Chicagofoodtrucks.com

Chicagofoodtrucks.com

An organization has been formed to help cultivate food truck culture in Chicago, with Chef Foss of Lockwood playing a major role (Bayless also onboard):

http://www.chicagofoodtrucks.com/Chicag ... /Home.html

I'm posting this notice here as it definitely relates generally to eating out(side) in Chicago.

If any discussion follows, let's try to stay as non-political as possible, though this issue clearly has a political dimension.

I picture myself running down food trucks in the Loop after following a twitter stream if this organization accomplishes their goal.

The Kogi truck is what I would like to see here. Something that's really different and worth following on Twitter for the night's location.
http://www.lataco.com/taco/kogi-korean- ... os-angeles

My friends and I have discussed this business model numerous times - what is keeping a mobile food service from roaming Chicago late at night? Really...I've never looked into it because I wouldn't even know where to start - but where/who is the serious opposition to this?

Aside from the massive market available Mon-Fri everyday downtown, the late night market is in dire need of this as well. What affordable, delivered food is available in the late hour? My frame of reference is Chicago's north side, but we only have Chicago's Pizza and Renalli's. The fact that these places are still open in Chicago in spite of having incredibly bad food speaks to the probable truth that the market is there and is supporting these places simply because it's their only choice.

Mobile food needs to flourish. Imagine running into your local minimalist dog van (or that Korean BBQ van mentioned above) on your way home from the bars. haha, bliss? Tell me where to sign or who to call to support this.

I'd like to hear about the other side of this opinion as there are obviously restrictions in place around here for this - my opinion is coming strictly from a consumer's standpoint.

djenks

On your next visit to Milwaukee, visit: http://www.streetza.com
Wouldn't this be nice? http://www.foodcartsportland.com
Two of my favorites: http://www.spudlocker.com & www.grilledcheesetruck.com

djenks wrote:My friends and I have discussed this business model numerous times - what is keeping a mobile food service from roaming Chicago late at night? Really...I've never looked into it because I wouldn't even know where to start - but where/who is the serious opposition to this?

Your biggest opposition is the city itself: Chicago has ridiculous, draconian, anti-competitive laws that prevent NYC- or LA-style food trucks from operating here. Specifically, if you want to sell food from a cart or truck, you have to cook that food in a licensed kitchen, then pre-package for sale it in single servings in that licensed kitchen.

If you've patronized any of the few food trucks we have here, I'm sure you've noticed this: they open up the back of the truck, and just have stacks & stacks of pre-packaged meals, preventing you from mixing & matching entrees, sides, etc. Or if you buy a hotdog from a mobile vendor, you're handed a limp, soggy dog that was wrapped in foil-coated paper hours earlier & a mustard packet and must dress it yourself.

It's a sad, stupid state of affairs.

Not sure if this is the right place..... but for those of you who might venture to Hoboken, NJ or Jersey City, NJ, check out the Taco Truck. The chef who runs it is a native of Mexico and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Their truck is also LEED certified as well as they use local/organic/all natural ingredients. The food is very good, they fry their own chips in the truck, it's actually pretty amazing what they do in there.

I'm lucky, they park outside from where I work in Hoboken, so I've eaten several lunches and late night meals. It's funny because last time I was there, instead of going to a nice dinner, a bunch of us got food from the taco truck and sat by the Hudson and ate, it was pretty cool.

http://thetacotruck.com/

I hope this idea takes root and the city allows trucks. I've been thinking about how I could do an Edzo's truck and would love to be able to use it within Chicago city limits. Without knowing that I could legally use it in Chicago, I doubt I'd spend the money to make it happen.

As a person who has a loft in Milwaukee, I can tell you about some serious problems with street vendors that may not enter your mind. While on the surface, street food vendors sound like a marvelous thing, when you can not sleep at bar time because the street sounds as loud as a football stadium, it is not so wonderful. Our street is filled with bars, but it is mixed use, meaning residences have existed there for over 150 years, well before the bars moved in. We have as many as four street food vendors set up on our single block of Third Street. There are no bathroom facilites once the bars close, and folks naturally congregate at the street vendor stands conveniently now set up, at bar time, right outside their doors. We begin every Saturday and Sunday morning picking up wrappers from their products, we often have to hose down catsup, mustard, giant grease spots, not to mention the street often smells like urine and puke. Without the street vendors, these drunk people would go home rather than hanging around to keep the party going. We got so angry at the bar next to our building we made a video for our alderman. (our issue was not with the food vendor, but it does play a role in the overall scenario) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuXwqIdydlA We filmed this on one of the quietest nights of the year, it was about 40 and raining. The noise in summer at bartime, is deafening. I have had several fights with the hot dog vendor, at one point he insisted on setting up on my own property, directly under my bedroom window. I have called the police on multiple occaisons, but waiting for the police at 2am in the morning is not particularly conducive to a good night of sleep.

I do think food vendors can be a really nice idea, but I sure hope that Chicago locks in some rules and regulations about cleanliness, noise and sanitation, an area in which Milwaukee has been sadly remiss. I have NEVER seen anyone from the health department inspect these night carts, I don't believe they work those hours. I see the same vendors out at lunch time set up around around the river, and everything about them creates a lovely picture of a multi-faceted warm, friendly and food focused city.

Cinnamon Girl, I had a Milwaukee Street Peddler's License for three years, permitting vending during the day until 9pm. FYI, there is permit required for late night vending. Unless one has a Milwaukee Health Department Permit allowing night time vending, food cannot be sold from 9pm-6am. The Milwaukee Street Peddler's License allows a cart to set up on any public sidewalk, but the cart may not block the entrance to a business or create an obstacle causing foot traffic to use the street. The only cart noise restriction prevents the use of horns.

Cinnamon Girl wrote:...you can not sleep at bar time because the street sounds as loud as a football stadium...

...We begin every Saturday and Sunday morning picking up wrappers from their products, we often have to hose down catsup, mustard, giant grease spots, not to mention the street often smells like urine and puke.

For 1 1/2 years I lived next to Roscoe's, at the corner of Roscoe and Halsted. Your description exactly mimics how I would describe my old neighborhood, only I didn't even get the pleasure of being able to eat food from a street vendor. My take was that the neighborhood had been that way long before I showed up, and will be that way long after I left.

Cinnamon Girl wrote: Without the street vendors, these drunk people would go home rather than hanging around to keep the party going...

Perhaps. In my old 'hood, they'd often still be stumbling around, pissing, puking, screaming, singing, etc. at 5 in the morning, even though everything was long-since closed.

I don't mean to diminish your experience with street vendors, I guess I'm just saying that the conditions of which you speak can happen just as easily without street vendors.

Taken with my phone on the Saturday that I moved out:


-Dan

Just got back from NYC and was a little saddened that we don't have the wealth of street vendors they do. I agree; some of that is the "walking" culture of Manhattan - but downtown Chicago would have more people walking around in the summer months if there was the possibility of getting decent food - and one barrier to decent food has always been the rent a restaurant has to support in downtown. We do have street food in the parks, just illegal and often not very good street food - I'd bet that, again, if a food vendor brought something worth having, people would come.

I agree, the health code here seems like it needs to stretch a bit: I saw nothing in NY (granted, didn't go in areas where the trucks might be less than scrupulous) that needed better sanitation than it had, and certainly nothing that required the mildly crazy measures Chicago requires. It can be done in a sanitary, reasonable, and efficient way: Chicago just chooses not to do it.

Not that I wouldn't like more trucks in the Loop or nearby, but where are all the reports about the perfectly legal and perfectly delicious Puerto Rican trucks spread out across the underappreciated Humboldt Park? It's not that no one goes there, just not people who post on LTH. (The fact that those trucks exist and thrive probably has an interesting political story behind it.) And the PR trucks absolutely do not depend on pre-packaged, pre-portioned foods. They are pre-cooked, though. But all the mother ship restaurants are fairly nearby, and the fried goodies are heat-lamp friendly, so the food doesn't suffer much.

JeffB wrote:Not that I wouldn't like more trucks in the Loop or nearby, but where are all the reports about the perfectly legal and perfectly delicious Puerto Rican trucks spread out across the underappreciated Humboldt Park? It's not that no one goes there, just not people who post on LTH. (The fact that those trucks exist and thrive probably has an interesting political story behind it.) And the PR trucks absolutely do not depend on pre-packaged, pre-portioned foods. They are pre-cooked, though. But all the mother ship restaurants are fairly nearby, and the fried goodies are heat-lamp friendly, so the food doesn't suffer much.

Are they really legal, or just not being stopped or enforced? I've never seen an elotes vendor stopped, but that doesn't mean they're legal, either. Do the Humbold Park trucks have a potable running water source for handwashing (one of the rules that makes having a truck in Chicago problematic?)

Hi,

If the trucks in Humboldt Park are on Park district property, then you have a clue to its being tolerated: it it under Park District jurisdiction and not the City. Washburne Culinary School had a food concession at Buckingham Fountain again under Park District jurisdiction.

Regards,

To license a cart, trailer, or kiosk in the City of Chicago: http://www.parkconcessions.com

The Alinea At Home Project has their own food truck.
Scheduled to come to Chicago later this month.

http://alineaathome.typepad.com/alinea_ ... -trip.html
(alas, only for today, check your calendar)

holy crap, that's like the coolest thing ever! prices are a bit steep, though.

Oh wow, that looks so cool! And the Chicago location will be basically right outside my apartment building - SCORE!

This is gonna be expensive, because I want to try all of that stuff.

Mhays wrote:

JeffB wrote:Not that I wouldn't like more trucks in the Loop or nearby, but where are all the reports about the perfectly legal and perfectly delicious Puerto Rican trucks spread out across the underappreciated Humboldt Park? It's not that no one goes there, just not people who post on LTH. (The fact that those trucks exist and thrive probably has an interesting political story behind it.) And the PR trucks absolutely do not depend on pre-packaged, pre-portioned foods. They are pre-cooked, though. But all the mother ship restaurants are fairly nearby, and the fried goodies are heat-lamp friendly, so the food doesn't suffer much.

Are they really legal, or just not being stopped or enforced? I've never seen an elotes vendor stopped, but that doesn't mean they're legal, either. Do the Humbold Park trucks have a potable running water source for handwashing (one of the rules that makes having a truck in Chicago problematic?)

These are big operations that have been a mainstay in the park for years. They are not in any way "under the radar." (As opposed to, say, the Maroon Van, which has been tolerated for years and is also well worth visiting.) If you haven't been, you really should. Especially in this weather. They probably do have running water.

The most prominent truck, Esquina del Sabor, has been written about here and on the prior board. Here's a more recent roundup from SeriousEats, which does an OK job capturing the place, though the reviewer didn't get too deep into the menu as he appears not to be familiar with the cuisine. I recommend the pasteles and the arroz con gandules. Alcapurrias are a tasty and somewhat rare item as well. http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/08/la-e ... -food.html Another good find in HP is nieve de coco (coconut "snow") from pushcarts.

Food trucks are one of the many topics that pop up regularly here in the "wish we had" genre of posts. Along with "a Trini roti place", "kati rolls," and other things people have sampled elsewhere, good food trucks actually exist in Chicago, just not in the Loop or the middle of Lakeview or wherever. I'd put the PR trucks up there against most mobile operations and think they could be a good template for other cuisine's trucks.

Certainly, Chicago has far too few mobile food options compared to other major cities, which is a pity given Chicago's rich history in that regard. Peddlers clearly did not fit into the City's clean-up plans over the past couple of decades. But done the right way, I'm sure the Mayor will get behind it, particularly if he thinks it's something other great cities have (see flower boxes, e.g.).

saw this linked on chef achatz's twitter.

http://alineaathome.typepad.com/alinea_ ... -trip.html

it seems they're coming to chicago, and they are very much a food truck... and they have a permit too, though it's for 11am-2pm.

edit: on second thought, april fools? we'll see. they had a prank last year.

dansch wrote:

Cinnamon Girl wrote: Without the street vendors, these drunk people would go home rather than hanging around to keep the party going...

Perhaps. In my old 'hood, they'd often still be stumbling around, pissing, puking, screaming, singing, etc. at 5 in the morning, even though everything was long-since closed.

I don't mean to diminish your experience with street vendors, I guess I'm just saying that the conditions of which you speak can happen just as easily without street vendors.

-Dan

I see it definitely from Dan's point of view here. In the pro/con argument of the street vendor, this isn't at all convincing. I had the displeasure of living in Wrigleyville for a bit, on a street with no vendors or businesses. Let me tell you, the drunk newly grads don't just go home. Any neighborhood filled with bars and clubs is going to produce noise and obnoxious behavior - which is fine because it should be expected - but i don't think street vendors play a roll in that at all.

Either way - after reading this thread - there doesn't seem to be any justification for not allowing mobile food vendors in Chicago. From the looks of it - sanitation and proper food prep areas can easily be met and exceeded with today's carts/vans/trucks. We know there's a market for it. Is there any valid arguments from opposition on this?

And lastly - if that mobile Alinea menu isn't a joke then I'm going to have some words with 'em when they come to Chicago. I thought it was hysterical - hot dog air? $9? Haha! I'll smack you in the mouth for $3 - takers?

djenks wrote:And lastly - if that mobile Alinea menu isn't a joke then I'm going to have some words with 'em when they come to Chicago. I thought it was hysterical - hot dog air? $9? Haha! I'll smack you in the mouth for $3 - takers?

Given the April 1 posting date for the blog entry, I think it's safe to assume that the Sweetbread and Lobster Popsicle won't be coming to an ice cream truck near you anytime soon.

-Dan

CSD
Milwaukee is like the Wild West of night time food vendors right now. No one is sure of anyone's permits and sometimes the bars allow them on their own property. I do know their permits are supposed to end at 11 but often they don't even set up until after that. The police just don't know what to do. You can call every night, the police make them move to the next block where there are no residences. The next night, those food vendors all just keep coming back and they wear you down.

Also, as far as people sticking around at bartime without food around, the bars that do not have their bouncers disperse the crowds quickly and quietly, end up losing their liquor license. Two complaints called in per year cause a review. Bottleggers lost their license for a month which is a lot for a happening nightclub. Seems like that should be the case in Chicago also.

Rules and regulations in place, we would love to see these food vendors in Chicago, just not on the block where we live, maybe just the next block!

Looking forward to seeing what is happening in beautiful downtown Milwaukee tonight. Could the upcoming Easter morning slow down the clubs? Nah, probably the opposite.

A few pics from our recent visit to NYC, sadly we didn't get to sample much actual food from carts (by the time we had a meal open to do so, it was chucking down rain,) but as you can see the interior of this cart is neat as a pin:

As long as we're posting photos of street vendors selling waffles, here are a couple of shots from my recent stop in Hong Kong.

Waffle vendor

She was selling all sorts of things that involved batter cooked in molds, including waffles. The waffles are in the lower-left of the shot (click for a larger version @ flickr) with the egg-shaped bumps.

Custard-filled, hodo kwaja-like thingy

I actually got two of these things from the vendor - the custard-filled one shown above, and one filled with sweet bean paste. Very similar to Korean Hodo Kwaja (the walnut-shaped cakes filled with bean paste & walnuts).

-Dan

dansch wrote:
Taken with my phone on the Saturday that I moved out:

that picture was snapped before the cleanup of the 2009 pride parade. of course it's a disaster..

Check out that intersection any Saturday or Sunday morning and it's a disaster. I lived at that intersection for a year and a half - filth, trash, excrement, vomit, etc. were daily norms, not just on major party weekends.

-Dan

does chicago have any taco trucks?

I've eaten great food from food trucks all over this country and the world. It's ludicrous that Chicago has such draconian laws that discourage it by masquerading as food safety concern, while the real opposition probably comes from establishments who might see their lunch business suffer. I remember as a college student in Philly, I had my choice of Vietnamese, Indian, Lebanese, Thai, at least ten different sandwich trucks, a Crepe Truck, a Vegetarian truck, among many other options for lunch every single day to have a delicious lunch for under $5. I never got sick, not once. And traditional sit down restaurants thrived in the area as well. I've had kababs in NYC from a truck I still dream about and in Paris and elsewhere as well. Someone mentioned the Korean taco truck in LA. That, along with a bunch of other gourmet/upscale trucks has been getting national foodie attention. Why does Chicago want to discourage such a vibrant business model from emerging?