Results tagged “foodtruck”

   

Click on the images for details on Frites 'n' Meats, Le Caprice, and Piccola Cucina Focacceria.

Just as Tyra Banks discovers gourmet food vendor trucks, Blackbook has joined the growing backlash against their trendy proliferation. It's yet another article that looks at the turf wars between the arriviste artisanal food trucks and the old-school hot dog and kabob guys. But at least this one comes with a clever neologism: "vendrification," which is what happens when the new upscale trucks start "shaking up the culinary terrain of the streets."

Eurotrash: In the old days, eurotrash did key bumps at Kokie's; now Eurotrash serves meatballs by the Levee (which replaced Williamsburg's aforementioned cocaine bar). Eurotrash isn't a restaurant, but when you're getting your drink on—either at the Levee or Radegast Hall across the street—a starchy bargain food truck in a parking lot sure beats a fussy restaurant, with all their RULES about keeping your voice down and calculating gratuities. Opened about a week ago in a lot next door to the Levee, Eurotrash serves Belgian fries ($3 or $4), Swedish Meatballs ($5) over rotini with gravy and cranberry preserves, Fish and Chips ($5) consisting of 4 oz. Corona-battered cod and Belgian fries, and Bangers and Mash (Irish sausages served over mashed potatoes with gravy). North Third Street and Berry, Williamsburg

With more and more upscale food trucks crowding the scene, the turf wars keep escalating. The Department of Health doesn't assign locations, so vendors are left to work it out among themselves, are some say the gyro-cooking owners of the Halal trucks are violently threatening the competition. Clive Dennis, who operates a Jamaican cart on Park Row downtown, tells the Post, "It's like a mob thing—these halal guys think they're the only ones who should be selling food on the street." Dennis says that after he refused to cave, they called 311 to make bogus health-code-violation complaints about him. And when Olivia Cardosa tried to set up her Mexican truck El Rey del Sabor on West 43rd Street last month, a brawl erupted. (Midtown Lunch has the video.) Then last Monday Cardosa arrived to find three giant planters cemented into the sidewalk. She claims it was "the halal guys," and the landlord of the building there confirms that "somebody moved our planters and cemented them in place, so we had to chip the cement off to move them back." These guys obviously mean business—how long before that cement gets poured to make some heavy shoes?

Doug Quint is part bassoonist, part ice cream man. And not just any old ice cream man at that. Just last month he and boyfriend Bryan Petroff launched the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, a venture that's blown up beyond what they ever imagined. With the help of Twitter (they have over a thousand followers to whom they tweet toppings of the day, truck location and solicit suggestions), the truck has become a bit of a summer hotspot to those seeking both a good cone and some good humor.

As predicted, folks curious about the fuss surrounding LA taco truck sensation Kogi BBQ have been lining up at 55th Street and Lexington for Kogi's special one-hour guest appearance at the Dessert Truck. Midtown Lunch is on the scene: "The line at 11:40am is already stretching down the block...Line count right now… 65 and growing- and the truck doesn’t open until noon!... 11:59 About to start serving food. Line is 2/3 of the way back to Third Ave." Midtown Lunch adds, "Lee Anne Wong from season one of Top Chef is on hand to help dish out the food. Why you might ask? Because she is now the executive chef of east coast operations of Kogi BBQ and will be in charge of the first Kogi BBQ truck in New York." (Kogi BBQ did give a shout-out to her on their website.)

When we mentioned Kogi BBQ, LA's breakout food truck, yesterday, a reader pointed out that the Korean BBQ-inspired Mexican food will be available for one hour today! The Kogi BBQ team, in town for a Citymeals-on-Wheels benefit, explains on its website, "It’LL be the Dessert Truck parked out on Lexington and 55th, but once those doors fLip open, it shaLL be the KoGi crew on the inside. We’LL be there from noon-1PM and then POOF! we’re outta there... NYC, let’s kick it à la ride-or-die styLe." And on its Twitter feed, it's the more intriguing: "NYC, WE ARE COMING FOR YOUSE" According to Midtown Lunch, there will be 200 Kogi-Dessert Truck sampling plates available for $4/plate—dare we predict a foodie mob? For a little more on the Kogi madness, check out this gallery from LAist.

Brooklynites may no longer have to haul across the bridge and wait in endless lines for burgers, dogs, and concretes at the Shake Shack. Or at least they won't have to cross the bridge -- the Daily News reports that Danny Meyer will be opening a Shack outpost in Brooklyn, and it's going mobile.