Chimmicurri de chuleta. [Photographs: Chris Crowley]

Given the Bronx’s relative lack of serious street food, something I’ve lamented about in the past, we’re quick to jump at the sign of any interesting sidewalk bites. So when I first spotted this Dominican chimichurri* truck while passing through the neighborhood, I took note. An encouraging mention in the Daily News convinced us to give it a closer look, and we went in with high hopes. But despite a strong initial showing in the fritter department, the fare proved to be middling.

* In the Dominican Republic, chimichurri refers to a spiced variant on the hamburger.

Our first visit proved to be the most satisfying. We kept it light with an order of two arepitas de maiz ($1; Dominican cornmeal fritters), a shot in the dark that proved fruitful. The arepita’s flavor was genius in its simplicity, little more than the interplay of the corn’s natural sweetness with the licorice undertones of anise seed. The texture of the crust was more crunchy than crisp, giving way to a forgiving soft interior.

An arepita.

But the promise of a great edible deal in the borough was broken by inconsistency on a subsequent visit. On a more recent trip in the early afternoon, we were served an arepita that was dense and lukewarm.

We quickly found out, that with the exception of the chewy arepitas de yuca, none of the other snacks lived up to that first bite. Particularly bad were the pastele en hoya ($4; green banana tamales), with sour-tasting meat texturally indistinguishable from the plantains.

Still, most people aren’t coming here for tamales. They’re coming for the chimis, and the insurance against a hangover that they provide. So what about ‘em?

A closer look.

You can’t expect the world for $4, and what you get is a satisfying sandwich that exhibits some evidence of cost-cutting. For the price, it’s a tasty deal. The bread is slightly dry but holds together well in spite of all that’s stuffed inside it; the cabbage adds nice crunch the flavor gets lost in that sea of sauce. (A word for the wise: if your Spanish is serviceable, we seriously recommend telling them to go light on the Russian dressing. It has a nice tang, but is slathered on with the heaviest of hands.)

Still, the meat is much more flavorful and better seasoned than what is cooked at Mount Eden’s El Rincon de Los Taxistas. Of the four options, we preferred the chuletas, strips of roast pork cutlet, and the de res, a thin patty of beef with plenty of oregano. Both were good, and would do wonders after a night of heavy drinking.

But the best reason to drop by won’t be until summer, when the truck’s selection of chilled tropical juices will be a life saver for those looking to escape the heat. On a 98 degree afternoon, few things are so satisfying as chinola (passion fruit) over ice. And us? We’re looking forward to trying that morir soñando.

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2013/02/bronx-eats-el-rincon-de-las-frituras.html

Founder and Chief Storyteller, food. curated., www.foodcurated.com

What are the secrets behind the top street food vendors in New York City? Come find out!

From tasty homemade white sauces, to spicy meat marinades, to handpicked oregano straight from the hillsides of Greece, food. curated. takes you through a tour of each vendor’s personal stories to find out what makes them one of the best food trucks in the city.

Look out for the “Torta Puma”, a 10+layered torta sandwich that only few have managed to finish alone. Or the $1 Xin Jiang spiced lamb kebabs grilled to perfection under the busy Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown. These are the street food elite, the 2012 NYC Vendy Awards Finalists: six food vendors cooking up special plates unlike any other in the 5 boroughs.

1. The Cinnamon Snail Vegan Organic Food Truck
Schedule: Always on the move, for latest Manhattan coordinates, visit: @VeganLunchTruck

2. Piaztlan Authentic Mexican Food Truck
Schedule: Saturday & Sunday, 10am – 8pm, May-October at the Red Hook Ballfields, Brooklyn @PiaztlanBK

3. Uncle Gussy’s Traditional Greek Cuisine
Schedule: Monday-Friday, 11am -3pm at 51st St and Park Ave, Midtown, Manhattan @UncleGussys

4. Tortas Neza
Schedule: Daily from 1pm-1am at 111th Street and Roosevelt, a few blocks away from Citifield, Queens

5. Hamza & Madina Halal Food
Schedule: Everyday, 10am – 4am at 254-05 Hillside Ave, Glen Oaks, NY

6. Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs
Schedule: Monday-Sunday 10:30am-8:30pm at the corner of Forsyth St & Division St, Chinatown

Thanks for watching food. curated.! Congrats to all the finalists! I would love to hear all your comments and thoughts on the videos. Be sure to get your tickets to the big NYC Vendy Awards Event on September 15th.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liza-de-guia/meet-the-2012-vendy-award_b_1854025.html

Food trucks are not a new craze, yet they’re still one of the most popular ways to eat in New York City.

And as the craze grows, with more people opting to eat from trucks rather than traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants, the food trucks improve, offering high-quality gourmet concoctions that you can’t find anywhere else.

But with so many trucks traversing New York City’s streets, how do you know which ones are actually good?

The editors at Zagat recently came out with their list of New York’s 8 Best Food Trucks to help guide us. There are a few unconventional ice cream trucks, a Korean taco truck and a roving waffle mobile..

#8 Kelvin Natural

Facebook/Kelvin Slush

Location: @kelvinslushKelvin makes addictive slush drinks, like ginger slush with blueberries and citrus slush with fresh mint, which are perfect for cooling you down on a hot summer day.

#7 Yvonne’s Jamaican

Zagat

Location: 71st and York Ave.Parked on the Upper East Side, Yvonne’s Jamaican serves up a changing roster of traditional Jamaican and Caribbean food, like jerk chicken, curried goat or oxtail stew. There’s often a line, but it’s worth waiting for.

#6 Wafels & Dinges

Facebook/Wafelsanddinges

Location: @waffletruckThis fleet of roving waffle-making trucks offers a taste of Belgium, with their authentic and delicious pressed waffles, which can be topped with a variety of sweet and savory “dinges” (toppings).

#5 Korilla Food Truck

Flickr/dpstylesâ„¢

Location: @korillabbqThis cool Korean BBQ truck serves tasty grilled meats and veggies with sticky rice. They also make Korean tacos topped with items like spicy kimchi.

#4 Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

Facebook/Big Gay Ice Cream

Location: @biggayicecreamThe Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is a fabulous, dressed-up ice cream truck that serves traditional soft serve flavors (vanilla, chocolate) with “flamboyant” toppings (curry coconut, cayenne pepper).

They also have creative and entertaining names for their ice cream concoctions, like “Salty Pimp,” “Bea Arthur” and “The Mermaid.”

#3 Taïm Mobile

Facebook/The Taim Mobile

Location: @taimmobile This mobile vegetarian Israeli food vendor serves arguably the best falafel in the city: it’s fried, crispy and incredibly flavorful. Pair that falafel sandwich with saffron aïoli fries, one of their fresh salads or a smoothie.

Be prepared to wait.

#2 Coolhaus

Twitter/@CoolhausNY

Location: @coolhausNYThis L.A. import serves incredible freshly-made ice cream sandwiches made from quality ingredients like artisanal ice cream sandwiched between locally-made cookies.

#1 Luke’s Lobster Truck (Nauti)

Facebook/Lukes Lobster

Location: @lukeslobsternyNauti, Luke’s Lobster’s food truck, serves meaty and satisfying Maine lobster rolls. It’s a bit pricier than other food trucks (it is lobster, after all), but it’s still worth chasing after.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-8-best-food-trucks-in-new-york-city-2012-8?op=1#ixzz25Nf9ozK5

More truck owners are turning to shops, as soon as they can.Photo-illustration: Maya Robinson

When Kim Ima launched the Treats Truck in 2007, the hassles that came with working in a mobile kitchen — speed bumps that knock whole trays of cookies on the ground, for instance — were worth it in order to be part of a massive trend. Customers eagerly awaited new trucks’ arrivals in various neighborhoods; media coverage exploded; the whole concept got its own Food Network show. But booms are usually followed by busts, and the food truck business has recently become more difficult. Last month, Ima opened a brick-and-mortar outpost called the Treats Truck Stop, and though she still loves mobile vending enough to keep her truck on the road, her perspective changed: “I feel like I’m in a four-star hotel,” she says of her new Carroll Gardens space. She’s not the only one. Food trucks were once seen as a comparatively low-cost way to open a business (and generate street cred), but as the associated headaches pile up, many truck owners are happy to deal with the added costs necessary to open a traditional store, which can seem downright simple to run in comparison.

“Hands down, brick-and-mortar is easier,” says David Schillace, the owner of Mexicue, which includes one truck, and now, two restaurants. “Running three or four trucks, then working sixteen hours a day, is a nightmare. And it’s still not going to make you rich.” A truck can start up for as little as $80,000, and Schillace says he and his partners needed to raise around $2 million for their stand-alone spot. “We got into the truck business to launch a concept and shop it around,” Schillace says. “It was always a marketing tool, not a cash cow.”

That strategy became harder after every midtown corner got a truck. Though precise data related to the truck upsurge is tough to hone in on — street carts and food trucks operate under the same city permit — David Weber founded the NYC Food Truck Association in January 2011, with fifteen members. Now Weber, who also founded Rickshaw Dumpling Bar and wrote The Food Truck Handbook, counts 42 companies on the roster. Forty percent of them now also operate brick-and-mortar businesses, like Souvlaki GR, Schnitzel & Things, and Mexicue. Those figures don’t include other notable truck-to-shop converts like the perpetually mobbed Big Gay Ice Cream or Bistro Truck, which aren’t members of the association.

As the popularity of trucks exploded, two things happened: The city started cracking down on where and when trucks could actually sell their food, and competition became more heated as the number of trucks on the street rose. Laura O’Neill, co-founder of Van Leeuwen ice cream, which has five trucks and three shops, says competition for prime parking spots has practically become a blood sport — to deal with the hassle, some truck companies send out cars early in the morning to “hold” places.

But truck owners have to compete for a lot more than the best parking places. The first thing: a truck permit from the city. The Department of Health only grants 3,000 annual permits, which each last two years. The waiting list is so long that the DOH hasn’t taken new names since 2007, forcing entrepreneurs to turn to the black market. Individuals pay $20,000 for a permit that the Health Department originally sells for $200. “It’s impossible to afford, and you’re breaking the law,” says Yassir Raouli, the owner of Bistro Truck, who is opening a restaurant called Rustic L.E.S. this month. “And now that the blueprint is out there, it’s becoming even harder to operate in the streets.”

It’s also much simpler to hire a staff at a shop. On any given food truck, all employees must first obtain a food vendor license, then begin the process of earning their Mobile Vending ID Badge through a citywide system. It takes three months, and the process doesn’t really start until a potential vendor is offered a job. No one can work until they have one, unless they’re willing to risk a $1,000 fine that’s levied against the individual worker, not the business. By contrast, brick-and-mortar rules only require that one person (the manager, usually) in the space has their food vendor license, which is much quicker to earn. Not only does this mean that Ima’s parents could help wash dishes when the Truck Stop shop opened — something they could never do on the Treats Truck — but also that business owners have a lot more flexibility, and leverage, when it comes to hiring.

Another problem is finding a spot to actually put your truck when it isn’t doing business. Per city law, food trucks can’t be stored on private property when not in use — only in designated food depot lots that tend to look like the auto-gastronomic equivalent of a graveyard that’s running low on plots. “It’s like finding an apartment in New York,” explains Ima. “Except with 50 roommates. And they’re almost all big, smelly men.” A spot in one of these lots, if an owner manages to find one, runs between $400 and $800 per month.

And, of course, there’s the size issue: Most of the trucks are too small to accommodate people actually making food, so owners also have to rent commercial-kitchen space in spots like Red Hook, Long Island City, and even the back of a Brooklyn pizzeria, which is what the Mexicue team used overnight when they were first getting started.

Opening a traditional restaurant almost instantly eliminates that last issue, since food prepped in a restaurant’s kitchen can be sold both on site and on the street. But space isn’t the only benefit of running a shop instead of a truck. A week of shitty weather won’t immediately obliterate a customer base if those customers can actually wait and eat inside; parking becomes a non-issue; and getting much-needed regular customers in the door is a whole lot easier when that door is in the same spot. “Check average is also lower on the truck,” says Schillace, pointing to the high number of customers who will grab one taco while walking through Union Square versus those that come into the restaurants for a full meal. All of this means finances are a lot more predictable with shops.

Trucks are here to stay, and they still offer some benefits: those lower costs; the flexibility to try new menu items and find new potential customers; continuous roving advertising. But as more truck operators move to full shops, those perks become increasingly less desirable when compared to the benefits (not to mention, legitimacy) that comes with a brick-and-mortar location. As Van Leeuwen’s O’Neill says, “The store isn’t going to break down at three in the morning on the Williamsburg bridge.”

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2012/07/food-trucks-turn-to-stores-for-convenience-reliability.html?e=grubstreet–20120711

 By Tracey Samuelson | WNBC.org

Food trucks at their new space in a vacant lot at Canal and Varick Streets. (Amy Eddings/WNYC)

If New York City used a bidding system to issue food truck permits — much like it does for taxi medallions or park concessions — the city could add $37 million to its coffers.

WNYC has a fascinating dispatch on the black market that exists for food-truck permits in New York City:

There are only 3,000 citywide, two-year permits, and there are so many names on the wait list (more than 2,000) that the Department of Health hasn’t taken names since 2007….

Where red-brick residential Brooklyn gives way to a grittier industrial neighborhood, there’s an unmarked asphalt lot where permits can easily be bought and sold.

This is a commissary, a one-stop shop where food truck entrepreneurs can get everything they need: purchase a vehicle, order meat and vegetables — and secure a permit too.

On a recent visit to the lot, WNYC asked about buying a permit. A worker took the reporter into a store room full of jars of mayonnaise and pickles, and dialed a number on a cell phone and handed the phone to the reporter.

The man on the other end of the line, who called himself Mohammed, said he could obtain a second-hand permit in a few days, and it would cost $18,000.

New York City’s Health Department charges just $200 for the same document, so the street value is nearly 100 times higher than the official price.

One way to boost job-creation and wipe out the black market would be for the city to issue many more of these permits.

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2012/06/food-truck-permit-black-market

Enough for you?

You probably heard that on Wednesday, New York City announced that it would enact a ban on the sale of huge sodas (and some other sugar-heavy drinks) at some public places, namely movie theatres, restaurants, and street vending carts.The Center for Science in the Public Interest applauds the move.

The outcry has been deafening. You can read some of the “comments” appended to the New York Times story here. And as you can imagine, the sugary drinks industry is complaining.

Until recently, I personally have guzzled hundreds of gallons of caffeine-laden colas, some with sugar and some with equally perilous artificial sweeteners, so I think I can offer a somewhat balanced view. Let’s look at three facts:

• The obesity epidemic is dangerous to the health of individuals and to the future of our nation’s health care system. (we spend $14 billion a YEAR on obesity-related diseases such as diabetes).
• Sugary drinks have empty calories.
• People often don’t do what’s in their own best interest.

It’s the last one that starts the heated discussions. On a radio talk show Wednesday, I heard nutrition expert Liz Applegate criticize the move, saying that it’s a question of personal responsibility. Well, she has an impressive resume, but the “personal responsibility” line is exactly what all the makers of dangerous things (cigarettes, guns, pink slime burgers) say when threatened by attempts to curb their freedom to sell their products.

Two years ago, San Francisco banned the sale of sugary sodas in vending machines on city property. Somehow, the sky did not fall.

As a psychologist specializing in eating disorders for 25 years, I saw first-hand how people struggle to make good on their intentions to be healthy. And that doesn’t even count the people who aren’t even trying to eat healthily. As an academic who has published journal articles on obesity and read the research, I’m alarmed by the danger to our country.

What do you think? Obesity costs YOU in the form of your health insurance premiums, even if you aren’t overweight or obese. Should this ban proceed?

http://www.examiner.com/article/mega-soda-ban-new-york

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/06/mega-soda-ban-in-new-york/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/01/license-caps-send-nyc-food-vendors-to-black-market-public-parks-private-property/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/01/license-caps-send-nyc-food-vendors-to-black-market-public-parks-private-property/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:19:15 +0000 MobileFoodNews.com http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=24297 by Jan Fletcher | Intuit Go Payment Blog

David Weber (pictured), president of the New York City Food Truck Association

Mobile vending permits are hot commodities in New York City: Due to an estimated 15-year wait time for legit applicants, a two-year, $200 permit can fetch more than $20,000 on the black market, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to city officials, municipal laws cap the number of food carts and trucks allowed to operate. Citywide vending permits (the most coveted category) are capped at 2,800, and 200 more are borough-specific (50 per borough, Manhattan excluded). People with disabilities and veterans have access to an additional 100 permits allotted to both of those groups. Seasonal operators and those who operate “green” (produce) carts compete for a separate allotment of another 1,000 permits for each group. All together, these total 5,100 permits. 

David Weber (pictured), president of the New York City Food Truck Association and author of the upcoming book The Food Truck Handbook: Start, Grow and Succeed in the Mobile Food Business, says he is seeking legal alternatives to costly, illegal license transfers, such as park concessions and sales on private property.

The city’s parks intermittently issue requests for proposals to operate park concessions, and there’s no waiting list for these restricted area permits. Weber recommends new vendors go this route, which provides “a great way to get into mobile vending in a very high traffic location.” The strategy gives new vendors better odds at obtaining legal permits and benefits park patrons through enhanced amenities, he explains.

Weber says his association, whose 28 members collectively operate 45 trucks, also aims to establish “food truck courts” on privately owned parking lots. Members would share any rental costs. “We’re trying to find specific locations that can accommodate a couple of trucks at a time and create little hubs for food trucks to vend safely,” he says. “You could find your own parking lot and put your truck on that parking lot every single day of the week.”

The regulatory scheme in New York City, as it pertains to vending, allows vendors to move to different places throughout the week, Weber adds. “We think that’s a great opportunity to learn more about your customers and get your brands exposed to the most people possible. So, we’re trying to create a system that sort of mimics that.”

The synergistic effect of parking multiple trucks in one place would also boost business, he says. “It’s safe and stable. Street parking is quite hard in New York City, and it’s even harder when you’ve got a big truck — and a bunch of vending rules to contend with — to find a spot that’s legal.”

Due to the impact of licensing restrictions on vendors, leaders of Occupy Wall Street have teamed up with the Street Vendor Project to advocate for New York City’s mobile vendors. The project’s leaders commissioned a study which concluded that the city’s street vendors face a “regulatory landscape [that] continues to be heavily restricted and difficult to navigate.”

http://blog.gopayment.com/mobile/license-caps-send-nyc-food-vendors-to-black-market-public-parks-private-property/

YUM: Luke's Lobster food truck in Manhattan. NY Post: Chad Rachman

Staten Island is getting snack snubbed.

Fancy food vendors spreading across Gotham are shunning the smallest borough, with not a single food-truck owner willing to join the city’s waiting list to hawk high-end fare there, according to Health Department data.

Only 14 street-meat vendors are currently licensed to sell on Staten Island, while The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens have all hit their max of 50 vendors each and maintain long waiting lists.

The city is even calling on vendors to apply for the $200 permits — opening the process for the first time in four years — but just in Staten Island.

So far, the gourmet grub sold from Manhattan food trucks — like kimchi fried-rice burritos, schnitzel with Sriracha mayo and grass-fed direct-from-Maine lobster rolls — has not made inroads in the overlooked borough.

“Most people in Staten Island wouldn’t want anything fancy on the street. It’s a dirty-water dog, if anything,” said James Connors, 20, a lifelong borough resident.

Whether it’s lack of foodies or foot traffic, vendors are reluctant to open up across the harbor.

“In Midtown, you set up shop and get a following,” said David Weber, president of the NYC Food Truck Association.