An elderly food-cart vendor was viciously attacked by a homeless thug during a botched Hell’s Kitchen robbery — but the old man’s hulking assistant came to his aid and grabbed the brute, authorities said yesterday.

Georgios Stotis, 74, who has worked for 50 years selling hot dogs in Manhattan, was pushing his cart to a storage facility on West 37th Street near Ninth Avenue at around 10 p.m. Monday when he was allegedly accosted by Gary Wallace, 54.

Wallace was unable to grab a roll of bills in Stotis’ pocket and instead allegedly pummeled the old man.

Stotis’ assistant held Wallace until police arrived.

“If it wasn’t for [my assistant], I would have lost all of my money,” Stotis said.

Wallace was charged with assault and held on $20,000 bond.