Midtown Lunch

Food carts are not welcome here either.

You know what sucks? Going to eat at a specific cart and finding that they are nowhere to be found. It’s doubly frustrating because, unlike many food trucks, most don’t use Twitter to update their location mostly because they work to stay in the same place every day.

Now that my little rant is over, you’d probably like to know where all of the carts that were parked on Nassau St. between Liberty and Cedar went. As of late last week all but the smoothie cart were booted from their new spots, after previously being forced to move from Liberty & Broadway when an inanimate object (aka, a Citi Bike rack) moved into their spots. The good news? Many of the carts have found new spots or are scouting locations. Read more »

Sometimes you only have $6 in your pocket and you don’t want a traditional street meat lunch or pizza. What’s a Lunch’er to do? When I’m in this predicament, I sometimes head to the 99% Vegetarian Food cart that’s been relocated, along with three others, to the corner of Liberty St. & Nassau after a CitiBike rack was installed in their longtime spot around the corner off of Broadway.

 This time, I finally tried the veggie burger, and I’m so glad that I did.

Read more »

Two weeks ago some of the carts in the plaza on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar streets came to park in their usual spots, only to find there was one of the new Citi Bike stations there instead. The Biryani House cart relocated across the plaza, but a few others that park on Liberty St. were left wondering where to go, and asked the Street Vendor Project for help.

It looks like the 99% Vegetarian, A-Pou’s Taste and Luckyim Thai carts have moved to the other side of the building to Nassau St. between Liberty and Cedar. No word on whether this is a temporary or permanent relocation, but at least now you know where to find some of your favorite carts.

This may have been happening for a while, but it looks like the 99% Vegetarian Food Cart on Liberty St. (at Broadway) now has real chicken along with guacamole. The chicken, if you eat meat, has to be better than the fake soy kind that was definitely not the highlight of the cart’s offerings.

The handful of vendors on Liberty St. at Broadway that were ticketed last week and asked to leave by the management of 140 Broadway are still selling food. About 250 petition letters from concerned lunch’ers were collected in three days last week, according to the Street Vendor Project which has been helping the affected carts that include A-Pou’s Taste, Biryani House and 99% Vegetarian Food. The letters are being sent to building management this week, and the vendors hadn’t been bothered by the police again as of late Monday.

I noticed when I walked by yesterday that the 99% Vegetarian Food Cart on Broadway & Liberty has slashed the price of its four item platter to $4.99 from $6. Being that it’s the “super special of the month” you have to take advantage before March 1. I’m not sure that $1 is going to sway a lot of people who normally crave meat into eating there, but it’s worth a shot.

Wow, I never expected to see so many carts and trucks I’ve eaten at nominated for Vendy Awards! The Rookie of the Year Finalists were announced yesterday, and both A-Pou’s Taste and its Taiwanese potstickers and the 99% Vegetarian Food carts were nominated. Hopefully they gave each other a hug or high-five when they found out, since their carts are a stone’s throw from each other on Liberty St. at  Broadway. One of the other nominees was the Cinnamon Snail, which I had a delicious vegan doughnut (really!) from at the Push Cart Market. With Mexicue and the Souvlaki Truck rounding out the list this category may be a tough one.