Is Your City Inundated with Food Trucks?

[willpower]

They're everywhere in LA - all of these specialty "gourmet" food trucks. Several of them even have good food (I like the Grilled Cheese Truck, although it can be 20 minutes from ordering to serving). My main complaint - at the end of it all you're eating standing up. I don't like eating standing up, it takes a lot of fun out of the meal.

 

[Aaron01]

I see quite a few of them, but they're only around the construction sites or where all of the mexicans stand around waiting for someone to hire them.

 

[changy]

Tons of them in NY. I don't get why people like them so much. People seems to think Food Truck = Good food. Really it's just a mobile kitchen with most of the stuff pre-made, gathering NY traffic dust through out the day.

 

[dragon8]

Lots of them in San Francisco also. Some are good and some are not that great. They have some event called Off the Grid that features the trucks.

 

[Jokerman]

They are becoming more and more common here. They tend to setup at night in parking lots and setup folding tables and chairs. People claim that some of them serve great food.

 

[IsteRed]

There are a few in here,but i usually don't eat there,because you have no warranty whether that meat was barking or meowing 2-3 hours ago near that truck.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by willpower

They're everywhere in LA - all of these specialty "gourmet" food trucks. Several of them even have good food (I like the Grilled Cheese Truck, although it can be 20 minutes from ordering to serving). My main complaint - at the end of it all you're eating standing up. I don't like eating standing up, it takes a lot of fun out of the meal.

I work in mid-Wilshire, and the food truck explosion has been awesome. They cluster a few blocks from my office, so I can walk back and eat in the office if I'm pressed for time or don't want to be outside. Or, on nicer days, there are plenty of places to sit outside -- benches, fountains, or the grounds of LACMA for a nicer setting.

 

[texas_jack]

Thankfully here in Richmond that trend has not arrived.

 

[impolyt_one]

Seoul is - but it's one of the original food truck cities, they've been doing it for ages in some form or another, and the trucks are like $5K, so an easy startup if you can wrestle a parking spot in a decent location (this can cost upwards of $120K for a 'contract' if you want to park in front of a hot club, or something.) There was an explosion of kebab trucks a few years ago, I left the country and came back a year later and there at least 10 kebab trucks parked 20 ft from each other, up and down a 2 block stretch, and the guys were all from different middle eastern countries so the kebabs they were selling were the same but different. We had makouda sandwiches, guys tried burgers and tacos and failed, a chili dog truck opened up recently, etc. It's semi-well known in SW+D that I had the idea for starting a Korean-Mexican gourmet drunk food taco truck in Korea a few years ago, pre-dating the Kogi truck...

but that fell through for several reasons. I'm glad I didn't get into that though, I like how life has turned out otherwise. I'd try it in America, maybe, but it'd be something different. I hate eating while standing like many others so I'd probably aim at having food you tend to take away to somewhere else.

 

[mordecai]

they're all over the place in silver lake now, but i still only frequent the old taco trucks and ladies cooking hot dogs and onions to order. like will, i'm not crazy about eating standing up. maybe if i worked where lawyerdad works

 

[SField]

Originally Posted by IsteRed

There are a few in here,but i usually don't eat there,because you have no warranty whether that meat was barking or meowing 2-3 hours ago near that truck.

And how exactly would that be different from eating at a restaurant?

 

[akatsuki]

Here in SF they cluster all together in specific parts of town, so frankly they end up resembling food courts (Dolores Park gets a lot of the carts, SOMA the trucks...)

Most are average and overhyped with a few standouts - Spencer on the Go is the one that springs to mind as being worth it.

 

[Nil]

They just legalized them over here in the last year or two. So far the early adopters seem to be pretty solid or maybe it just appears that way since those I hear good things about are the only ones I seek out.

 

[mussel]

Originally Posted by changy

Tons of them in NY. I don't get why people like them so much. People seems to think Food Truck = Good food. Really it's just a mobile kitchen with most of the stuff pre-made, gathering NY traffic dust through out the day.

And they aren't cheap, considered the low overhead. I am sure truck maintenance and gas bills aren't nearly as much as rent.

 

[erictheobscure]

I thought Kogi Truck was overrated after my first experience, but had the short rib taco last time I was in L.A. Really, really good.