Beach Street Sandwiches

More Free Food Truck Advice

Your favorite pro-bono food truck consultant will be part of a panel at an upcoming Institute of Culinary Education alumni event: Careers on the Move: Food Trucks, Pop-Ups and More. All the lessons we learned - from starting a small business to press to scarecrow theft - in two hours, split with dessert truckers, which is really a different animal. Isn't it? Better get yourself to ICE next Wednesday to find out.

Last Weekend for Greg's Food in Montauk

Is the Montauk sunrise the first on the East Coast? It's the first in NY; we know that. Here's the sunrise over Lake Montauk, about three miles from the Point. You can catch a sunrise all year but this weekend is your last chance to have Greg's food, east end style (unless you're invited to next week's private events). Dinner Friday to Sunday. He has next to zero staff so it's mostly all prepped by him (braised pork belly; brined chicken for roasting), just like in the truck. And you know what that means: awesomeness. Happy Weekend. 

Potato Seafood Chowder, PEI

Sara and four other judges tasted 18 bowls of Potato Seafood Chowder to choose an entrant worthy of the main Chowder Championship at the PEI Shellfish Festival.

Oysters and Chefs and Kitchens in PEI

When we arrived in Charlottetown on Wednesday, we headed straight for the Claddagh Oyster House where we joked with Chef Paul Peters about Greg taking over his kitchen to practice for the competition. Of course we assumed that would be cheating. We were wrong!

International PEI Shellfish Chef Challenge

Look closely (to where that fish is swimming) and you will see many many small white dots. They're bouys, marking the location of ropes or tubing or nets on which mussels or oysters are growing. You're looking at a farm in a bay in Prince Edward Island. It's gorgeous here.

End of Summer at End of Long Island

We hear power's back in Madison, CT. Yea! But we also hear East Wharf Beach is still suffering from Irene. Boo! In Montauk, we fared well. The real storm here was Labor Day Weekend (that's figurative, btw). We survived that too, and are looking forward to a lovely September on Long Island's East End. Stay tuned for updates on Chef's whereabouts.
Happy End of Summer.

Ruschmeyer's in Montauk: Executive Chef

Pop-up plans on hold. From Memorial Day weekend into the early fall, Greg will be the Executive Chef at the reincarnated Ruschmeyer's in Montauk (161 Second House Road). You thought his sandwiches were amazing? Wait until you try his food meant for plates and forks. Get there by ferry, tuna boat, train, jitney, car, bike. It's a great project with a great team.

Pop-Up Restaurant in NYC

Many things happening at Beach Street. Here's one: We're thinking Pop-Up Beach Street Sandwiches Restaurant in NYC. One night, maybe. Who wants on guest list?

Thanks to DZ for the amazing photo, not taken in NYC.

Amazing NYC Street Vending Location

Sara's notatallsmart phone took this picture. Gorgeous, huh? Hard to abandon urban for rural. Last summer we attempted to merge the two, and though it was rewarding in many ways, and wonderful to be so well-considered by the Connecticut shoreline, New York City is the place for us.

Our Tarp is Humongous

We thought it was the sub-zero temperatures, wind, and fatigue that made the tarp feel gigantic when we covered the truck and wrapped it for protection. Twice. But, as you can see, our tarp is about a square acre. That means unwieldy is an understatement. But it surely did the job. Devil Winter 2010-11 did no damage to the Beach Street Sandwiches truck. Thank you, mega-tarp, for a job well done. 

Building a Food Truck

Welcome back to Free Food Truck Consulting by Beach Street Sandwiches. Dear everyone sending email and calling: Wow. Doing what we can to respond and dispense our brilliant advice. Something all of you aspiring food truck (and cart) owners should consider: It's mid-April. The Friday of Memorial Day weekend is 42 days away. That's six weeks. If your food truck is ready to go, congratulations. If you're wavering between building new and buying used, Buy Used! Unless you're not in a rush to open.

How To Open a Food Truck, more

"Imagine this is an informational session," a woman said to the frustrated person next to her. "You can't come in here expecting to accomplish anything."
She was talking about the NYC Licensing Center and she was right. Worth mentioning because of the number of people who come to BeachStreetSandwiches.com seeking "how to open a food truck in NYC" info. In fact, here's a link to the site's most visited post: How To Open a Food Truck in New York City.

San Francisco Serial Tip Stealer Caught

The thing - one of the things - that makes San Francisco so great is how it's ON the ocean. A real city on a real ocean not far from mountains. We like. Few cities maintain higher rank on our Best Of list.

Il Cane Rosso: Chef-created sandwiches in San Francisco

As you can imagine, we eat sandwiches everywhere we go, because we love them and because we like to see what other people are doing. We had a feeling we'd be pleased at Il Cane Rosso. When sandwiches are made/created by chefs - Daniel Patterson (Coi) and Lauren Kiino (met DP doing a stage at Coi; was long time Chef de Cuisine at Delfina) - chances are high that 'feeling we'd be pleased' will be realized. It was. They were. We were. Chef-created sandwiches rock.
Pictured: Marin Sun Farms Slow Cooked Pork with chile-lime salsa, shaved fennel, and cilantro salad. And the Bay Bridge.

Cooking Demonstration Video: Chef Greg McCarty Live!

Does "Live!" imply "happening at this moment"? Because we want that title to mean "in motion" (has the characteristics of something living). So here it is... Chef Greg McCarty in motion...

Morning, Central Park South

You realize how unobservant you are when you finally start noticing things. Until we got into the vending business we paid scant attention to the arrivals and departures of New York City's trucks and carts. This is about 9:30am, Central Park South near 5th Avenue (Grand Army Plaza). The horses aren't even out yet (though the horse-protection-activists are). Notice the bag of ice. Upon seeing it Sara considered hugging these gentlemen and calling them brothers. Vendor civil wars (turf, primarily) be damned; we're all brethren.

Hello, Is It Beach Street Sandwiches You're Looking For?

'Cause you wonder where we are
And you wonder what we do
Are you somewhere feeling hungry,
or is someone feeding you?
Tell us how to win your heart
For we have some items that are new
But let us start by saying, we miss you too
...and we're doing private events...

Summer 2011: The BEACH STREET SANDWICHES truck is Closed. If you're looking for updates, changes, news, reincarnation possibilities, Twitter.com/BeachStSandwich is a great way to find us. We also update here: facebook.com/BeachStreetSandwiches.

If you're looking for food by Chef Greg McCarty, he's back in NYC. Stay tuned.

Sandwiches on CT Shoreline: Deli Unlimited

Thanks to all of our fans for wishing us back. Beach Street Sandwiches misses you too. We don't want you to go sandwichless without us so suggest you make your way to Deli Unlimited (1099 Boston Post Road, Guilford, CT, 203-453-2473). Some of our off-truck favorites are made there, and you can get gas too. Hee hee.

Vita Prep 3: This is the one we all want

Vita Mix very pretty and the Vita Prep3 is sweet
and the fruit of Chef's labor is deliciousible to eat.

Thank you again to Vita Mix for the blender loan. Life is easier when you have the right equipment. Pictured: The making of Leek Puree. This is the one you want, says Vita Mix, and we could not agree more. As soon as we sort out 2010, we're going to start 2011 spending. Yea Section 179, one of the few stimulus incentives that actually applies to us, and helps us.

Best US Chef in Mussels Competition: Greg McCarty!

Yea! Your favorite Chef, Greg McCarty, just won best US Chef in a competition held in NYC at the International Restaurant Show. Know what that means? Besides what you already knew - that he is amazing, that everything he touches turns to deliciously edible gold? It means we're going to Prince Edward Island in September, sans truck, to the PEI Shellfish Festival.

The Beach in Winter: Snow!

• 94 days to Memorial Day (May 30th).
• 123 days to Last Day of School, NYC (June 28th).
• Last day of school in CT varies by district. Here's the formula: 180 ≤ number of scheduled school days - number of snow days (minimum number of actual days must be 180). Last Day cannot be after June 30th.