Landing space outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to sell hot dogs, drinks and other snacks is considered a coup, because of the throngs of visitors to the institution and to Central Park. But Cake & Shake, which won to right to sell there in return for paying over $100,000/year to the Parks Department, is refusing to pay the rent because of license-less vendors who sell there by using the veteran loophole. more ›

Finally! It's the moment you, street food aficionado, have been waiting for: after weeks of buildup and agonizingly paced teaser announcements, the finalists for this year's Vendy Awards have been announced, mere days before the event itself. Drumroll, please! more ›

The battle over Midtown lunch real estate continues today, with food carts expressing little sympathy for the larger food trucks that have been driven out of the neighborhood by cops suddenly enforcing an ancient Transportation Department regulation. more ›

A streetside used book seller with a beat-up '94 Civic has proudly kept the same Upper West Side parking space for, oh, about 11 years, and he's not moving anytime soon. Good thinking, guy! People in this city kill for a spot. more ›

Not every street vendor is a racist bigot who doesn't wash their hands and sleeps in their carts. And to prove it, a 21-year-old pushcart vendor who works his father's coffee and donuts cart did an AMA question-and-answer on Reddit this weekend. more ›

It can't always be easy to be a street vendor—if they're not tumbling and tussling with each other for real estate, then they're probably trying to hold it in. It's a tiring job, you have to deal with lots of unsavory characters and you're probably not washing your hands enough. But that's no reason to throw the whole world under the bus, like Upper West Side vendor Mohamed Abdalla did today in a rant to the Post where he railed against all his enemies, including "homosexuals," "Jewish people," ignorant bureaucrats, "rich people" and freebie-seeking doormen. more ›

Intrepid street food explorers may be familiar with the gallery of vendors that set up shop alongside the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown, hawking everything from hot dogs on a stick to durian fruit. But now, cops are cracking down on the merchants, accusing them of some fairly gross-sounding misdeeds. more ›

Have you ever wondered what really goes behind the scenes at your favorite shawarma cart? Well, MSNBC has you covered with a "confessional" interview with a vendor who asked to remain anonymous. But after reading through the not-so-candid Q & A, we're not so sure about some of his claims. Let's review: more ›

First, the cops were removing bikes along the President's motorcade path...now they're kicking out the Schnitzel & Things truck from a spot at East 54th Street and Lexington Avenue because of...a terrorist threat? Schnitzel & Things Tweeted, "Dear all, we've been kicked out by cops because of complaints from citicorp. The reason they gave = 'we are a terrorist threat' Lol WTF????" more ›

Just in time for tourist season, Times Square CD sellers are back on the streets. After fatally shooting a CD peddler who fired at them last year, cops cracked down on the salesmen, issuing 45 "aggressive solicitation" tickets in the course of one week in January. But that's two months ago—a reader sent us these photographs from yesterday afternoon, noting there wasn't an officer in sight for blocks. more ›

After yesterday's protest over a supposed Health Department crackdown on food vendors who take bathroom breaks, peanut vendor Shirajul Islam, who had his permit confiscated while he was in the can last week, went to get his cart inspected. Because of all the publicity, the city expedited the process yesterday, but ultimately the permit was denied because Islam failed to bring his cooking utensils or a notarized letter from the garage where he stores his cart. He was also cited for soot in one corner of his cart and a malfunctioning burner. Sean Basinski, director of the Street Vendor Project, witnessed the inspection and blasted the Health Department: more ›

In what the Street Vendor Project is describing as the first salvo in an imminent crackdown, a roasted peanut vendor in Lower Manhattan had his permit confiscated last week after he stepped away from his stand for a quick comfort break. Mohammed Shirajul Islam, who's been a vendor for the last ten years, is now in dire straits after answering nature's call at a nearby bookstore. "When got back to my cart, the permit had been scratched away," says Islam, 42. "Now I have to wait until they give me a new permit, and that could take a month. I can’t sleep. Street vending is how I provide for my family." more ›

After freaking out street vendors and the bloggers who love them yesterday, the Health Department has emailed us to say it was all a big misunderstanding. A provision in the Health Department's new code [pdf] raised eyebrows by declaring that "no fish, shellfish, or any food consisting of or made with an aquatic animal...shall be prepared, stored, held for service or sold from a mobile food vending unit." That's what it says, but it's not what they meant! more ›

Your fifteen minutes are over, gourmet food vendor truck vendors. NYC's crowded streets couldn't stop you, the Halal mafia couldn't scare you off, but the fancy food vending trend—which gave us everything from gay ice cream to, uh, Eurotrash—has finally screeched to a halt, now that Tyra Banks has stepped in. 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 ›

All "halal" broke loose in the Financial District around 6 p.m. Friday when, according to the Post, a street vendor rolled his food cart into a five-months-pregnant rival. The victim, Asmaa Abdelaal, says the incident was sparked by rumors that she'd been unfaithful to her husband; she tells the tabloid she was holding her 7-month-old daughter when the unnamed vendor "started saying terrible things about me, about how my daughter is not from my husband and how I sleep with all kinds of men. And then suddenly he pulled the wooden lever from under his cart and the cart rolled into the street, hitting us." After being knocked to the ground, the 24-year-old chicken-and-rice vendor was taken to New York Downtown Hospital and treated for back and side pain. But other vendors around Cedar Street say Abdelaal was the one at fault. One man, Eman Libelebide, tells the Post, "She wanted to get him in trouble. All the customers come to him. She gives me trouble, too." more ›

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wants police to crack down on the dozens of vendors at Ground Zero. NY1 reports that in spite of a "2004 state law prohibit[ing] vendors from working the area bordered by Broadway on the east, West Street on the west, Liberty Street on the south side, and Vesey Street on the north," vendors still set up and sell various wares, including many 9/11-related items (like "Tragedy," the photo pamphlet memento!). Stringer said, "We don't think this should be a three-ring circus where profiteers are cashing in on one of the worst tragedy to befall the United States of America," but one vendor reasoned, "When tourists come, they provide us with their money that we use to distribute into this economy." more ›

An Italian ice vendor who three years ago resold tubs of the frozen dessert that he had retrieved from a trash can was spotted back out with his cart yesterday. A cameraman for the NY Post eyed dirty icer Peter DeFiris at the Boat Pond where he served ices "without wearing gloves, and visited the men's restroom three times within 10 minutes." DeFiris was seen selling ices that he had pulled out of a Central Park trash can three years ago after he had been forced to dispose of them when he couldn't turn up a street vendor's license. The Department of of Consumer Affairs couldn't confirm whether or not DeFiris is operating his cart with a legal license this time around. more ›