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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Chow Meanwhile, on the Mean Streets of New York

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:30 PM

A surge in new mobile food vendors in NYC is causing crazy turf wars. From the New York Times:

In four weeks of business [parked in front of the MOMA], the couple has been threatened at the depot where they park the truck; cursed by a gyro vendor who said that he would set their truck on fire; told to stay off every corner in Midtown by ice cream truck drivers; and approached by countless others with advice — both friendly and menacing — on how to get along on the streets.

“I want to be a good neighbor,” Mr. Di Mille said. “But I am nobody’s fool, and nobody’s pushover, and I should not have to carry a baseball bat on my truck in order to sell cupcakes.”

So far in Seattle—since we've always been sadly deficient—there's been plenty of room for new street food (though at that link, in comments, you will find the protestations of at least one local bricks-and-mortar restaurateur). Even the great Georgetown falafel feud remains a small-potatoes, provincial battle compared to New York, where per the NYT article, cart spots are sometimes sold on the black market, and fancypants new trucks represent the incursion of an entirely different class of people:

...the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is driven by Doug Quint, a doctoral candidate in bassoon performance at CUNY. “The whole Brooklyn Philharmonic season was canceled,” he said. “I have to get through the summer somehow.”

Hallava Falafel photo by Kelly O.

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Some friends in mine in here in SF were looking into doing a food truck. The police dept. handles permitting, and the cops basically talked them out of it. This sort of thing was one of the reasons, and they couldn't, or wouldn't have wanted to, have afforded to have an extra employee just for muscle.

Posted by Dougsf on July 1, 2009 at 1:49 PM

Gimbels is gone, Marge. Long gone.

You're Gimbels.

Posted by Baconcat on July 1, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Yes, the hot dog and kebab vendors have it tough, but the hot dog and kebab vendors typically have shit food. Why there's such a demand for briny hot dogs that sit around in hot water all day, and stale, mass-produced, over-salted pretzels, I'll never know.

I enthusiastically take the side of the gourmet vendors. The variety and quality delivered in self-contained trucks are an impressive and refreshing foil to the ubiquitous purveyors of suspect meats.

If the hot dog militia are so upset, maybe they should put a little more care into the food they serve.

Posted by nixor on July 1, 2009 at 2:38 PM

@3: Blasphemer!

Posted by Baconcat on July 1, 2009 at 2:42 PM

we need a big gay doug & his ice cream truck in seattle!!

http://twitpic.com/8skhn

Posted by alithea

on July 1, 2009 at 2:48 PM

@5 Yes you do... I am in love with the big gay ice cream truck. you can get sriracha sauce as a topping! crazy!

Posted by nixor on July 1, 2009 at 2:57 PM

It should be illegal to sell cupcakes.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 1, 2009 at 3:28 PM

#3 - Not sure about kebabs, but hot dogs and pretzels are pre-cooked and easy to obtain permits for, and to sell. That is probably why they are so popular, or at least so prolific.

Posted by Dougsf on July 1, 2009 at 3:29 PM

It's a freakin' hot dog, you know, meat made from parts of the animal you don't want to see in their unground state. People buy them because they're cheap, filling and oh-so tasty; not like Filet Mignon tasty, but when you're drunk at 2:00 a.m. and you've only got $6 left in your pocket, they totally fit the bill.

I'm just waiting for someone to open a Döner cart - I'd be all over that like yogurt sauce on shawarma.

Posted by COMTE

on July 1, 2009 at 3:41 PM

@9, oh yeah. I'm right there with you. Mr. Gyros needs to go mobile.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 1, 2009 at 4:03 PM

what are the rules here in Seattle, Re: setting up a street-food cart on a city street?

Posted by Gordon Werner on July 1, 2009 at 4:32 PM

Threats? That's nothing - 6 people died in the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars in 1984

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice…

See the Bill Forsyth movie 'Comfort and Joy' for a much tamer view of the same conflict

Posted by Big Yin on July 1, 2009 at 4:36 PM

This isn't a new thing. If any of you dicks ever worked constructions you'd see that the legit roach coachers don't let anyone on their turf.

Posted by the duster on July 1, 2009 at 4:43 PM