The old adage about real estate–”location, location, location”–may be a key factor in the city of Creve Coeur’s consideration over how to regulate food truck operators.

Food trucks came up in discussion during Monday’s city council meeting and Thursday’s meeting of the Economic Development Commission. EDC member Glenn Wilen wondered if there was a way to limit them to areas possibly near office parks, or to limit operators to offshoots of existing brick and mortar businesses. The latter sentiment was suggested Monday by Imo’s owner Steve Noles at City Council, given the amount of investment those brick and mortar businesses have made in meeting other city regulations.

City officials have noted in the past that areas surrounding the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centerhave expressed a sense of isolation when it comes to the availability of restaurants. In fact, a food truck catered the opening of the nearby Helix Center last year.

Community Development Director Paul Langdon said the concern for having the trucks on a site like the Danforth campus could be just as much a worry for the operators as anyone else. While the trucks use social media to create an initial buzz, he said there’s a question as to whether there’s enough business there to sustain a full hour of operation.

Part of the city’s motivation in investigating the issue stems from the fact that Creve Coeur’s Parks department has expressed interest in having trucks draw crowds to city facilities. Similar efforts in neighboring Chesterfield and in the city of St. Louis at Tower Grove Park have attracted attention.

Advocates and opponents have their own anectdotal evidence to suggest the trucks could have some impact on brick and mortar businesses or no impact at all, City Administrator Mark Perkins said the next step would be to survey the business community and the chamber of commerce for more feedback.

While at least some corners of the EDC and the Planning and Zoning Commission have wondered aloud if a provisional ordinance could be established to test out the process on a temporary basis, no such interest has yet emerged during the course of discussion at the city council level.

http://crevecoeur.patch.com/articles/food-trucks-all-about-location-in-creve-coeur

Chesterfield bakery Sarah’s Cake Shop’s mobile cupcake truck is part of the food truck craze. Credit Christopher Reilly

The arguments for and against food trucks have been fairly well-laid out in the St. Louis area in recent years. They’re popular and trendy, but will they hurt brick and mortar businesses, or get away without paying sales tax?

The debate has crept into Creve Coeur in the last year, and Monday, city leaders conceded that they don’t know enough about how those assumptions would actually play out here.

Food trucks are allowed in Creve Coeur as a conditional use which would have to be permitted, or as a catering outlet. To date, the city has not issued any permits for them. Debbie Blanchard, of CenterCo Office Suites, told the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday that she questioned the idea of paying a $200 permit for a truck selling food at $5 a pop.

Papa Tom’s Fancy Franks parked at an office building on Geyer Road in September. Credit Karlie Baker

Paul Langdon, the city’s Planning and Community Development Director said he didn’t know if the Conditional Use approach was the correct one to take, and pointed to Friday’s St. Louis Post Dispatch, which reported on retail trucks which are now creeping into the region, seeking equity with the way food trucks are treated in the city of St. Louis. The issue isn’t going away.

Commissioner Michael Barton wondered aloud if there was data suggesting traffic on Olive would go down if food trucks were in operation. Langdon was not aware of any but indicated he had heard from restaurants with concerns about how the business would be impacted. Barton pointed to the fact that Lowes and Home Depot tend to end up near one another, creating something of a destination.

“If they’re successful than that means its fulfilling a demand,” Barton said, suggesting the city “give it a run” and see how it goes.

Commissioner Gary Eberhardt said the city didn’t have enough information to make a more a permanent decision on how to handle food truck regulations, and suggested a one year trial ordinance of some sort.

No ordinance was put forth or suggested Monday but a report prepared for the meeting suggested that the issue would be back before Planning and Zoning and City Council.

The city’s parks department has indicated interest in hosting food trucks but has held off out of concern that they could be used in ways that are restricted for private businesses in the city.

http://crevecoeur.patch.com/articles/food-trucks-in-creve-coeur-city-looks-for-more-info

Food trucks like this one in Maplewood, have been both the source of avid support and controversy in communities in St. Louis. Creve Coeur appears to be ready to address the issue more fully this year. Credit Doug Miner

The city of Creve Coeur is getting ready for a discussion about how best to handle the use and regulation of food trucks.

While city officials have pointed to concerns about not wanting to undercut brick and mortar restaurants in the city, food trucks have been present in Creve Coeur in recent years.

Some businesses have been critical of the city’s approach thus far in allowing some areas like CityPlace to bring them in to cater to employees, while denying others, like CenterCo Office Suites, which sought to use them as a draw to bring traffic to the building.

In a memo prepared for Monday’s Creve Coeur Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Theresa Bradshaw, Public Information Officer and Management Analyst laid out a comparison of cities nearby, noting Chesterfield’s embrace of them, with stipulations like hours of operation, a buffer distance from brick and mortar restaurants, among others.

Read the rest of the meeting agenda

As for Creve Coeur, Bradshaw wrote:

“Going forward, the approach for Creve Coeur depends largely on what concerns are or are not present in the community as well as whether the city would have the staff resources necessary to enforce regulations. Based on staffing concerns, a more simplistic and streamlined approach will be preferable.”

No vote on any kind of policy is scheduled for Monday. Bradshaw indicates in her memo that the subject will come up in future Planning and Zoning and City Council sessions.

http://crevecoeur.patch.com/articles/planning-panel-to-talk-about-food-trucks

Krupa Panchal in front of her new food truck, Bombay Food Junkies | Kaitlin Steinberg

When Sid and Krupa Panchal moved from Mumbai (formerly Bombay) to St. Louis eight years ago, they knew they would miss the street food of the coastal Indian city. Finding that none of the Indian restaurants in town specialize in the type of food traditional to Mumbai, the Panchals took matters into their own hands.

On Saturday, the Panchals celebrated the grand opening of their new food truck, Bombay Food Junkies (@bombayfoodtruck), with a special five-course tasting menu for their friends, family and invited guests.

“The inspiration was we grew up the majority of our lives in Bombay,” Krupa Panchal explains. “It’s so famous for its street foods. There are only a couple of restaurants here that provide something like it, but nothing with the same taste.”

Krupa’s mother-in-law cooking in the truck and bhel, a puffed rice snack | Kaitlin Steinberg

Sid and Krupa began working on creating their own food truck about six months ago. Krupa studied optometry and recently got a masters degree in gerontology. She worked in a doctor’s office for a while, but decided the food truck route was her true passion. Sid is a computer engineer, and he plans to keep that job while helping out with food truck events on the weekend. He, too, believes that Bombay Food Junkies is filling a niche in St. Louis.

“Others Indian restaurants in town are more northern Indian cuisine,” he says. “It’s not pick-up-and-go kind of food. You sit down and eat and have a proper meal. This is more quick, on the go. That works well with the idea of a food truck.”

All of the recipes are Krupa’s own, but she’s had some help from her mother-in-law, who once ran a catering business back in India. Though Krupa herself is not a vegetarian, all of the cuisine that Bombay Food Junkies will serve is vegetarian, and many dishes can be prepared vegan by request.

“Ninety percent of Bombay street food is vegetarian,” Krupa says. “but we don’t really miss meat when we’re in Bombay. We wanted to go with vegetarian because we want to have people know that there is nutrition in it, there is taste.”

Vada pav, a potato cake or “Bombay Burger” | Kaitlin Steinberg

The Panchals took out a loan to fund the endeavor, but when it came time to decorate the truck, they realized they didn’t have much money left. So they did what many restaurants are finding helpful recently; they turned to Kickstarter.

They launched a campaign in early March, offering pledgers everything from a dessert and a personalized thank you letter for $10 to a private party for 30 people for $1000. They met their $5000 goal on March 26, and the truck was “wrapped” with their colorful design and logo.

The Kickstarter-funded behemoth | Kaitlin Steinberg

The same friends and family who helped fund the truck’s design came out for the grand opening on Saturday afternoon. The Panchals offered free tastes of some of their Bombay street foods, a henna tattoo artist and some Bollywood dances courtesy of Krupa. The menu included vada pav, a potato patty rolled in chickpeas and spices, then fried; pav bhaji, mashed vegetables and spices; bhel, puffed rice with chopped onions and potatoes; kulfi, an ice cream flavored with cardamom; and finally paan, a betel leaf filled with rose petals, fennel seeds and dried fruit.

The Panchals intend to mix up the menu, offering different items daily, but some dishes will be fixtures. Mango lassi, a mango and yogurt drink, will always be on the menu, as will kulfi and the “Bombay Burgers,” vada pav.

Based on the reaction from the crowd at the grand opening (and the speed with which the food was devoured) it’s safe to say that Bombay Food Junkies has indeed supplied something that St. Louisans were missing.

Pav bhaji, a dish of cooked veggies and spices with Indian bread | Kaitlin Steinberg

The truck will officially start service at SAIC in Earth City on Tuesday, and they’ll be updating their schedule daily on their website and Twitter. Bombay Food Junkies will initially spend most of its time in St. Louis county before moving into the city once it picks up some momentum. Maybe someday it’ll even be popular enough to keep the same hours as street food stands in Bombay.

“You go out on the street any time — it could be two in the morning — and you’ll find vendors selling food,” Krupa says. “That’s how popular it is.”

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/04/first_look_bombay_food_junkies_food_truck.php

Though food trucks abound in St. Louis, since Wanderlust Pizza trucked out of town in 2011 and Pi Pizzeria retired its food truck last summer, the city hasn’t had a go-to pizza truck.

Thanks to new food truck Slice of the Hill(@SliceoftheHill; 314-791-2557), that’s about to change.

According to owner Mike May, Slice of the Hill hits St. Louis streets next week.

Gut Check is always hungry for more restaurant news. Feed us your tips.

May, who works for Zia’s Restaurant(5256 Wilson Avenue; 314-776-0020), which is owned and operated by his in-laws, and Zia’s Italian Food Truck, says Slice of the Hill is its own venture separate from the family biz, and it will serve Tuscan-style pies using local ingredients.

“It’s a rustic style, but we’re still using all the local ingredients from the Hill,” May says. “Simple, fresh ingredients…as much as we can we’re going to use a lot of local stuff. Pepperoni and meats from Volpi Italian Foods, Provel for a little bit just to fit the theme, but then we’ll do some other cheeses too.”

May says he and the truck’s co-owners installed equipment on Wednesday night, plan to go on test runs this weekend and are waiting to get the truck wrapped in Slice of the Hill’s logo. After a health inspection of the truck early next week, May says it’ll be open for business.

Slice of the Hill’s menu will offer pizza and salads, and it might eventually expand to include locally made gelato. May says Slice of the Hill’s pizza isn’t traditional pizza-by-the-slice, as each piece of pizza is custommade.

“They’re more individual-shaped portions, but it’s not exactly a slice; it just looks like a slice of pizza,” he says. “We’re going to make each pizza separate for each individual — if you don’t want mushrooms on it or onions or whatever, we’ll be able to make that.”

Stay tuned to Gut Check for updates on Slice of the Hill’s first day of business, and check back for a first look following the truck’s opening. Meanwhile, keep up with Slice of the Hill via its Facebook and Twitter pages.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/04/new_st_louis_food_truck_slice_of_the_hill_mike_may.php

Chesterfield will begin hosting St. Louis’ food truck fleet at city hall today in a reprise of a popular event that started last summer, but there will be one key difference.

Last year, the city called the event “Food Truck Friday,” but Assistant City Administrator for Community Services and Economic Development Libbey Malberg-Tucker said it will be renamed to “Food Truck Feast.”

Malberg-Tucker said Sauce Magazine asked the city for the change, pointing to the fact that the St. Louis publication pre-empted the city with a “Food Truck Friday” of their own for the last three years.

The event was a big hit with residents last year and is part of Chesterfield’s efforts to make the city “food truck friendly.” Malberg-Tucker said they hope to make it an annual happening and our planning to hold it throughout the summer, primarily once a month on Friday.

“Even though though the last one we had in October was on a cold day, the vendors felt the turnout was really good,” she said.

Today’s event will take place in front of Chesterfield City Hall from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and feature Taste D Burger, Zia’s, Completely Sauced and The Sweet Divine. The next Food Truck Feast is scheduled for April 26.

It started out primarily as an event for city employees and other workers in the area, but Malberg-Tucker said “everyone is welcome.”

“We will have some seating outside with tables or people can come in and eat,” she said.

http://chesterfield.patch.com/articles/food-truck-friday-returns-this-week-to-chesterfield-city-hall

The Bombay Food Junkies truck, unwrapped. (It needs to be wrapped, is the problem.)

Gut Check told you last month about Bombay Food Junkies, a new food truck featuring vegetarian and vegan Indian cuisine. The wife-and-husband team of Krupa and Sid Panchal plan to serve pav, a sandwich-like dish that Krupa told us is the most popular street food in Bombay (or Mumbai, as the city is now known).

The Panchals already have a truck (pictured above). What they do not yet have is a decoration — the wrap, to use the term of art — for the truck.

Enter, yes, crowdsourcing.

By which, of course, we mean a Bombay Food Junkies campaign on Kickstarter.

Gut Check is always hungry for more restaurant news. Feed us your tips.

“We’re in the final stages of wrapping the truck,” Krupa Panchal tells Gut Check. “We need about $5,000 for it.”

The Panchals have until March 26 to raise the money. As of this writing, the Kickstarter campaign has raised $1,458 from 32 backers.

Rewards for backing range from a thank-you note and a free dessert for a $10 pledge to a private party for 30 (and more) for a $1,000 pledge.

“We want to reach out to more and more people,” Krupa says of the effort.

“It’s really exciting.”

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/03/bombay_food_junkies_truck_kickstarter_st_louis.php

An array of tacos from Mission Taco Joint. Clockwise from the top, back are the grilled fish; grilled MOFU (featuring locally made MOFU tofu and grilled veggie quinoa); carne asada; and roasted duck.

Set to open sometime in the next week, Mission Taco Joint will bring “a fun, casual spot for really great Mexican street food and some amazing cocktails and craft beer” to the heart of The Loop, says co-owner Adam Tilford.

He and his brother Jason Tilford, co-owners of Milagro Modern Mexican and Tortillaria, hosted a celebration in the space last night for STLwinegirl Angela Ortmann’s business anniversary that doubled as a sneak preview. (The Tilfords hinted atplans to expand their restaurant endeavors in a story we posted in May 2012.)

Drawing inspiration from San Francisco’s Mission District, the “California-style taquería meets hip bar” will feature à la carte tacos designed for sharing and hand-crafted cocktails by award-winning mixologist Joel Clark, formerly of The Grove hotspot Sanctuaria.

Shortly after opening, Mission Taco Joint will feature a walk-up window in the front for placing orders from the street.

“We call it our non-mobile truck,” Adam Tilford says.

Within a couple months of opening, the Tilfords also plan to open an adjoining bodega, where they’ll sell kitchen staples like milk, bread and eggs and also freshly prepared foods from Mission Taco Joint, including salsas, burritos and guacamole. They hope to fulfill a need for local residents to obtain fresh foods and basics within walking distance from their homes.

“We know the concept, but we haven’t worked out the details,” Adam Tilford says of the bodega.

“It’s not a Mexican restaurant; it’s a taco joint,” Adam Tilford says, adding that Mission Taco will feature a California take on Mexican food. “The menu’s going to be small – geared toward sharing – so our tacos will be served a la carte – $2.50 to $3.50 – on big platters in the middle of the table. We’ll have sides to share as well.”

There will also be Mission-style burritos, a selection of tortas and an array of appetizers, ranging from crabtaquitos to chicken flautas and carne asada. Tacos will come in traditional style and some creative twists, such as a taco featuring grilled, locally made MOFU tofu and grilled veggie quinoa.

As for the interior, “it’s a complete transformation of what was here before,” Adam Tilford says. (The space was formerly home to the Delmar Lounge.) “We didn’t want people to think we just threw a coat of paint on the walls.

St. Louis-based SPACE Architecture + Design is behind the tables and the bar, and an extra room in the back features reclaimed wood and materials from an old, two-car garage on Arsenal in South City. The space also features a vibrant mural of San Francisco’s Mission District designed and painted by St. Louis mixologist Angie Cornish.

“It has a cool, refined industrial look inside and feels like you’re walking down a boardwalk in California, or San Francisco,” Tilford says.

We’ll let you know as soon as there’s an opening date. In the meantime, check out the sneak-preview photos above.

Mission Taco Joint, 6235 Delmar Blvd., The Loop, 314.555.5555,  facebook.com/MissionTacoJoint

http://www.feaststl.com/the-feed/article_528f6388-802d-11e2-a1ed-001a4bcf6878.html

A reader tipped Gut Check off that the food truck Papa Tom’s Fancy Franks(@papatomsff; 314-713-4431) is listed for sale on Craigslist. In fact, there are two listings for the truck: one for just the truck; and one for the truck and the brand.

Gut Check is always hungry for more restaurant news. Feed us your tips.

Owner Tom Broadwell tells Gut Check that there were many reasons behind the decision to sell the truck, not least of which was the fact that he is back working a full-time job.

“It’s been a lot of stuff,” he says, adding that his main goal is to “keep the family first.”

Papa Tom’s was one of the first of the new generation of St. Louis food trucks. It launched in March 2011 as Papa Tom’s Gateway Dog House, serving food from a trailer attached to a vintage pick-up truck. Broadwell later upgraded the operation to the full-sized truck now for sale.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/02/papa_toms_fancy_franks_food_trucks_for_sale.php

via Facebook

Since moving to the United States from their native Bombay, (or Mumbai, as it is now known), India, Krupa and Sid Panchal haven’t found anything like the street food they enjoyed in their home city. So the wife-and-husband team are taking matters into their own hands: In the next few months, the Panchals will launch the food truck Bombay Food Junkies.

The truck will be the first foodservice endeavor for the Panchals. “We both are food lovers, we both cook, so we thought ‘Why not?’” Krupa tells Gut Check.

The Bombay Food Junkies menu features several versions of a sandwich-like dish calledpav, which Panchal says is by far the most popular street food in Bombay.

“Bread is cheaper back there,” she explains. “That’s why bread is incorporated in the street-food items. It’s something that’s readily available. It’s cheap. It feeds people from all the strata.

“The bread I get is made fresh, vegetarian (no eggs), no preservatives.”

Vada pav is the signature pav: a spicy potato filling dredged in chickpea flour and then deep-fried, served on bread with both a garlic-peanut and a cilantro chutney. Other dishes on the truck’s menu will include a pav with palak paneer (spinach and fresh cheese) and the misal pav with a chana curry.

The menu is entirely vegetarian, and several dishes are (or can be made) vegan-friendly. Panchal says that the vegetarian menu is a fairly accurate representation of Bombay’s street food, which she estimates to feature about 90% vegetarian fare.

The Panchals plan to launch the truck in St. Louis County first and then move into the City of St. Louis as well as St. Charles County. As for when the truck will hit the streets, Krupa says, “I would love to give you a date” and laughs. She hopes to have the truck running by March. In the meantime, you can track the truck’s progress on the Bombay Food Junkies website, its Facebook page and via Twitter.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/02/bombay_food_junkies_truck_indian_cuisine_st_louis_sid_grupa_panchal.php