Image by: Catherine Enfield

On any given weekday, how often do you see a food truck in downtown or midtown? Think about it.

While it’s true that there will be about 27 street food vendors under the freeway on Saturday for SactoMoFo 6, the question must be asked: Why do we rarely see food trucks in the city? Two years to the day after SactoMoFo 1, nothing has changed with city ordinances and this has, in fact, caused most of the regions food trucks to give up on the city altogether

Ordinances have been at an absolute stand still since last September when the City of Sacramento’s Law and Legislation Committee put a kibosh on those pertaining to food trucks on the street. Nevermind that a group of food truck owners, restaurant owners, and City staff had worked all summer long to come to an agreement that they were willing to abide.

That agreement had been to split the city into zones. There would be a long swath through the Grid of J, K, and L streets. In that zone the trucks could stay 1.5 hours and be 400 feet from another restaurant. The rest of the Grid and City would be 2.5 hours on the street, with distance differences per zone. Regarding private property, they could go (with owners permission) for 5 hours total and no truck could return to that location for 72 hours. If there was a special event, there could be waivers.

Image by: Catherine Enfield

The reason for the stand still? A rumor that the State was going to make changes to food truck regulations. Why should the City change their ordinances if any (supposed) new State laws could just superceed them? Why not wait and see so that they aren’t wasting their time changing ordinances only to have them overturned in the future?

The problem with that is that is 1) it’s a rumor, and 2) even if true, wheels of government turn slowly and those new State regulations could take forever or never happen at all.

Another set of ordinances is supposedly still going through. These have to do with having mobile food pods. Food pods are the mobile equivalent of a food court and the City had proposed a trial of up to five food pods that would be run by an associaton. City staff say these ordinances are still in the works and soon to come to that same Law and Legislation Committee. But they haven’t yet.

The weather is warm. The people are out. The time for food pods is now. But at the rate these ordinances are going, the summer season will be lost before these ordinances get to a possible City Council vote.

What is a truck owner to do? Quite frankly, many of the trucks have decided not to bother with getting City permits at all and just avoid the City altogether. Those same permit fees that could have gone to the City of Sacramento are now going to Yolo and Placer counties. The only safe haven in the City has been the daily lunch rotation at CalPERS because the trucks are sitting on State property and free of City ordinances.

When this was mentioned to a City staff member, he shrugged it off. If the trucks don’t want to come downtown, that’s their perogative. It’s not like the truck fees are generating huge amounts for the City anyway.

In other cities there’s been another argument. Increase the City permit fees so that they do generate a nice amount of cash for the coffers. If the ordinances are relaxed and the fees raised, the trucks would come into the City and many would be able to afford the fees and survive off the higher concentration of customers found in an urban setting.

Many City residents and workers are interested in having the food trucks. Until there are changes in the ordinances to make it more inviting, a majority of the food trucks will be staying on the outskirts and sticking to the Counties instead.

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/81864/City_Residents_are_Missing_Out_on_Food_Trucks

via facebook

Farm-to-fork? How about truck-to-table?

Andrew Blaskovich, the food truck impresario behind Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen, has announced plans to open a full-service restaurant at McClellan Park (formerly                                                                                                           McClellan Air Force Base).

Blaskovich runs the kitchen at Republic, a popular bar on 15th Street. He has another brick-and- mortar eatery in the works – a cafe in Folsom.

Call The Bee’s Blair Anthony Robertson, (916) 321-1099. On Twitter, @Blarob.

Autumn Payne Bee file, 2012 Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich, owner of Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen food truck, has two traditional restaurants in the works.

Both the McClellan and Folsom restaurants are to open in June, Blaskovich said.

Located at 5504 Dudley Ave., the McClellan restaurant will inhabit up to 5,000 square feet and will feature a large patio.

Blaskovich said he plans to have a beer and wine license.

The McClellan restaurant will begin serving lunch only, he said, but could expand its hours if demand warrants.

While some might consider Mc-Clellan off the beaten path, Blaskovich said 15,000 people work on the sprawling property, which was converted to mostly nonmilitary use after the base closed in 2001. (The U.S. Coast Guard continues to use the airport there).

Unlike the Republic, which is a partnership, these two brick-and- mortar eateries will be run solely by Blaskovich, who’s set to launch a second food truck with a state-of-the-art, $80,000 kitchen and also runs a catering business.

Blaskovich cashed out his 401(k) from his previous corporate job to purchase his first food truck, which he rolled out two years ago. Since then, he has built a large following with a variety of creative grilled sandwiches that combine ingredients such as pulled pork and mac ‘n’ cheese, or Korean braised beef and Sriracha-wasabi aioli.

Some days, he said, he is triple-booked for catering jobs. The McClellan restaurant, which has a large walk-in refrigerator, will serve as a staging area for the trucks and catering businesses. Parking the trucks on site, he said, will save $1,100 a month.

The Folsom cafe, in an office complex, will serve mostly employees who work on the property.

“In terms of growth, when all of the entities are running on full steam, we’re going to have 50 to 60 employees,” Blaskovich said. “I’d eventually like to have 100 employees.”

Blaskovich, who turns 40 this month, will mark the two-year anniversary of his food truck at a Second Saturday event outside Spanish Fly Hair Garage on J Street near 17th Street on May 11.

http://www.modbee.com/2013/04/15/2670933/drewskis-hot-rod-kitchen-going.html

Food Truck Mania is set for Downtown Roseville March 14. Credit SactoMoFo

You’ll find mini burgers, street tacos, pizza slices and hot dogs all served up in Downtown Roseville Thursday, March 14 for Sacramento Mobile Food’s, or SactoMoFo, Food Truck Mania.

In August 2012, the city approved an agreement with SactoMoFo to host monthly Food Truck Mania events.

Vernon Street becomes a pedestrian-only mobile food fest every second Thursday of the month with food trucks like Krush Burger, Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen and Annie’s Sno Biz making the stop.

Here’s this month’s food truck lineup, according to SactoMoFo’s Facebook page:

• Krush Burger
• Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen
• Chando’s Tacos
• Brick Oven Pizza
• Squeeze Inn
• Knucklehead Hot Dogs
• Simply Southern Foods
• Annie’s Sno Biz
• Rich’s Ice Cream

Food Truck Mania
When: 5-8 p.m. Thursday, March 14
Where: Downtown Roseville at the corner of Vernon and Washington streets
Info: SactoMoFo’s Facebook page and the flyer above

http://roseville-ca.patch.com/articles/food-truck-mania-set-for-march-14-in-downtown-roseville#photo-13636489

http://blogs.sacbee.com/dining/archives/2013/03/sactomofo-6-foo.html

Come hungry to Lowe’s in Citrus Heights Wednesday, Feb. 13 — at least seven mobile food trucks will make a stop for a Food Truck Mania.

Trucks like Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen, Krush Burger, OMG! Yogurt and other mobile food trucks will be at Lowe’s in Citrus Heights from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday.

The roundup will also include music and entertainment.

Citrus Heights Food Truck Mania
When: 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13
Where: Lowe’s, 7840 Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights
Mobile food trucks: Krush Burger, Drewski’s, Simply Southern Foods, Volkswaffle, OMG! Yogurt, Brick Oven Pizza, Game Day Grill
Info: Here

http://citrusheights.patch.com/articles/sactomofo-food-truck-mania-comes-to-citrus-heights-wednesday-837b67e1

By STAFF | CBS Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A dozen Sacramento food truck vendors were cooking for a cause, serving their finest food Sunday for one of the area’s most popular playgrounds.

They were cooking good food for a good cause.

“Hopefully every truck will sell out. So it will be good for everybody,” a volunteer said.

SactoMoFo brought together these food trucks.

“It feels awesome to do what we can to pitch in,” said one volunteer.

They are raising money to help rebuild a section of the McKinley Park wooden playground that was burned down over the summer.

“Once all the expenses are covered, anything that is incurred today is going to go to the park,” said one truck owner.

But there’s a lot of heart behind this too.

Joan Jordan has fond memories of her childhood in that neighborhood.

“I was raised there. I went to the library, learned how to swim there, tap dancing when I was a kid,” said Jordan.

Those memories have been carried through generations.

“It’s such an epic part of the community. It’s at the center of what makes Sacramento so cool.

Most everyone at Sutter’s Land Park Sunday has a personal connection to the McKinley Park playground.

“I learned to swim at McKinley Park pool and played at the playground there since I was in sixth grade. A lot of good memories there,” said one man.

More memories will be made as plans for the new playground are in the works.

“We’re already working on it. We got a committee. We picked out a designer. We’re almost ready to go. We’re raising money right and left,” said Steve Swindle, Rebuild McKinley.

Sunday was another opportunity to add to those funds.

“My kids grew up there, and I’m here to help give back and do my part so the next generation of kids have a playground like that to play with,” said Swindle.

It’s a proud moment for some of McKinley Park’s biggest fans.

“This is a great opportunity for us to band together to do something good for our community,” said a volunteer.

Besides the food from the food trucks, there were also other local vendors and live music to help with the fundraising.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/10/29/food-truck-vendors-cook-up-funds-to-help-rebuild-mckinley-park/

The owner of Chando’s hopes his food truck will encourage more customers to try his tacos, above, at his brick-and-mortar restaurants. Lezlie Sterling / Bee file, 2011

There must have been a thousand people at Garcia Bend Park in Sacramento’s Pocket neighborhood on Wednesday night for the SactoMoFo Food Festival.

Ten food trucks, offering everything from fish tacos to gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches to Southern-style barbecue to Belgian waffles, lined the parking lot. Eager and hungry customers, among them Sacramento City Councilman Darrell Fong and City Manager John Shirey, were there. Yours truly was also in attendance (strictly on a fact-finding tour, of course), and we all waited in long lines to sample the offerings.

As the City Council struggles to draft a workable ordinance to regulate food truck operations, the public has clearly signaled that it wants this dining option.

The food festival on Wednesday and scores more organized across the region are attracting thousands of customers. I talked to people who lived near the park and had seen the signs advertising the food fair. Others I talked to had come from as far away as Manteca and Stockton, and had learned about it from their friends’ Facebook postings.

For those food truck fans, Sacramento’s current rules are both unworkable and unfair and, some food truck operators argue persuasively, unlawful.

Within city limits, food trucks may not park in any location longer than 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, they must move at least 400 feet, a full block away.

Those restrictions may have worked for your granddad’s food trucks, the ones that rolled onto a construction site to sell pre-made sandwiches and microwaveable pizzas. But not now, and not with the food served from the trucks at Garcia Bend.

Krush Burger (one of the most popular food truck operators in Sacramento) offers a Philly burger with grilled crimini and shiitake mushrooms, roasted bell pepper aioli and provolone cheese, cooked to order on the truck.

A burger like that takes time to prepare. So does the beer-battered fish taco plate I bought, stuffed with cabbage and salsa in a Parmesan-crusted, Jack-cheese-infused taco shell from Swabbies on the River.

Delicious!

The 30-minute rule is unworkable for operators who want to serve really good food. It takes 20 minutes for food truck owners just to fire up their propane stoves.

Some brick-and-mortar restaurants – not all – regard the food truck operators as unfair competition because they don’t pay rent or property taxes. A tentative compromise hammered out between restaurant owners and food truck operators and facilitated by City Councilman Jay Schenirer seeks to loosen Sacramento’s antiquated restrictions.

The proposal would ban trucks from parking within one block of any downtown restaurant but lengthen the time a food truck could stay parked to 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours.

While some mobile food advocates think that any restriction not tied to health and safety is unfair, most truck operators locally seem willing to give the new proposal a chance.

Good. The mobile food trend is growing across the country, with little or no measurable detrimental impact on traditional restaurants. In fact, some of the truck owners own brick-and-mortar restaurants too. One of those, Chando Madrigal, owner of Chando’s Tacos, told me he uses his food truck as a marketing tool to drive customers to his two restaurants.

So, my single foray into the mobile food world leads me to believe that the fears of many traditional restaurant owners are overblown. The customer who wants to stand on a sidewalk juggling a gourmet taco, hot dog or hamburger in one hand and a can of soda in the other is not the same customer, on the same day, who wants to sit down at a table inside an air-conditioned dining room enjoying lamb chops and a nice bottle of malbec. There is room in the market for both those dining options and more.

And finally there’s this: So what if food trucks compete with brick-and-mortar restaurants? Government should not be in the business of protecting established eating establishments from new ones, so long as they all pay their taxes and meet the same health standards. As the sign at Garcia Bend Park said, “Mobile food is not a crime.” I couldn’t agree more.