The Malaysian food cart Mamak was nominated, as was Toum Lebanese truck. Mamak started parking at Hanover Sq. & Water St. in April selling stews and other items and apparently has gained quite the following in the interim. Toum comes to the FiDi and some of the food truck lots downtown, and has some seriously delicious Lebanese sandwiches and platters. Nuchas, the truck selling kick-ass empanadas is also nominated in the same category, as is the Sweet Chili truck which is also spanking new and I haven’t had a chance to check it out. Mysttik Masaala and Neopolitan express round out the Rookie nominees.

Want to be there to see who wins these categories and those that have yet to be announced? General admission tickets are still available for $95 or you can get early entry for $145.

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.

I contacted the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center to see if they knew what had happened to the rest of the carts that included 99% Vegetarian, A-Pou’s Taste, Luckyim Thai and the new Cocina Mexicana. A tip of the hat to Lunch’er rwilenker who spotted Luckyim Thai at Hanover Square near Water St. late last week.

Stephanie Barreto, a vendor organizer from the Street Vendor Project, was kind enough to give us updates on where the carts are or are going to try to park. She says “the vendors have been scrambling around looking for new spots, which as you can imagine is no easy task.”

A-Pou’s Taste is looking to relocate to William St. between John and Maiden Lane, or take a spot on Liberty St. near where it intersects with Nassau. The 99% Vegetarian Cart is in front of 100 Wall St. while the smoothie cart is at Liberty & Nassau.

If you like these vendors, make sure and seek them out in their new spots so they don’t leave the Financial District. And if anyone spots the Cocina Mexicana cart, let us know where it is!

The affected carts have found new spots that are in some cases less visible than at the large plaza on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar streets. Biryani House moved across the plaza, while the smoothie cart, 99% Vegetarian, A-Pou’s Taste, Luckyim Thai and the new Cocina Mexicana relocated around the corner on Nassau St. Hopefully they will get to stay at the new location.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago when we posted about some of the food carts being forced to move from long time spots on Liberty St. at Broadway. The cause was a large Citi Bike station being installed one weekend, the vendors say without their consultation. Some of them have found new, less visible spots around the corner on Nassau St. & Liberty, but I’m sure sales are down somewhat when you’re not seen by the many tourists that walk down Broadway every day.

Want to help these vendors? Find out how after the jump.

The Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center is attempting to help these displaced vendors, after already staging a protest. They’ve made a video that you can check out here, and they are also trying to get the Department of Transportation to move the Citi Bike rack five feet so the carts can return to their spots.

SVP and the vendors are asking that you e-mail Josh Benson, the Department of Transportation’s bike program coordinator at jbenson@dot.nyc.gov, to request the bike rack be moved.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one confused on Monday to find a newly installed Citi Bike rack in place of the row of food carts normally on Liberty St. at Broadway. This is not the first time these vendors have struggled to maintain their spots, but this is permanent.

The rack is fairly long, with no room on either side for a cart to set up, leaving a smoothie vendor, 99% Vegetarian, Biryani House, A-Pou’s Taste and Luckyim Thai carts all without anywhere to park. The affected vendors turned to the Street Vendor Project for help, and it sounds like they are unsure what to do next, but you can show your support for them on Thursday. 

Word from SVP is that they will have “an action” at noon on Thursday on Liberty St. & Broadway where the vendors have been displaced from. We’re also told that these vendors were left out of the conversation about where Citi Bike rack locations would be placed.

No word yet on whether the vendors plan to find other places to park in the Financial District, but we’ll let you know if we hear anything (or let us know if you spot one of these carts somewhere!).

There are a couple of events put on every year by the Street Vendor Project that help out the people providing us with lunch (or other non-edible items) from carts or trucks on a daily basis, without a PR machine behind them. The Vendy Awards are one, but there’s another coming up on April 2 called The Great Street Meet that you can buy tickets to. This one celebrates the SVP community, as well as the recent City Council bill that cut the cost of the tickets that vendors get for certain violations in half. And if you buy a ticket before Friday, you’ll be entered in a drawing that could net you a tasty-sounding dinner at Ma Peche. 

The Great Street Meet is taking place at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square Park south from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on April 2. Tickets start at $40 (or $25 if you’re a student, teacher or employee of a non-profit), and get you an open bar, food from vendors including Solber Pupusas, Cinnamon Snail, Melt Bakery and Treats Truck, along with music. You can buy a ticket online until 5 p.m. on April 1, and there may also be some available at the door.

But how do you get yourself into a large format meal of chicken over rice at Ma Peche? Buy your ticket prior to Friday! There’s also a contest that could net you two tickets to the event, along with one for your favorite vendor. You have to take a picture of yourself with your favorite vendor, and tweet it with the hashtag #greatstreetmeet. Whoever gets the most re-tweets by March 29 will win.

It’s the day a lot of street vendors – both new school trucks and carts serving food from all over the world – have been waiting for, when the finalists for the 2012 Vendy Awards‘ Vendy Cup are announced. There is quite a mix this year and a couple from the Downtown Lunch coverage area will be up for the big award being handed out on Governor’s Island on September 15. Those would be vegan food and sweets truck Cinnamon Snail and the Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs cart that’s a mainstay in Chinatown. Check out the full list of potential winners and one award that’s already been handed out, straight ahead.

Other Vendy Cup contenders this year include Piaztlan Authentic Mexican Food from the Red Hook Ball Fields, Uncle Gussy’s truck which serves Greek in Midtown, Hamza & Madina Halal Food cart from Queens and Tortas Nezas truck, also from Queens. The award was won in 2011 by Solber Pupusas truck from the Red Hook Ball Fields.

Also announced was the winner of the 2012 Most Heroic Vendor award, who is Sammy Kasem, a halal food vendor in Brooklyn who’s had to contend with area businesses trying to force him and his cart from a regular spot.

Although early bird tickets for the Vendy Awards sold out long ago, you can still buy the $95 general admission tickets, along with a new early entry VIP ticket for $145 (which includes hanging out with ML head honcho Zach) and other levels by going here. As always, proceeds for the event benefit the Street Vendor Project which advocates for those who feed us lunch every day.