Earlier today Midtown Lunch blogged about an altercation that took place when the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck took Frites ‘N’ Meats’ usual Tuesday parking spot outside of the Fox News building, resulting in the ejection of both trucks. After the incident, Frites ‘N’ Meats tweeted, “Boycott Rickshaw Dumpling!” and “Aint no Rickshaw dumbass gonna keep us from giving u Burger Love!” Followed by, “Screw the Rickshaw Truck. No respect gets no respect” and “Mess with us and u will feel the Frites’N’Meats sting.” And, “You know it, we know it, Burger Love so much stronger than Rickshaw Hate.” But Kenny Lao of Rickshaw tells Grub Street that he’s actually all about keeping his head down, and it’s Vadim Ponorovsky (the Frites ‘N’ Meats owner best known for losing it on his staff at Paradou) who got ugly, going so far as to use homophobic and racial slurs.
Lao tells us that he thought the Frites ‘N’ Meats truck only parked at 48th Street and Sixth Avenue on Fridays, and he called Schnitzel & Things (another truck that uses the spot) to make sure it was kosher to take the space. “You don’t want to make spots hot,” explains Lao. “A lot of trucks are going to draw the landlord’s attention.” When Ponorovsky arrived to find the Rickshaw truck, Lao says “he really flipped out on us, sending me harassing messages and whatnot. My business partner was there — I didn’t hear because I had walked away, but he said racial slurs against me and sent me a totally homophobic message.” (Lao, who is gay, read two of the messages aloud: “Fucking faggot douchebag motherfucker” and “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”) Lao says that a security guard told him it was Ponorovsky who called the cops. The authorities booted both trucks because (unbeknownst to Lao) the Health Department forbids food trucks from parking on the block.
“He obviously has a record of going after the public with this type of stuff, like he did against Schnitzel,” says Lao. Meanwhile, Frites ‘N’ Meats tweets the last word: “Its not a war. But if it were, asking whod win, is like asking whod win in a Mike Tyson (us) vs. snot nosed 3rd grader (Rickshaw).”
Update: Frites N Meats to Rickshaw Truck: “‘You’re Ruining This for Everybody”
