Serious Eats: New York
Tony Dragonas Street Cart Cuts Deal with Dept. of Health
Tony Dragonas, at the inaugural Vendy Awards in 2005.
A grilled burger from Tony Dragonas's cart.
You may remember that Tony Dragonas's Midtown street cart was threatened with a shut-down by the Department of Health late last month.
But word just came in from Sean Basinski, lawyer and director of the Street Vendor Project, that Tony Dragonas's cart will remain open.
That means there will be no interruption of the souvlaki, hamburgers, and chicken pitas that inspired at least 25 supporters to show up for Dragonas's hearing this morning.
The hearing never happened. The DOH cut a deal with Dragonas before it started. With three local TV stations (NY1, Fox 5, and UPN9) showing up for the proceedings, along with those supporters, it's obvious the DOH had never seen support like this for a vendor.
The Terms of the Deal
As Basinski explained to us, there are actually at least two pieces of documentation involved in any street cart operation:
- A vendor license: for anyone serving food off the cart
- A cart permit for the cart itself
Confused? Think of it like a drivers license and license plates for your car.
Anyway, the DOH agreed to halt its action against the cart's permit, which was actually the bigger of two issues at hand, Basinski said. The department had wanted to revoke the cart's permit, which would have essentially put it out of business.
Dragonas's personal vendor license has actually been suspended for awhile; he's just been showing up on site to supervise but doesn't serve food. That will remain suspended for one more month, during which Dragonas will continue to supervise the cart. He also agreed to take a 5 day health class, and be more diligent about following the DOH rules, like wearing a hat.
Dragonas has already paid about $1,100 in fines and has agreed to pay an additional $3,000-plus. There are 11 other outstanding tickets that Basinski said they still plan on taking to court.