It’s a little past noon and the Kogi truck has just started serving! We have a couple of correspondents on the scene — one of them, the aforementioned Jason Wishnow, sends us the photo at left. And our own Molly Finkelstein sends us another snapshot of a truck employee taking a photo of the line and yelling, “ARE YOU HUNGRY?” For lunch today: Kimchi quesadillas and chocolate mousse with peanut-butter center, plus caramel popcorn. At 11:30 a.m. there were only about 25 people in line, but that quickly grew, and now this from YummyintheCity’s Twitter: “At kogi truck on 55th and lex. Line reminds me of the theory sample sale lines.” And from WinedandDined: “The line is at least 200 deep at Dessert/Kogi Truck” and “Truck is at northeast corner of 55th and lex and line stretches all the way down to 3rd ave.” Also from our correspondent: “The lady in charge says they hope to open officially in ny by end of summer. This is their gift to ny.” Stay tuned here as we continue to update.
12:12 p.m. From WinedandDined: “More Kogi Koverage–Midtown Restaurant on 55th b/t lex & 3rd handing out menus & samples to people in line in hopes food runs out.” And this heartbreaker from SweetBlogoMine: “Line is moving, but it’s a race against the clock.” FoodinMouth is opting out: “That kogi line is unbelieveable. No thanks.” Here’s a shot of the food — decide for yourself.
12:18 p.m. As promised, Lee Ann Wong is in the house, and Midtown Lunch (also on the scene, of course) reveals that she’ll be in charge of New York’s first Kogi truck. As you can see from our photo below, crowds have spilled out onto the street. SweetBlogoMine has aborted mission. Nineteen minutes in and we have our first casualty.
Photo: Molly Finkelstein
12:28 p.m. Overheard: “I’m glad I didn’t wait too long for this. It whet my appetite for tacos.”
12:36 p.m. Let it be known, FoodWriterDiary and Always Eating are too cool for this. Our correspondent’s verdict: “The chocolate mousse is amazing. The kimchi quesadilla is good but tastes pretty much like a regular quesadilla.”
12:46 p.m. Just 32 portions left!
12:48 p.m. Ten minutes ago, there were still over 100 hopefuls in line. The woman on the left, Sera Hwang, told us, “It was worth the wait but I’m still hungry.” The guy on the right, Jason, got a birthday candle in his mousse and a round of “Happy Birthday.” At the moment, Kogi truckers are breaking the bad news to people in line.
Photo: Molly Finkelstein
1:07 p.m. And so it ends. At left below, the last person to be served — Lucky Bastard of Lucksville, N.Y. At right, the truck is closed, and a thousand hopes are dashed. Meanwhile, looking at the flurry of tweets, live blogs, and such, we can only recall the interview where the Kobi truck told Zagat, “The Internet made us.” Indeed.
Photo: Molly Finkelstein
1:12 p.m. And your denouement, from ten minutes ago: “The people in charge are telling the crowd of bloggers to start a petition to Bloomberg to help them get their permits to officially open here.” Welcome to New York, kids. Now leave!
