Midtown Lunch

The Dessert Truck will not be at its normal spot in Midtown (52nd and Park Ave.) today, Monday or Tuesday.  Today, there’s filming in the area- but on Monday and Tuesday they’ll be filming a “demo” for the food network.  From their newsletter:

“Monday – we will be closed for day service at 52nd/Park but will be open at St Marks Place from 12-1:30 to shoot for Food Network. No changes to night hours. If you’re in the area, do stop by. For the Food Network demo on Tuesday, all are invited to attend. Here’s the blurb they asked us to post:

FOOD NETWORK LOOKING FOR AN AUDIENCE – FREE BREAD PUDDING!!!

Food Network is filming a new one hour special called “Food
Roadies” exploring the hot new trend of mobile food trucks in
America. One of the food trucks we’re profiling is DessertTruck,
located in Manhattan. If you’ve been there then you know that they
make an amazing chocolate bread pudding!

Read more »

This years Vendy Awards is shaping up to be the best ever.  For the first time ever, a second category has been added: dessert!  This morning, the four nominees were announced for best dessert truck, and 3 of the 4 finalists are Midtown Lunch favorites.  The Treats Truck, The Dessert Truck, and Wafels and Dinges all made the cut, with the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck being the only choice that doesn’t spend at least one day parked in Midtown (what gives man?!?  Can’t we get a hipster ice cream day up in this piece?)  The award for best dessert will be voted on by the people rather than the judges, and the new additions mean that now an $80 ticket will get you food from 9 different vendors.  Like I said… best… vendys… ever.  If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, you may want to get on this now since the event has sold out every year.  Plus, all the money goes to benefit the Street Vendor Project, so you can feel good about yourself while chowing down food from nine (that’s right, nine) different carts!

Related:
2008 Vendy Nominees Announced and Midtown Gets 2

After a week of not being allowed to park in Midtown the Dessert Truck is back open for lunchtime business. Got this note from Chris the owner this morning: “We’re back in business for our day spot (on Park Ave. & 52nd St.) We’ll be opening a bit later than usual but will be open til 5pm as usual.”  They’ve also added pumpkin custard to the menu. Definitely might have to check that out this week.

This just into the Midtown Lunch Inbox: The “imposter waffle truck” is parked on “Lexington between 58th and 59th” right now “handing out bite sized free samples.”  This is the truck that will eventually be serving pomme frites (they don’t have them today) and different from the Wafels and Dinges Truck, which was planning on parking at 51st & Park today, but was forced to move to 23rd St. & 5th Ave. because there is a movie being filmed on Park Ave.  The Dessert Truck lucked out and got their normal space near Park & 52nd St.  The Treats Truck is closed this week, so conecakes fans are SOL.

And for the first time in the history of Midtown street food, a cart/truck has found a spot on Day 1 without any trouble whatsoever. The Dessert Truck parked on Park Ave. btw. 51+52nd and sold delicious desserts for 4+ hours today without any hassles. No trouble from the cops. No trouble from other vendors (despite a Mister Softee Truck being parked two blocks away.) And no trouble finding customers. In fact, co-owner Chris told me that sales today rivaled their regular nighttime business. Who said Midtown Lunchers wouldn’t want to stuff their faces with chocolate bread pudding on a Monday?!?

So, if everything goes as smoothly as it went today, The Dessert Truck will be parked in that same spot Monday-Friday 11:30 am to 4pm forrrrreverrrrrrrrr! Keep your fingers crossed…

Photos courtesy of Serious Eats

The Dessert Truck is beginning its daytime operations today, and will attempt to find a spot on Park Ave. between 51+53rd streets from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Treats Truck is awesome, and Wafels & Dinges are nice, but the Dessert Truck is some serious shit.  We’re talking chocolate bread pudding, molten chocolate cake, vanilla creme brulee, goat cheese cheesecake and more.  Restaurant quality desserts, out of truck, and everything is $5. 

As you know, finding a permanent spot is difficult, so I’ll keep you up to date on their progress. Welcome  to the neighborhood boys! To read more about the Dessert Truck, check out this post on Serious Eats: New York.

UPDATE: As of 11:07 a.m. the truck has found a space on Park between 51+52nd.

Due to its non-Midtown location, I haven’t been able to use this blog as an excuse to sample the much written about Dessert Truck. (In case you thought this site was started to help you people find lunch, its true purpose was to allow me to eat gross and fattening lunches, and be able to say “It’s for work!”). Well, that is about to change this summer. Right now, the Dessert Truck spends Tuesday-Sunday nights on University Place & 8th St., but once the weather gets warmer, Co-owner Chris Chen told me they are hoping to park the truck during the day in… wait for it… wait for it… Midtown!

They haven’t decided on a location yet (and from the struggle the Treats Truck had, I’m guessing it won’t be easy), but I assured them that no matter where the truck was parked, they would be welcomed with open mouths by the Midtown Lunch’ing faithful. I also used this bit of news as an excuse to sample four of their creations (Gianduja Pot de Creme, Vanilla Creme Brulee, Chocolate Bread Pudding, and the Milk Chocolate w/ Peanut Butter). All were outstanding, and for just $5 a pop, a pretty amazing bargain for desserts that would normally cost $10 in a restaurant. For a really great round-up of the truck’s offerings, check out this post by Robyn Lee on Ed Levine Eats.

The sad thing is, I didn’t have to wait this long for the Midtown Lunch-Dessert Truck connection. The truck rents kitchen space right above Daisy May’s BBQ on 11th Ave. & 46th St., home base of the Daisy May’s BBQ Cart on 50th btw. 6+7th- a bonafied Midtown Lunch!

For those of you keeping score at home:

• Treats Truck – Midtown Lunch’ing favorite! Here at least 3 days a week
• Waffles Truck – Coming soon!
• Dessert Truck – Coming soon as well!

Stay tuned for more details… and if you have any news to report, email it to zach@midtownlunch.com