Thursday, February 24, 2011
Food Cart Nightshift Workers @9:30 pm
Various Locations Midtown Manhattan
Every Wednesday I’m going to be going somewhere and taking photos of people working the night shift.
Food trucks have become all the rage these days. Mobile kitchens roam the town selling everything from burgers to steaks to tacos to (of course) cupcakes. They have Twitter and facebook accounts and update constantly to let the hungry masses know which corner the restaurant on wheels will be parked and for how long. However, before the food truck, there was the street vendor selling food from a cart. Usually simple fare, like hot dogs, sausages, meat skewers and pretzels. These vendors are still out there and I thought I’d go out and get some shots of them before the food trucks run them over and put them out of business. I hope you’re hungry!
Okay, one block away from work and we've found a nighttime cart already.
It's a Halal food cart. A lot of late-night carts are Halal vendors. Remember our 53rd and 3rd friend?
And here's the fellow inside of the cart. I ordered a hotdog from him.
And he flew into action. He's got a grill in here, this isn't your average New York dirty water dog.
And a liberal dose of mustard seals the deal. He almost put ketchup on it, but luckily I stopped him in the nick of time. Ketchup does not belong on a hotdog.
And there you go, a perfectly cooked, New York street dog. Delicious!
This woman waved at me as I took a picture of her and her cart.
She was a very nice Russian woman and she happily served me up a pretzel.
Here's a loaded Sabrett cart. I'm not hungry after the hotdog and pretzil, but let's see who's manning this food cart.
He was a nice guy waiting for customers on a chilly evening.
Okay, let's go down the block and see who we can find.
It's the Nuts 4 Nuts man!
Here he is, displaying a bag of his product. Pretty nuts, huh?
That cart has an electric sign on top of it. Let's go check it out.
Pretty fancy, let's see who's manning this food cart.
There's a lot of choices here, foodwise. I kind of wish I wouldn't have filled up earlier.
There's no one in here though. An empty cart.
Hey, here he is, he was taking a break outside of his cart. He told me business was a little slow tonight. Hopefully it'll pick up when it warms up outside.
Speaking of warming up, I was freezing, so it's time to head homeward bound. We'll go down 7th Avenue.
Graffiti on a window on 7th Avenue.
Holy smokes!
Look, it's a station wagon with a thyroid problem.
Health is wealth...
But liquor is quicker. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Eating from street vendor carts is a little like eating a buffets in delis around town. You’re kind of taking your stomach on a little bit of a joy ride that sometimes doesn’t end up quite so joyous. I’ve heard street vendors carts referred to as “roach coaches,” and the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witnessed was in Times Square, a long time ago. I can’t remember where I was going, this is years ago, I was probably headed to Show World to go watch the cum cleaners in action, but all of a sudden I realized I was starving. There was a food cart a few feet away, so I went over and ordered a hot dog from the guy. It was the middle of summer, hot and while the cart didn’t look like the cleanest thing in the world, I was starving so I tried to ignore the grime the cart was covered in. I asked him to put mustard on it, but I got a bonus. Right after he applied a liberal dose of mustard to the dog from a dirty, generic yellow squirt bottle, he sneezed. Directly on the hot dog. And then acting like nothing was wrong he spat out, “Buck and a quarter.” He was a big guy and he was holding the hot dog with one hand and held the other out for the money.
“But you sneezed on it,” I said in horror.
“You order, you pay,” the guy said in a clipped accent I didn’t recognize. Wherever he was from, I guess it’s okay to sneeze and serve.
“Forget it,” I said, raising my hands in defense and then turned to walk away. Seconds later and just a step away I felt something hit me in the back. I stopped looked down and saw a hotdog. He threw it at me. I looked up at him in the cart and he was giving me the finger. At least he didn’t hit me with the mustard side.
You have to love New York!
Further reading: The Vendy Awards, The New York Times, New York Magazine and Gourmet.
28 Comments
Reader Comments (28)
"Mmmmm...New York Street Kabobs...glaaaaaglglaaaaglll..." - Homer Simpson.
Threw the hot dog at you eh? Sounds like a Somolian. I know our Somolian Taxi drivers around here have an idea of what customer service is supposed to be like that dates back all the way to the seventh century...and never changed a bit.
Good story about the guy sneezing on your dog. You know, that job, being outside in the elements all night is tough. You wonder why they do it. Because these people have to make money and feed their family which most of the time consists of immigrants and its a start in a new country. Hopefully most are nice, hard working, honest people just trying to make it. That guy that threw the hotdog at you was frustrated because its tough to sneeze and have it land on the actual mustard, so he hit a bullseye and gave you a complimentary dog with the extra "dressing" at no charge. The finger he gave you was to say "hey, will you come back tomorrow, I have more "dressing for you". The fun you can have just walking around, right?
@Jaws: Nice Homer quote!
@Al: They were all very nice last night. New York is a great city for walking around, you never know what's going to happen.
Great shots, I'm loving the street scenes all around town on this blog. Great street meat story as well, keep up the good work!
I really want to have my own roach coach someday..even if i freeze my ass selling to guys leaving a bail shop across the street from a court house. hey i wonder if i show cleavage on a snowy day i will sell more dogs.
I'm glad you're back in action. Been following the past week and the Tads report made me smile. When I was 13 (1969) I'd take the train in from Stratford , Ct. , and with 5 bucks go to Tads and get the T-bone , spud, and garlic bread. The front windows were coated in grease and flames . Great memories ! Your NYC travels feel like I'm there too, thanks for that. dannyboy
@Barfly: Thanks, glad you're enjoying the blog. I'm having a lot more fun doing this one. It's nice to be able to do different things every night.
@Gidgie: The cleavage idea is a great one! And I love the term, "roach coach," it cracks me up.
@dannyboy: Thanks for following the new blog. Glad it's bringing you some smiles!
I could survive a whole weekend on just eating street dogs with sauerkraut & mustard and/or the red onion sauce ..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ....... soon .......... mmmmmmmmmm............. the hot sausages are the best !!!
You might survive the whole weekend on street mystery meat, but even with a holiday on Monday, you'd be out of the coroner's office by Tuesday.
@GENE: The hot sausages rule!
@cp: I know you're joking, but if you pick the right carts you're fine. I've found the Halal trucks are usually the cleanest and they cook all their stuff on the grill. I tend to shy away from the dirty water dog carts.
Marty...when's the Marty after Dark shirt shop gonna open up? I just KNOW you and Boris gotta have something planned...
I concur Marty. The real no-fly zone carts are the nondescript grilled meat kebab carts. One night outside Grand Central I ordered a stick of meat. After I was served, the vendor sprayed the grill with oven cleaner and windex, wiped it with a balled up paper towel, and put more meat on the grill. Yum.
Kudos on the blog, even if only for puerile homophobic humor.
"It's the Nuts 4 Nuts man!"
"The hot sausages rule!"
P.S. Maybe you should start developing shows for the Food Channel.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-great-food-truck-race/index.html
First of all, that sneezy dog story is hilarious. Gross, but hilarious. And, second, this post reminds me of one of my favorite bumper stickers ever: The Road to Health is Paved With Good Intestines. TO FIBER!
@Jaws: Don't worry, we'll set up shop soon. Right now I just want to get in the groove of doing this and let everybody find it.
@cp: You can see some scary things watching some of those carts! And I'd love to work for the Food Network, the only risk would be running into Rachel Ray and this clown: http://twe.ly/as7
@Biff: TO FIBER...that reminds me, I gotta run!
@Biff: Nice. To Fibre!
@Mad: You could have dedicated the entire bolg to these guys. I love the corn dogs but mine was cold in the middle. The NY street pretzels were fucking gross.
@Clacky: If you got a corn dog, it was probably at a street fair, I've never seen those at a street food cart. You don't like the NY pretzels? You have to put mustard on them, I like them.
first off...had a lot to say about the last couple posts...they turned into a rant...that said you could probably do food carts once a week for more than year...a name of who you are snappin' once in awhile would be aw interestin'...off topic...as usual...your comments sumthimes crack me up...but sum of your comments elsewhere really get me laughin'...and "artisanal rat" really floored me...
rr
@rr: I will be doing food trucks more in the future, I should've gotten their names, I'm still kind of finding my footing doing this. Glad you liked the artisinal rat comment over at EV Grieve!
Love the pretzels off the cart.. no salt though and extra mustard.
italian ice though..
that is the bomb!
i'm kind of the leonard type though.. i eat the lemon flavored things..
total dorkling.
i really thought roach coach was a west coast thing.
Marty we need to get a cart and travel the US with it!
fuck the new york dogs though.. i'm a vienna red hotter myself:)
@Gidgie: I always scrape the salt off the pretzels too. And Italian Ice's out here are great, I always get them in Central Park. That would be a blast traveling around the country in a food truck, maybe I'll pitch the idea to the Food Network. You have to drive though, I don't have a license.
I drive awful at night...
we'll have to recruit a friend.
cause daytimes suck..
I drive so little these days i have a new car i bought 18 months ago
it only has 6000 miles on it.
but it can tow a food cart:)
it really would be an awesome blog.. both on mine and yours!
maybe next year for a week! or two.
I always get shit for putting ketchup on hot dogs. But its good! Mustard sucks. And I need pickles with my hot dog. A hot dog street vendor was the thing I did get to try in my short visit to NY 15 years ago. It was yummy.
@Gidgie: Maybe we can get Rachel Ray to drive!
@kari: I can't take ketchup on a hot dog, but to each their own. Glad you got to sample a street vendor when you were here.
I love the ice cream trucks in NYC also .... I have to have my soft chocolate cone with sprinkles ... usually right after I eat my dirty water dog ! yummmmmmm..........
I always walk past that street meat cart by work too.
Hey the word in the street is that you are starting an other Bar Crawl again but this time you are going to 3 bars a day and finish in 121.6 days, Is that true?
@KNUCKLES TIKI BAR: Don't believe the rumors!
If you don't like mustard on your dog you might as well add ketchup and mayonnaise till it turns pink, you commies.
Just kidding, commies are fine, but catchup on a hot dog, ick.
You shut your face @cp! I would never put mayo on it either. Actually one thing Utah is famous for is our fry sauce, which is just ketchup and mayo mixed. Its gross. Ketchup rules!!