Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Most Exciting Weekend Coming Up

Howdy Burger Lovers,

We are incredibly excited about the two events this weekend to which we'll be bringing extra helpings of Burger Love!!!

The First is the World Famous Tribeca Film Festival Street Fair. This takes place this Saturday, May 1st from 10am - 6pm. We will be at the Fair from Noon - 6pm.

The Second is the soon to be World Famous Hell's Kitchen Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar. This is affiliated with the woderful Hell's Kitchen Flea Market. This Food Truck-apalooza staring yours truly ;), will be at 39th St & 9th Ave this Sunday, May 2nd from 11am - 4pm.

At both events we'll be featuring our Burger of the Week - The El Cubano (see previous blog for descrtiption) and Lena's Mind-melting Cherry, Walnut Brioche Bread Pudding with Godiva Liquor & Vanilla Cream Sauce!!!!

We are very excited to be one of the few invited to these two wonderful events and hope to see all of you at either or, hopefully, both this weekend

Wishing you much Burger Love,

V & A

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

WTF and Other Tales of Schadenfreude

Howdy Burger Lovin' Friends,

Sorry for not updating the blog for a little a bit. This week in addition to telling you about our schedule and burger of the week, I wanted to use this blog to discuss something I've been noticing taking place and accelerating in society, specifically American society. Schadenfreude - pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. We see it in our politics as members of one party tear down members of the other party, not due to disagreement on issues, not because one party has better solutions, but becuase it gives a certain sociopathic pleasure to embarrass the opposition on a personal level. We see it in how individuals behave - whether in the workplace or in society at large by blaming their problems on others and deriving pleasure from the misfortune of our fellow human being. And last week, certainly on a much less serious level, Schadenfreude came to roost in the world of Burger Love.

On Tuesday, having just opened for lunch in Tribeca, in the same spot we have been almost daily for the last 6 months, we recieved a visit from the local police officer dealing with vendors. He and his partner were perfectly nice and brought us the following message "Leave now & never return". When we asked why, almost sheepishly the officer said "I'm sorry, I know you're not bothering anyone, I know you're only trying to make a living, and honestly your menu looks very good, but someoen complained and when they do, I have to ask you to leave. If you do not leave, or if I see you here again, I will issue you a summons and may confiscate your truck". Confiscate the Truck?!?!?! This is where Schadenfreude comes in. Why would someone call the police? If we are doing something that bothers someone, why doesn't that someone come up to the truck, tell us their concerns, possibly see us as reasonaable human beings and give us the opportunity to address their issue. Instead, it's easier to demonize and in an anonymous manner, destroy. It's easier to get someone who possess unarguable authority to deal with your problems then deal with them yourself. History is full of incidents when force rather than reason was used to achieve short term objectives, but never long terms results. The agent of force, the officer in this case, didnt even know why he was being sent to ask us to leave. He couldnt tell me what the complaint was, just that one had been anonymously lodged and he had to act on it. In my opinion, and in the opinion of everyone who came to the truck that day and was informed of what was happening, it wasn't fair and as some said showed incredible mean-spiritedness on the complaintants part. What was it that we were doing that caused this person so much discomfort, that their singular desire to be rid of us outweighed the pleasure we seem to give the hundreds of customers who visit us every week in Tribeca. What was it that we did that made this person say "The hell with all these people, what I want is more important". Why are the desires of the few, more important than the needs of the many. History is littered with moments in time where the path of confrontation was much easier than the path of conversation and consensus. This approach has never lead to peaceful co-existance but to long-term resentments and grudges. We must remember that today's conquered are tomorrows conquerers. And Burger Love conquers all. So that day, we moved. Not far. A couple of blocks. And then we Tweeted about it. The indignation and outporing of support were incredible to see. It showed us that while Schadenfreude is powerful, the forces of Goodness & Burger Love are far more powerful. We saw it that day and we thank you, our Burger Lovin' friends for showering us with your love when we felt so low. However, in the end, in this case, the Forces of Evil won a short term victory. We will no longer be able to do Lunch Service in Tribeca. We cannot risk the confiscation of our business. We feel absolutely terrible about this, but with the laws being what they are, and with anonymous black-hearted, Burger Hating people roaming the streets of Tribeca, we cannot take this chance. We will continue to do daily dinner service in Tribeca at Greenwich & Duane, in front of the Food Emporium.

OK, that's that. Just had to get that off our chest.

We've got our fourth Weekly Twitter Free Lunch Winner!!!! Congratulations to

Daniel Christ

All you have to do to enter the weekly Burger Love Twitter Free Lunch contest is sign up for our Twitter Feed at http://twitter.com/fritesnmeats. Please tell your friends, we're sure they'll appreciate you spreading word of Burger Love their way.

Due to the Incident in Tribeca we've had to revise our schedule:
Mon & Thurs - Broad St & Water St in FiDi
Tues - MIDTOWN EAST (upper 40's or low 50's) Stay Tuned!!!
Wed - 48th St & 6th Ave in MIDTOWN WEST
Fri - Park Ave between 26th & 27th St.

Even though the weather this week is a bit chilly, we're feeling very tropical. Our Burger of the Week this week is the El Cubano.
A Well Seasoned Grassfed Angus Patty
Rosemary Ham
Gruyere Cheese
Sliced Pickles
Secret Sassy Sauce

That's about it for now. Sorry for the long ramble. Have a great Burger Love-filled week.

V & A

Monday, April 12, 2010

The Week That Was, Another Winner & The Week Ahead

Howdy Amigos,

Looks like we've got a mighty fine week ahead of us. Nice weather. No rain in the forecast. The Burger Gods are smiling on us.

We had a hell of a week. It seems week after week, Burger Love in NYC is growing by leaps and bounds. Sometimes it grows so fast we can't keep up. That was the case this past weekend in MIDTOWN. The weather was perfect, we were in our spot on 48th & 6th, we were ready...or so we thought. The phone started ringing off the hook. in our effort to please all our customers we started taking preorders at 11am. By the time we were done taking preorders at 1130, we had 48 orders that were going to be picked up by 1230. This wouldnt have been a problem. However, this being MIDTOWN, where it seems our most rabid fans spend their time, by noon, we had a line of at least 30 people. This also was not a problem. Indeed this gets us really juiced. We love seeing our fans come out. Then, however, we had a little grill fire. This was a bit of a problem. This last thing, put us a bit behind the ball. We saw some of you leave because you couldnt wait so long. We are very very sorry about that. It is always our goal to get you the best burger possible in the shortest amount possible. And for a little while on Wednesday, we werent doing that very well. To all those that either waited a long time to get their lunch or just couldn't wait anymore, we apologize BIG TIME!!!! We promise that will not happen again. We have taken steps to ensure that. But, as the say, the proof is in the pudding, or in our case, in the Burger. So, MIDTOWN, come out this Wednesday and see the results!!!

Wednesday, however, wasnt all bad. One great thing did come out of it. The Wall Street Journal contacted us, and will be doing a write up of us for their new New York Metro edition (dont know if theyre calling it that). We will be in the first edition of this new section. Its supposed to appear during the last week of April.

We've got our second Weekly Twitter Free Lunch Winner!!!! This winner is from Tribeca, and we hope he'll be coming by either Tuesday or Friday to pick up his Free Burger Love!!!
Congraulations to our second winner,

Jose Pablo Rodriguez

We look forward to having hundreds and hundreds of weekly winners for many years to come. As you know, this is the easiest contest to enter and the one that gives you the most chances to win. 52 chances to win every year. All you have to do is sign up for our Twitter Feed at http://www.twitter.com/fritesnmeats. By the looks of it, quite a few are in the hunt for the Free Burger Love but we'd love to see many more. Please tell your friends, I'm sure they'll appreciate you spreading word of Burger Love. I know we certainly do.

Our schedule this week is the following:
Mon & Thurs - Broad St & Greenwich St in FiDi
Tues & Fri - Greenwich St & Chambers St in Tribeca
Wed - 48th St & 6th Ave in MIDTOWN
Dinner Service - Everyday after 3pm in Tribeca. Ideally on Greenwich & Chambers, but if the toothless ice cream guy is not cooperating, we'll end up on Warren & West Bway

This week The Burger of the Week is The Oinker!!! This was the first of our legendary Burger's of the Week. And once you taste it, you will certainly give it star billing in your personal Burger Pantheon
A well seasoned Neiman Ranch pork patty
Applewood-smoked, double thick bacon
Gruyere Cheese
Sassy Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

That's about it, have a great week, and remember, make it better with Burger Love.

V & A

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

And the WInner Is

Howdy Amigos,

I think we're finally out of the chill and the rain. And even though its cloudy today, you can sense that the bad weather is behind us. Spring has sprung!!!

Spring, a fabulous time of happiness and joy, and what could be happier and more joyful than for us to announce our first Twitter Free Lunch Winner!!!! And the winner is:

SARAH RABIL

Sarah is one of our Midtown fans, and even though she's on the East Side, she'll be trekking over on Wednesday, when we'er on 48th St & 6th Ave to pick up her bounty. We are most excited to meet the first of many Twitter Free Lunch Winners

How can you become a Twitter Free Lunch Winner? All you have to do is sign up for our Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/fritesnmeats. Every week we will pull a name from our list of followers and that person will recieve a Free Lunch. It's that simple. Sign up once, and be eligible to win Free Lunch. No limit on how many times you can win, and youre entered in the drawing forever, How great is that?
Our schedule this week is

Mon & Thurs - Water St & Broad St (in Financial District)
Tues & Fri - Greenwich St & Chambers St (in Tribeca)
Wednesday - 48th St & 6th Ave
Dinner - Everyday after 3PM at Greenwich St & Chambers St (Tribeca)

The Burger of the Week, once again is The Marital Bliss. A combination of discordant flavors coming together in a symphany of Burger deliciousness.
A well seasoned Grassfed Angus Patty
Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Jalapeno Peppers
Applewood-smoked Double Thick Bacon

We also wanted to let you know, that when your event, whether at the office or at your country house, calls for Burger Love, we're ready to roll. We can customize our Burgers for your event. Just let us know where and when. For more info check out Frites'N'Meats Catering

Well thats about it for now amigos. Have a great love. And remember the only true love is Burger Love

V & A