Food On Wheels: Ditch Witch Vs. Lobster Roll Truck

Update: According to the Save The Ditch Witch Facebook, the food truck has been saved and will be staying put! The food truck battle winner: The Ditch Witch!

"From Grant:Got a call from Julia Prince moments ago. The town board worked long and hard last night to try and correct the problems with the vending permits, and they did. All the bids were dumbed, and things are going back to the same laws and regulations as last year. Thank you for all your support!......But let this be a reminder to what could happen if you don't support your local businesses!"

Also in battle? Montaco vs The Beach Dog food cart, and it looks like the winner is underdog The Beach Dog!

27 East writes about the changes that occurred just moments ago,

"Citing a problematic bidding process, the East Hampton Town Board has decided to scrap a new system that had vendors compete for exclusive rights to coveted spots at local beaches this summer, hours before they were expected to accept bids on Thursday evening..."

After reexamining the system of points, the Board realized the system was flawed because it did not expressed the points worth of the vendors.

Originally,

"The highest-scoring bidders were announced Tuesday. Montaco Inc. won the bid for Ditch Plains Beach’s west parking lot; Paddy Wagon won a spot on West Lake Drive; Gin Beach Wagon won a spot on East Lake Drive; and Dune Doggie won a spot at Indian Wells Beach."

But now this is all subject to change! The Board decided that now the system will be first come first served basis for vendors vying for locations!

Montaco was the first to start the food truck wars with their take over of the Beach Dog's spot.

And people have been tweeting up a storm about it!

@MTKkissie tweeted: "~ ~ is there anyone who wants to join in for a cup of tea after all that excitement of saving Beach DOG and Save... http://fb.me/Lys2JCh6"

@EHStar tweeted: "Ditch Witch and Beach Dog to stay for 2011 summer. We'll have a story up on our home page in a little while."

@gohamptons tweeted: "Social Media enables Community Building, Organization, and Empowerment - Hamptons Case Study - The Ditch Witch is Saved- http://ow.ly/4YtN0"

@MarissaMcN tweeted: "We don't want no lobster roll! RT @EHamptonPatch: Rally to Save the Ditch Witch planned for Sunday. Who's going?http://bit.ly/iWmpYL"

@PJofDON tweeted: "SAVE THE DITCH WITCH AND THE BEACH DOG #MONTAUK #LOCALS !!!"

@HamptonsBorn tweeted: "We just need one one rich guy to save the ditch witch. I promise you it will cost less than a week in a suite at the Sofitel."

Previously:

It's a blood bath out there. The battle of the food trucks is on! According to The Feast, the Montauk food truck known as The Ditch Witch will not be returning this summer, and the lobster roll truck will be snagging her spot. With the huge influx of food trucks out east recently, vendors had to re-apply for their permits based off of a new system with a 100-point scale, and some, like The Ditch Witch, are falling by the wayside.

Lili Adams, the owner of The Ditch Witch expressed her frustration,

“I didn’t make it by three points! I know it seems silly, but I’ve been here for 17 years, and some guy from up the island who sells lobster rolls got my spot. I think he threw a lot of money at them. I thought there would have been wiggle room in the judgment but that’s not the case," she said.

The food truck wars apparently started with the integration of Montaco from Manhattan. Montaco will replace the Beach Dog food cart this summer, a Montauk staple which has been around for 30 years.

But apparently not everyone is sad to see The Ditch Witch depart... some Curbed Hamptons reader comments expressed a different view:

Ditch Witch brought this on herself. She has run a full gourmet restaurant from a supposed hotdog truck for years, thumbing it to the health dept rules and the town, and made a mint on a town owned spot for years,but that wasnt good enough, greed/jealously got the better of her. She tried to intimidate many over the years, from "ScruffyPuppy", 5 years ago, when she and her thugs pranced into our wagon and warned us to get the hell out of the business, to "Mary Marvelous" last year, to "Montaco" more recently, to name but a few. We are so glad that your bullying tactics ended in your demise

With mixed expressed feelings about The Ditch Witch, will you miss it this summer? Can't we all just get along and eat hot dogs together?

[Photos via, via, via]