Following the lead of Mayor Bloomberg and other city councilmembers, Queens State Senator José Peralta says he will introduce legislation this week that will require local health departments to set up a letter-grade systems for food carts. Perhaps this will allow the food vendors to end the siege that is the Great Food Truck Crackdown of 2011 and literally come clean. more ›

The Parks Department is trying to bring more gourmet food vendors to NYC parks, in order to offer an alternative to pretzels and dirty water dogs—but the Manhattan community board that includes the Upper East Side WON'T STAND FOR IT. Last week the board voted to reject a proposal that would install specialty food carts at two locations in Central Park: at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and 80th Street and Central Park West. The co-chair of the Parks Committee, Peggy Price, recently explained why; she doesn't hate the food, she hates the aesthetics. more ›

This Saturday on Governor's Island, The King of Falafel & Shawarma was crowned the darling of the NYC street foodie community as it won the Vendy Cup at the 2010 Vendy Awards. Hailing from Astoria, Fares Zeideia walked away with the cup, beating out fellow finalists Schnitzel & Things (2009 Rookie of The Year), The Bistro Truck, El Rey de Sabor, and Patacon Pisao. The King also won the People's Taste Award. Winning in the best dessert category was Kelvin Natural Slush Co., which had the longest line during whole competition, possibly due to Saturday's unseasonably warm weather. Rookie of the Year honors went to Souvlaki GR. more ›

The "Wiener Wars" taking place outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art may have sparked a debate over just how much money food cart vendors rake in, but one thing seemed agreed upon—Met vendor Dan Rossi was raking in the dough. Well not any more, the city says. A loophole for veterans allowed Rossi to park his cart in the high profile spot without having to (frank) foot the bill of $600k in rent paid to the city by Pasang Sherpa. But now the Vietnam Vet tells the Post that the city has declared the strip along Fifth Avenue "a street," meaning that his special privileges no longer fly there. Nonetheless Rossi tells the paper that he "would be back [today], even if it means getting arrested." He also tells them that he is the only veteran who owns his cart, but that other carts utilized the exception by hiring vets to man their stands. More concerning to us: if Rossi gets tossed, where will the recently evicted, overbidding Sherpa turn now?? more ›

Swooping in like a regular Mister Monopoly riding in on his hot dog cart (or was it a wheelbarrow?), vendor Dan Rossi has come to the rescue of fellow frank seller Pasang Sherpa after Sherpa was evicted from his high-priced spot outside the Met. Yesterday news broke that Sherpa was $300,000 behind on the $600K+ in annual rent he was supposed to be paying the city to sling dogs outside the Upper East Side museum. That prompted Rossi, who is able to set up his stand without paying rent due to an exception for veterans like him, to invite Sherpa to join his edible empire. When asked about his former rival turned subordinate, the winner of the wiener wars told the News, "He's gonna work for me now. Nobody's gonna touch him now without talking to me...The guy was crying. They pushed him out." Rossi also called for the Parks Department to crack down on unlicensed, "black market" vendors nearby saying, "I sell water for $2 and the others sell it for $1. If I charged $10 a hot dog maybe I could compete." more ›

Hot dog vendor Pasang Sherpa made headlines a few months back for his big six-figure bids to guarantee lucrative space slinging franks outside the Metropolitan Museum, paying out $643,000 annually to the Parks Department for his spots outside the Met. At the time, he said that he didn't want to pay the city his big rent bills because he contended that nearby construction was having too negative of an impact on his business. Now after following through on his threat to hold off rent, the city has responded by evicting him. A Parks Department spokesman says Sherpa had fallen $310,000 behind in rent. Sherpa told the News that he was "going crazy" and didn't know what to do or where to go. Even more lost though were some Rhode Island tourists outside the Upper East Side museum, one of whom told the paper, "We don't know the area or where else to eat but here. There's no other place to eat around here." When Sherpa's original beef was reported in January, the Post said that another nearby vendor on 5th Avenue was set up and operating without permission or paying anything because of "a regulation that lets veterans like him bypass the bidding process." more ›

This weekend rainbows have been spotted in the skies over Brooklyn, shunned from the fire escapes of the West Village and now are being fought over on the corner of The Bronx. These particular rainbows are ones that come in a frozen form known as "helados," sold from carts and better known in their Latino neighborhoods as 'Rembo.' The Times looks into the fierce competition emerging this season as the respect given to some longtime vendors' dibs on certain corners is getting trumped by new vendors who have patiently held out through long waiting lists. They're all fighting, legally or not, to make make ends meet through what's already been a tough stretch of inclement weather, not to mention the recession. While it sounds like a relatively cold war going on in Park Versailles for now, the elements are certainly in place for a equivalent the Goodfellas-esque ice cream tuck wars taking place in Queens. more ›

Some food-cart vendors are serving up lunch specials with a hearty helping of identity theft. The NY Post reports the city's Department of Investigation is looking into widespread illegal renewal of food-cart permits by scammers who assume the identities of former food-cart operators. These permits—many of which belong to dead or emigrated vendors—are then renewed and resold for absurd premiums on the black market. Post reporters found some cart permits going for as much as $46,000, sold by a broker demanding, "Everything is in cash. Paid in full." Beyond the whole identity theft thing, of course, the scam also makes it harder for legitimate vendors to obtain permits, which, like taxi medallions, are issued in limited numbers. One Manhattan food-cart operator blames the way permit applications are handled for allowing these cheaters to prosper. Because permits can be renewed by mail, he says the scam becomes "an easy thing to get away with." more ›