The Vermont Cynic ERIKA HURTH
Senior Corrine Yonce buys pizza from the Big Daddy’s food truck March 27. Pam’s Deli, Lucky’s, Ahli Baba’s and Big Daddy’s are the four food trucks that are parked on University Place near campus.

In most towns you can find at least one food truck or cart; usually it’s a dirty-water hot dog stand or an over-priced ice cream truck. But Burlington has a surprising number of diverse food trucks and carts.

Of course, eating food out of a truck is a hit or miss because other than the Skinny Pancake Airstream, they can be rather scathing from a quick look.

But I guarantee, if you do a double take, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

There are four trucks in total along University Place. Closest to MainSteet is Pam’s Deli. Walking toward Pearl Street, you’ll find Lucky’s,Ahli Baba’s and Big Daddy’s Food Truck.

The light blue truck in front of Williams is Ahli Baba’s. Their food truck serves to supplement their downtown storefront restaurant on Main Street next to the Flynn. Here you can find an assortment of pitas, from Chicken to Falafel, for a range between $6-$7.

A few steps down from Ahli Baba’s, also in front of Williams, is the big yellow and white Big Daddy’s Food Truck. Big Daddy’s has a restaurant downtown as well.

If you’re as broke as I am, their $1 cheese slices are deemed promising – but make sure to bring cash, because they slap you with a $5 credit card minimum.

If you’re looking for cheap breakfast food, Pam’s Deli will do the trick. They are a cash or charge joint.

As you approach Pam’s, a sign stating “Eggs Served All Day” proudly hangs above pictures of messy but delicious-looking combinations of egg, cheese and meat on bread. It is all cheap.

If it’s nearing noon and you find your stomach rumbling, I urge you to take the short walk to the small white box-like trailer, Lucky Chinese Food Truck.

Lucky’s is run by one man, Lep, with a large array of steaming pots filled with that day’s offerings.

“It’s just me. It always has been,” he said.

This is Lep’s twenty-first year on campus. “That’s a long time,” he said. He said he enjoys his small business and finds it very rewarding.

“I like to work here. I’m like a friend to students, which is very special to me,” he said.

Lucky’s Chinese Food Truck offers an individual and a combination menu. The individual menu is “a la carte” style featuring all of the classics: egg rolls, veggie fried rice and crab Rangoon – all for under $5.

The combination menu is where you will find entrees all paired with unique fried rice – and all for $5.

There’s also a $5 special every week including a stir-fry with a side of fried rice.

It may not be the most decadent and up-scale Chinese joint, but it is cheap and flawlessly satisfying.

Unlike other food trucks, Lucky’s stays all year round. “I still work here in the summer, to serve summer school and the professors,” he said.

This is Lep’s only occupation and he dedicates his energy every day to have a presence on campus.

“If I don’t work here, I don’t know what I’d do,” he said.

Lep was the most friendly of all of the food truck workers. When a customer came up to ask if he takes credit cards, he said “no” and sent them to one of his competitors, Pam’s.

The students appreciate him too.

One student in line greeted Lep like a good friend. “I like it a lot! Out of all of the vendors on campus, this is the one I come too,” said Junior Matt Rosenthal.

The food trucks on-campus have you covered.

http://www.vermontcynic.com/life/food-trucks-make-for-moveable-feast-1.2825882#.UXsetaJmiSo

credit: Alice Levitt

Misery Loves Co. has gone brick and mortar in Winooski, and Muchacho Taco is sticking to catering for the cold months. Luckily, this week brings Burlington another food truck to keep hot breakfasts and lunches on the road.

The Hindquarter, a collaboration between Cloud 9 Caterers owner Sarah Moran and chef Luke Stone, begins regular service this Wednesday. That day, the red truck will park in front of Pine Street’s Maltex Building from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Thursday, the truck will keep the same hours at Burton Snowboards on Industrial Parkway. On Fridays, service will start at  Citizen Cider in Essex at 5 p.m.

Stone says the menu will change weekly and include a few weather-dependent specials. This week, he forecasts that the bone-chilling temperatures may call for soups and stews. The first regular menu includes the ramen bowl and braised chicken torta that Stone’s culinary team perfected at its December soft-opening forays. Joining those dishes are a housemade mortadella sandwich topped with a fried egg, a lamb-meatball sub, and a house-ground burger with country bacon.

Breakfast service is also part of the plan, beginning next Wednesday and Thursday at the Maltex Building only. Baker Mike Buechler will provide pastries, including scones, while Stone will fry up breakfast sandwiches with house bacon, local eggs and clothbound cheddar.

Moran and Stone’s hot-dog cart, formerly known as the Noble Pig, will return next summer. Owing to legal issues with Noble Pig Winery in Oregon, it will be called the Local Grind. Look for both the truck’s information and scheduling on the Hindquarter’s Facebook page.

http://www.7dvt.com/2013new-winter-food-truck-noble-pig-team

The Community and Economic Development Committee said Mark Foley can have one, and only one, food truck in the parking lot he leases from the city.

Foley signed a lease for the lot at West and Cottage streets earlier this year to provide parking for his retail spaces in the Gryphon Building. The lease limited use of the lot to parking, and Foley approached the city recently asking to have the arrangement modified so he could rent out part of the lot to a food truck.

“Carts and mobile food are a really fast-growing part of the food industry,” Foley said. “It’s inevitable that one or two would eventually try to become part of the marketplace.”

Foley said the owners of the Killington Avenue Market & Deli approached him a few weeks ago having just bought a truck and looking for a place to put it.

“There’s not a lot of land downtown so there were only so many places where I could show them,” he said.

While the truck has been parking in a spot behind the Opera House, Foley said they preferred the West and Cottage location because of its better visibility.

Downtown Rutland Partnership executive director Michael Coppinger told the committee his board of directors has discussed the issue and chose to remain neutral.

“A lot of people downtown right now are suffering,” said Terry Zullo of the Sandwich Shoppe, across the street and around the corner from the proposed site. “Every week we see less and less people for lunch. I just don’t think we need another vendor downtown.”

Everyone on the committee ultimately voted to change Foley’s lease — with the specific provision he be limited to a single food truck on the property — but not before a couple expressed reservations.

“I’ve been batting this around in my head for a while and something does not feel right about it,” Alderman Christopher Robinson said. “Take away the lease for a moment. It’s city property. Do we want food carts operating on city property competing with businesses who are in buildings paying property taxes. … Would we want these carts in Depot Park? Do we want them on the corner selling nuts?”

Alderman William Notte responded by pointing out there are already, in a sense, mobile food vendors in Depot Park every Saturday the farmers’ market is open. He also said the aldermen have no right to try to keep out competitors for established businesses. Several board members joined in the latter sentiment while making a point to say how much they love the Sandwich Shoppe.

The committee’s recommendation much still be ratified by the full Board of aldermen, which meets Monday.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110812/THISJUSTIN/708129997/0/NEWS01

BENNINGTON — There’s a new food truck in town, colorfully decorated and operated by Pattie Maguire, the former owner of Maguire’s Market on South Street.

The Flying Food Truck will be parked weekdays for lunch through the rest of the season at 160 Benmont Ave. The truck has been in operation for a little over a week, and while there are still kinks to be ironed out, Maguire said business has been good.

The main attraction at the new mobile eatery, as emblazoned along the truck’s sides, is its 100 percent grass-fed beef burgers, which Maguire said have been received much better than she anticipated.

“I happen to enjoy grass-fed burgers myself,” she said. “And why not, I think there’s a market for it. And customers have been telling me there’s a market for it.”

Many locals got their first taste when the truck was parked downtown during last week’s Midnight Madness, and Maguire also plans to be in North Bennington this weekend for the Lake Paran Bluegrass Festival. On Monday, Maguire received a call asking whether the flying truck could cater an upcoming rehearsal dinner in August. (The answer was yes.)

Maguire has already changed vendors due to not being able to keep up with demand pressing patties one-by-one. The beef, grass-fed and organic, now comes from Tilldale Farms in Hoosick, N.Y.

“To be honest, I thought it’d be a little niche. I didn’t think it’d take off,” said Maguire. But it did. “I just ordered 50 pounds of meat yesterday. You don’t order 50 pounds if you’re not going to sell it,” she said.

Maguire sold her South Street convenience store in 2007, but had recently begun to yearn to get back in business. It had to be flexible work, as Maguire currently helps to care for her mother with Alzheimer’s.

The truck was purchased this past May in Connecticut, fully prepared for curbside cooking. Previously white with a fat cat logo and the name “Big Al’s,” the truck’s current design was created and completed by Kim Wassick and Dan Turcotte.

Maguire received permission to park at the Benmont Mill Properties by owner Jon Goodrich, a good friend who had previously urged Maguire to get into the restaurant business.

The flying truck features a slate of additional offerings besides burgers, including hot dogs, sandwiches, and sides, but the menu will continue to change based on demand and customer suggestion.

Maguire said she knew and got along well with other local summertime vendors, including Jim Carroll, who operates Jimmy Joe’s Curbside Grill on Main Street, and Neil Schulman, of Hound Dogs, a food cart seen in Bennington from time to time but primarily operating in Manchester.

An additional Indian food truck, Namaste Foods, is also parked through the summer three days a week on Northside Drive, operated by Ashoke Ghosh since 2008. But Bennington, it would appear, is large enough for them all.

With each catering to their own niche and clientele, Maguire said she expected to co-habilitate peacefully with the other vendors in town. “(Jim Carroll) has his own clientele, (and) the busiest route,” said Maguire. Adjacent to the mill and numerous offices and establishments on Benmont, the flying truck has a pretty nice situation as well.

The current hours for the Flying Food Truck are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. till 2 p.m. Maguire said expanded hours are on the horizon.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/business/ci_18572362