Midtown Lunch

We’ve been hearing about the constant headaches of food trucks trying to find parking in midtown, with entire areas deemed off-limits after repeated kicking out by the police who have been ramping up enforcement of metered spots after a court ruling. One consequence was that the trucks started spending more time in Soho and the lower part of the Financial District meaning blocks that maybe had a couple of trucks a few days a week are now saturated every day.

First, a popular stretch of Hudson St. was the scene of trucks being asked to leave due to complaints from nearby businesses, but that simmered down. The latest trouble spot is a one-block stretch of Hanover Square that not only houses two or three trucks on any given day, but a couple of popular carts like No. 1 Banh Mi as well. On Monday and Tuesday, trucks were being told they couldn’t park there anymore due to complaints from more than one source.

A post on Twitter from the Cupcake Crew late Tuesday morning said that they were being asked to leave, but when I stopped by during lunch time they were still there, along with Valducci’s Pizza next door and Big D’s Grub across the street.

The cupcake truck was being visited again by Downtown Alliance officers right as I walked by, who were telling them that it was not only complaints from businesses in the 10 Hanover Sq. building that the trucks park in front of, but also residents. And apparently other restaurants or carts have been complaining too, causing the Moshe’s Falafel truck that used to park on that block every day to flee for parts unknown. OK, that one may have been caused by a certain falafel vendor…

The Cupcake Crew people seemed mostly tired of battling to find a parking spot, and being hassled at the places they park one day a week (like Hanover Square). Midtown contributor Brian told me that when he was leading a tour on Hanover Sq. on Monday, the Desi Food Truck was told to move by the police and that they wouldn’t be able to park there anymore. He also said that Bian Dang got a ticket even though they were over on Front St. None of this bodes well for our lunches since that basically leaves nowhere but parts of Water St. and a couple of spots on Whitehall for trucks to park.

We’ll see how this affects today’s National Waffle Day events being held by the Wafels & Dinges truck on Hanover Sq. starting at 1 p.m. Maybe the intoxicating scent of waffles in the air will calm things down for a day?