Tribeca Halal Cart In Beef With “Gangsters” At French Restaurant

Well, I guess it’s been a while since we’ve had a good old-fashioned cart vs. restaurant battle downtown. I stumbled upon the above (apparently, great minds think alike) on the side of the C&H Halal cart at the corner of Chambers St. and W. Broadway. The cart serving standard street meat parks in front of what is now Plein Sud, a French restaurant in the Smyth Hotel. My first thought was that these places are not exactly in competition with each other for customers. A representative from the restaurant agreed, and said the problems lie mostly in trash from the cart.

I talked to the guy working at C&H Halal, asking him about why they put the massive sign up. He told me that for about a month now they have been bothered by both the police and health department because of complaints by the restaurant. And, he said. “We’re not moving. We don’t care.” Plein Sud opened about a month ago, and according to the sign, the cart has been there for three years. The hotel that the restaurant is in has been there for a year.

A representative from Plein Sud talked to me and said that the issue is more with cleanliness and trash from the cart than with the cart itself.

“We don’t want to take away the gentleman’s livelihood or his business,” they said, adding that they did not know of any complaints being lodged with the police or health department by the restaraunt itself, but that there could have been some from the hotel.

“The ownership of the hotel and the restaurant have been talking to this gentlemen for months,” they said. “It’s more an issue of cleanliness and trash. If diners are walking up they don’t want to walk past trash.”

They haven’t been able to do upkeep on the sidewalks since the cart is there 24 hours, the rep. said. Plein Sud would like to find a way to work together with the cart, and doesn’t want to force it to move, they added.

“I would imagine the restaurant will work with him to come to some sort of understanding.”

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