed, while tapping the pile of coupons against her fingertips. Iactually WATCHED this girl hand coupons to table after table after table of males, explaining with a smile the complimentary miso they’d receive upon their return, yet she skipped two tables of women in between!! To add insult to injury, the chick glided past our table unfazed, offering little more than a selective sideways glance and a slight sneer. As we put on our jackets to leave, I was determined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps it wasn’t blatant discrimination or an aversion to her own gender, but maybe she was planning on gifting us with a coupon at the door, or maybe she was legally blind in her left eye.
Either way, the minx was camped out near the door with her stack of discounts, so I beelined straight toward her with an inviting”where’s the candy” look on my face. Don’t you know it, but this girl smiles cattily (perhaps my over keen female sensory picked up on this?) while continuing to click the pile against her fingertips, taunting us, and said smugly, “buh bye now.” And that was it. No coupon?! No thanks for my $25.67 and ten-block trek? I’m still appalled. I knew Yushi was bourgy and too leather-laden for its own good, but this sheer disregard for me as a return customer worthy of a free cup of soup really just chafes me. Thought it pertinent that you know. And if nothing else, perhaps you find this little rant amusing. Cheers, Profiled Midtown Lunch’er “Shauna”
I don’t find anything amusing about missing out on free stuff, Shauna. Hope that the public display of your rant will solace you as much as that free coupon would have.
A 100% true Treats Truck complaint/public service announcement that everyone needs to read, after the jump… Read more »
Posted by Zach Brooks at 7:09 am, March 28th, 2008 under 47th St. & Park, Airing of Grievances, Treats Truck, Yushi.
The Bulgogi Cart on 49th btw. 6+7th Ave. popped up in Time Out New York’s Cheap Eats Issue yesterday, in what can only be referred to as a huge surprise. Now, I know I’ve written about this cart a ton, and I want to love it, I really do, but it’s just not that great. It’s gotten better, and I’m sort of into their kalbi & japchae- but overall, to put it in a Street Food category with the likes of 
