Saturday night marked Rickshaw Dumpling truck’s first foray into weekend service, and as head honcho Kenny Lao discovered, feeding the drunken masses requires a positive attitude, patience and a gift for negotiating with territorial halal cart vendors. He relayed the night’s events while we waited for our order of six pork and Chinese chive.
 
Per Lao: After a less than thrilling run in the Meatpacking District, he and his crew headed to Stanton and Ludlow in search of deeper bellies and greener pockets. For two and a half hours, things were running smoothly…until a halal cart arrived claiming ownership of the spot (like Pretty Woman, right?). Some words were exchanged, and the halal warriors wound up parking their cart directly in front of the Rickshaw window, prompting the dumpling-dispensing vehicle to move to a neighboring corner. But in a move of street-eats chess, the halal bullies followed, insisting that they run the entire block. After a fruitless attempt at compromise, Lao “finally asked a Pianos bouncer and a waitress from Stanton Social if they’d seen these guys before and they both said no.”
 
By the time we caught up with the him, the truck had migrated all the way up to 1st and First for the last leg of the evening. He says that despite the hectic first night, they’ll be out peddling their wares again next Saturday. While there’s no set location yet, the dumpling-crazed can head to Rickshaw’s Twitter site for instant updates on their whereabouts. The moral of the story? Nonconfrontational street dumplings are badass—and make a killer midnight snack.—Zachary Feldman