Cartography

Yelping Over Street Vendors

Photo: Ben Stechschulte

Zach Brooks hits the boards at Midtown Lunch with his tips for ordering from street vendors. Rule No. 1? “Ask how much things cost before ordering.”

Pretty obvious to those of us who have lived here for a while, but apparently some Yelper’s friend ordered a kebab and an Italian sausage sandwich from a Rock Center–area vendor last week, took a bite, asked how much she owed, and was told $20. That’d best be some artisanal Italian sausage.

Among Brooks’s tips for how to order from an unfamiliar food vendor is this rather startling one: “Even if you’ve taken a bite you don’t actually have to pay for it.” Really? Even if the buyer forgot to beware and ask for the price up front? Hmmm.

But Brooks considers himself a “staunch advocate” of street vendors, and if you scroll to the end of the post, he reminds you that the vendor’s job is harder than those of many who order from him: “It is super cold out, and do you know how early they had to wake up and how much snow they had to dig out of to get their cart into Midtown? It wouldn’t be that hard to feel good about overpaying would it?”

What would you do in the Yelper’s situation?

Tourist Street Food Lesson #1: Never Take a Bite Before Paying! [Midtown Lunch]

Yelping Over Street Vendors