Food Trucks Yay or Nay (Food related)

picoandsepulveda

Seems to be the hot schitt right now. Anyone into it or have a favorite one you visit frequently? Any particular cuisine you'd like to see served from one of these Food trucks? I'm kinda feelin' it.

jjfad027

fusk yay

there are a lot of good ones in the bay. also a good share of dog-schitt nasty ones too tho. I've gotten pretty good at spotting the faulty ones.
my #1 rule of thumb is to never mess with one person trucks. same person handling food and money is gross.

Jonny_Paycheck

I don't get the craze

Fools act like they've never seen a taco truck before.

jjfad027

somebody should make a mobile app that gps tracks good food trucks

Jonny_Paycheck

jjfad027 said:

somebody should make a mobile app that gps tracks good food trucks

most of the hip/yuppie/whitefolks food trucks are on twitter, that's a start

billbradley

jjfad027 said:

somebody should make a mobile app that gps tracks good food trucks

Eat St. for the iPhone

billbradley

Some of the best food in town comes from food trucks. Not just limited to tacos.

holmes

jjfad027 said:

fusk yay

there are a lot of good ones in the bay. also a good share of dog-schitt nasty ones too tho. I've gotten pretty good at spotting the faulty ones.
my #1 rule of thumb is to never mess with one person trucks. same person handling food and money is gross.

another warning sign is trucks that can't spell what they sell. eg. Fellafal or Deep Fired.

Guzzo

billbradley said:

Some of the best food in town comes from food trucks. Not just limited to tacos.

absolutely,

I am chomping on my vietnamese shortribs straight off the truck right now.

for those in LA. area there are 4-8 food truck parked out by the CNN Building off of Sunset daily from 11 - 3 you can find my pretty ass out there most days getting something scrumptious.

I always thought LA was kind of the leader in lunchtrucks meaning in terms of variety and quality we've really taken the lead. I get how some people can think its just tacos and roach coach style fare, but that ain't the case out here

HarveyCanal

If I wanted to eat a meal from a trailer, I'd get a job in construction.

I don't get it.

Taco trucks and bbq trucks have been around forever, good ones too. Yet most white people pretty much skipped over them.

But overprice your al pastor and/or throw some spring mix on a chopped beef sandwich and now these trailers are like white people crack.

Plus I haven't noticed that having a trailer instead of an actual restaurant brings prices down any...which makes no sense to me.

But I will go ahead and endorse the pork belly, kim chee ssam at the East Side Kings trailer in the Grackle parking lot though.

Frank

Red Hook ball fields. We specifically go there to eat and there are benches and tables to sit down. Other than that I don't even look at any food trucks.

Guzzo

HarveyCanal said:

Taco trucks and bbq trucks have been around forever, good ones too. Yet most white people pretty much skipped over them.

But overprice your al pastor and/or throw some spring mix on a chopped beef sandwich and now these trailers are like white people crack.

leave up to a you to make lunch trucks a racial issue. you, my friend, are a case study that needs to happen

But I will go ahead and endorse the pork belly, kim chee ssam at the East Side Kings trailer in the Grackle parking lot though.

I would guess this is your attempt/ justification to say your "not one of those white people". your above the color lines you create and for that I salute you and your efforts at racial harmony in such a treacherous area.

HarveyCanal

White people have driven this trend in this town. In fact, I could probably get even more specific and say white people who have moved here from California within the past 8 years have driven this trend in this town. And not only is it easy to identify them, it is even easier to hate them.

HarveyCanal

Basically the suburbanization of food trucks.

Guzzo

HarveyCanal said:

White people have driven this trend in this town. In fact, I could probably get even more specific and say white people who have moved here from California within the past 8 years have driven this trend in this town. And not only is it easy to identify them, it is even easier to hate them.

meistromoco

they are a pretty new craze here in DC (although there has been the odd taco truck around for years -- but very very few in the city).

Some hits, a lot of terrible ideas / misses (the french fry truck, for example).

What I really don't get is the lobster truck. Yes, lobster rolls are good, but waiting 30+ minutes in line and paying $15 (yes, $15) for a smallish one through a truck window is just stupid. If I am going to pay $15 for lunch, I better be nice and full afterwards. And it better be good.

there is a web tool tracking all the trucks here, which is nice.

http://foodtruckfiesta.com/

pcmr

the eat street show is ill
the great food truck race is garbage

trzakhstan

Don't let the five to fifteen percent of food trucks that are good distract you from the fact that most of these places are crap.

DJ_Enki

Jonny_Paycheck said:

I don't get the craze

Fools act like they've never seen a taco truck before.

But it's upscale! It's gourmet! It's hip! It's organic! It's...$10 for two bites.

trzakhstan

Eat St. is produced in Canada, they featured a taco truck parked by a beach on Vancouver Island in BC. The people there claimed it was the best burrito they had ever eaten.

pcmr

trzakhstan said:

Eat St. is produced in Canada, they featured a taco truck parked by a beach on Vancouver Island in BC. The people there claimed it was the best burrito they had ever eaten.

everything feat in BC looks amazing for the location alone

grandpa_shig

HarveyCanal said:

White people have driven this trend in this town. In fact, I could probably get even more specific and say white people who have moved here from California within the past 8 years have driven this trend in this town. And not only is it easy to identify them, it is even easier to hate them.

yeah, i dont see how one could live in LA and not see how it is a white thing. especially since about 5 years ago, before the uppity truck craze, there were laws being passed to outright ban taco trucks in the city. now it seems like those laws no longer exist.

ive actually never been to one of these new fangled trucks. not that im against it or anything, i just dont want to wait in line, nor do i want to stand around eating $10 fancycakes with a bunch of yuppies.

i'll say this, the better "taco trucks" are mostly out in the northeast san fernando valley. those ones tend to have the handmade tortillas which makes a world of difference. theres also a bunch in ktown that cater more to the oaxacan and central american tastes. tlayudas, cemitas poblanas, etc.

one thing i have noticed is there arent as many fruit carts in town anymore. i kinda liked that shit.

maru

there's a bunch of food trucks in downtown SF that I hit up on the regular. tacos, indian curry burritos, crepes....as long as the food is delicious i don't really care if it comes from a truck or a restaurant.

trzakhstan

One major US city requires food trucks to pre-cook all food, allowing hot food only from heating lamps. Another only allows trucks to stay parked for as long as there is a line of people waiting on the sidewalk. I'm guessing several cities limit the number of licenses, but allow the license holders to resell them at market prices after getting a year-long or similar license.

picoandsepulveda

trzakhstan said:

One major US city requires food trucks to pre-cook all food, allowing hot food only from heating lamps. Another only allows trucks to stay parked for as long as there is a line of people waiting on the sidewalk. I'm guessing several cities limit the number of licenses, but allow the license holders to resell them at market prices after getting a year-long or similar license.

great info, thanks! what are your sources? definitely interested in learning more.

picoandsepulveda

Also wondering if it would be possible to have a truck that sells food with weed baked into it. a sort of "cannabistro" on wheels would be hot imo. maybe strictly serving those with cannabis club cards? you could make stops at all the dispensaries around town and serve food to all the patients ;) i know there would be tons of bs and red tape to get that off the ground but it might be kind of cool.

herbacios tweed

Jonny_Paycheck said:

I don't get the craze

Fools act like they've never seen a taco truck before.

You just don't get it. It's not any taco, it's a Korean taco. And you can take a gauzy picture of it with Instagram.

trzakhstan

When that one guy founded the Kogi Korean BBQ Truck, one of the first people he hired was a contributor to Serious Eats. Serious and savvy internet marketing skill from the very beginning.

He recently spoke to the LA Times about how the scene was changing:

The problem came when the other commissaries and truck owners saw money and basically just prostituted the whole culture. So what you ended up with was 15 so-so trucks parked on Mid-Wilshire, the city unhappy, a mediocre food product and all the truck owners cannibalizing each other's business."
Photos: Food truck culture
Hiller is not alone in feeling that what was once an exciting, underground food scene driven by a punk rock aesthetic and an exploratory mentality is swiftly becoming a mainstream, bottom-line-obsessed maze of infighting and politics.
When Kogi started, there were only a few new-wave food trucks on the scene; now that number is hovering near 200, says Hiller. And where experimental entrepreneurs once dominated, corporate players such as Jack in the Box and Sizzler are entering the fray.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/06/food/la-fo-food-trucks-20110506

The_Hook_Up

We had some NYC and LA food trucks roll through town for some TV show. I made a point to go and check them out and the shit was so ho-hum and unremarkable I was pissed off I wasted the money on it. What is the big deal? The lamest one was Korilla...some Korean taco bullshit...bland and it cost like 20 bucks for 3 tiny tacos and a quesadilla. Meh.

BELIEVE

THE SF TAMALE LADY GENTRIFIED THIS SCHITT

I want to see foie gras dumplings dished out of an Igloo perched on a skateboard.

Even more random: Ice Cream Trucks in DC sell chocolate eclairs for $2.50 a pop. High tide raises all boats?

In all seriousness, this is a cost-effective fad for would-be, should-be ,and has-been restaurateurs and I don't see it slowing down any time soon.

staxwax

picoandsepulveda said:

Also wondering if it would be possible to have a truck that sells food with weed baked into it. a sort of "cannabistro" on wheels would be hot imo. maybe strictly serving those with cannabis club cards? you could make stops at all the dispensaries around town and serve food to all the patients ;) i know there would be tons of bs and red tape to get that off the ground but it might be kind of cool.