Is Your Fancy Food Truck Hurting the Poor Hot Dog Man?

Rachel Pincus's Flickr

Just as Tyra Banks discovers gourmet food vendor trucks, Blackbook has joined the growing backlash against their trendy proliferation. It's yet another article that looks at the turf wars between the arriviste artisanal food trucks and the old-school hot dog and kabob guys. But at least this one comes with a clever neologism: "vendrification," which is what happens when the new upscale trucks start "shaking up the culinary terrain of the streets."

By casting a sympathetic eye toward the struggling hot dog vendor, writer Katie Robbins signals the shift in foodiot attitude toward the gourmet trucks. Just as artsy hipsters can't tolerate certain neighborhoods once enough frat boys move in, we expect a post-Tyra food truck future to include bearded bespectacled types "keeping it real" by queuing up for kebab. Or maybe people will just keep eating what tastes good.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in Food on September 29, 2009 2:32 PM

Comments [rss]

ANGRYGOD11

I haven't had a dirty water dog in decades and don't miss them. I still have nightmares about the last street cart pretzel I tried to eat. But, I dream about my next order at the Biryani Cart at 6th Ave and 46th.

JoeyGirl

ah, the halal food carts - still one of the things i miss most about new york.

99centmenu

seconding the comment about quality. there are definitely more gourmet trucks around but they are still outnumbered by plain-old halal and kabob carts, some of which seem to be doing quite well and have lines going down the block at lunchtime.

i've had my fair share of absolutely shittastic gyro/pita so any and all competition is welcome.

Cautious Pessimist

Competition is good. That is all.

IvoryJive

Hear hear. The competitive marketplace should be driving the bus here. If hot dogs aint sellin, it's probably because they are an outdated, inferior product sold in a shabby manner with poor presentation and weak branding. Get it together or get out. The product has been so watered down it has barely any iconic relevance to New York anymore. Not even tourists eat those sweaty, flaccid lumps of pork lips.

Thespis

Agreed.

Oh, sure, sometimes we might argue about balancing the economic good caused by competition against some other policy need that we want to prevent by restraining it. (For example, child labor is cheap and easily available, but bad...for some reason I never quite figured out.)

But we're talking hot dog carts here. You can't put out a tastier hot dog for a better price? Your competitors eating your lunch (while no one else is)? Tough. The public shouldn't subsidize bad hot dogs by preventing good hot dogs from entering the market. Competition is, like the dude said, good.

hotstepper

i maintain that the "nuts 4 nuts" carts spew the worst smells in NYC, topping steaming sidewalk doggie doo and flushing main street on a hot summer day.

KiljoyWasHere

YES.

shamanovsky

BAN all kebab and hot dog guys. Their smoke spewing carts have no place in the modern day metropolis.

Or require them to install air filtration systems.

Smoke sucks. There is more than enough vehicle smoke and cigarette smoke on the streets already. Ban it ALL

Mookie Wilson

I think we should ban you.

jpeditor

Ask your halal vendor how much of what you pay goes to his "zakat" to Hamas, Hezbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sleepy

Also, who cares? If low quality food trucks are hurting because people are choosing to buy from higher quality trucks, how is that a bad thing? Turn their crappy hot dog carts into tasty hot dog carts and problem solved.

jibbly

Agreed. Sell tasty food and people will flock, FLOCK to a food cart.

virgilstarkwell

sorry, but it's real hard to feel sorry for the brown guy who sneezes into his hands and continues to prepare food without access to running water.

Soggy

So if it was a white guy sneezing into his hands it'd be easier? I didn't know Caucasian snot tasted better, I'll have to try it.

virgilstarkwell

still gross - just slightly less so, given the higher percentage of likely attempts at bathing.

Ed

Apparently, you've never traveled to France or Italy.

longacre

Some of the "fancier" carts might be suffering, but I don't think there is a lot of overlap between the group of people who eat at the gourmet trucks and the group of people who eat from run-of-the-mill hot dog stands.

DanielJ

I've eaten from some super-haute food trucks recently, but the Halal chicken and rice from the truck on West 4th near Broadway is still the best.