Midtown Lunch

I like the sweet stuff just as much as the next guy, but desserts are not exactly my area of expertise. I tried the chocolate chip cookie from the Street Sweets Truck, and thought it was fine, but for a comprehensive look at their offerings I decided to turn to Kathy YL Chan, our resident coffee, sweets, and Hawaiian food expert here on Midtown Lunch (she’s also the blogger behind A Passion for Food.) She “sacrificed” herself by trying a good number of the Street Sweets Truck offerings, and filed this Top 5.

First the Treats Truck, then Dessert Truck, Wafels & Dinges, and now the Street Sweets Truck (followed by the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck). It would be easily to shake one’s head at the severe overflow of baked good and dessert oriented trucks in the city, but as far as I’m concerned (from a consumer perspective) the more, the merrier.

Unlike the other aforementioned trucks, Street Sweets Truck sets itself apart by being tied to a stone and mortar bakery in Brooklyn, One Girl Cookies. One Girl Cookies bakes a good number (but not all) of the products sold at the SS truck, including a selection of One Girl Cookies and some goods exclusively made for for SST.

I sampled my way around a good portion of their products, and while nothing is “the best of its kind”, as a whole SST is a notch above Treats Truck, the most comparable of moving dessert vehicles in town. Below, the top five to note for your next SST visit.

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Despite my original warnings, and the “hot dog cart incident” two weeks ago, it looks like the Street Sweets Truck has worked out the issues with their spot on 53rd btw. 5+6th.  After some negotiating (and a little help from the cops) they have been “cleared” to park in that spot every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now on.  As for the other two days a week, they’ve had a problem free day today parking between the 100% Halal & Healthy Cart and the Papa Perrone Truck, on 55th btw. Mad+Park.  The owner says that barring any other problems, they hope to make that their permanent spot on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Papa Perrone welcomed them with open arms, telling me that “if they bring people to this block, it just means more business for me.”  If only all street vendors saw it that way… right?

But what about the actual sweets!? (They’ve pretty much taken a backseat in all the Street Sweets coverage thus far.)  I figured today was as good a day as any for a little Street Sweets vs. Treats Truck chocolate chip cookie battle to the death!

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This morning Lunch’er Lee sends this update on the whole Hot Dog Carts vs. Street Sweets truck showdown on Friday:

I took another picture of the Street Sweets Truck at the end of the day when I left work (about 6pm). Looks like they sorted out whatever they needed to. What I find interesting, is that the space where all the hot dog vendors were parked at 9am, became the space where all the art vendors set up during the day. I think Street Sweets may be on to a truly symbiotic relationship by creating an impromptu coffee/art space, which, we can all agree, makes more sense than a hot dog/art space!

I love it.  Although a coffee/art situation could theoretically compete with the cafe inside MOMA, leading them to “pull a Bistro Milano” and call the cops. Clearly the truck worked something out with the hot dog vendors: Street Sweets is back on 53rd btw. 5+6th today.

Related:
Hot Dog Vendors Gang Up on the Street Sweets Truck
Will the Street Sweets Truck Ever Learn?
The Man Wins: Street Sweets Forced to Find Another Spot

Urgh.  What did I say on Wednesday? This just in from Lunch’er Lee:

“Just went by the Street Sweets Truck and 4 hot dog carts set up in their spot on 53rd btwn 5th and 6th at 9am. Not to beat a dead horse, but how could selling croissants and coffee possibly cut into hot dog cart business? They sell crappy hot dogs and prepackaged beef patties? Total horsesh*t, now I don’t have a cup of coffee and I am tired.”

I think it’s easy to turn against the hot dog vendors in front of MOMA but look at things from their perspective.

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via Twitter this morning: “Hello, today our sweet spot is 53 b’tween 5th & 6th. next to Moma. Come by 7 say hi & pick up some great sweets. We will b sampling @ noon.”  Outside MOMA?!?  One of the most desirable tourist foot traffic blocks in Midtown?  I’m sure you won’t get trouble from any of the established vendors on *that* block. Here’s some advice for the Street Sweets Truck if they want to avoid a repeat of the 55th Street fiasco.  You use twitter.  You have the support of the food blogs.  Pick a less popular spot, and start building your customer base.  Don’t park in front of MOMA!

Day one, post 55th Street parking fiasco, the Street Sweets Truck will try their luck on the NE corner of 47th & Park today.  We wish them a big good luck in their new spot, which is just one Avenue away from Le Gamin Truck– which is returning today to 47th & Lex, with “plenty of merguez”. [via Twitter;Twitter]

This news about the new Street Sweets Truck and their feud with the building on 55th and 6th came in late on Friday: “Sorry to disappoint, but we’ve been forced to move because of the pressure that Bistro Milano & Pret a Manger exerted on the building & the NYPD.” According to the owner of the truck it turns out the spot was technically illegal (you are not allowed to vend from a “metered spot”), so despite the best effort of Midtown Lunch’ers to support the new truck and put pressure on Bistro Milano and Pret, the NYPD was forced by the building to remove the truck. This came a day after representatives from both the NYPD & the FDNY told the Street Sweets truck they were doing nothing wrong.

The truck is off today for a private event, but will return tomorrow to look for a new spot in Midtown.

It sounds like 55th Street btw. 5+6th has been nothing but trouble for the brand new Street Sweets Truck since they popped up last week. On Monday, they complained that “politics” forced them to move to a different spot. Commenter “bm2e” seemed pretty pissed: “This is BULLSHIT. The carts on the block at 55th and 6th are a standard hot dog cart (pretty good, reasonable prices) and a mediocre halal cart that isn’t even there every day. Add to this poor showing the fact that the crap Italian restaurant in the first floor of 1350 6th Ave actually went and rented a U-Haul to prevent the truck from parking.” (I got confirmation that Bistro Milano, the Italian restaurant inside 1350, did indeed rent a UHaul and put it in the spot to prevent them from parking there on Monday.)

Well, it looks like it all came to a head yesterday when I noticed the scene above in front of the truck just before Noon. I asked one of the cops what was going on and he seemed all too excited to tell me.

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The new Street Sweets Truck, which launched last week saying they planned on permanently being on 55th btw. 5+6th, already seems to be having trouble with their parking space.  Yesterday they tried moving to 56th Street, before returning to 55th because of “the politics”.  Today they’re trying a new location on the NE corner of 51st and Park. This is nothing new, of course.  It took the Treats Truck awhile before they settled into their regular spots (38th and 5th on Tues/Thurs, 45th & 6th on Weds/Fri), and after months of building up their business the Dessert Truck was forced to move from Park & 52nd to their current location on 55th btw. Lex+3rd.  It may take awhile for these guys to find their footing, but hopefully they’ll stick it out.

If you want to keep track of where the Street Sweet truck is, the best way is to follow their Twitter account.