May 2, 2013

Kim Rivers

Food Truck Friday on Camden’s waterfront – Philly.com

A trio of food trucks will be pulling up to the Camden waterfront every Friday at lunch beginning May 10 and continuing throughout the summer.

Organized by the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership waterfront development corporation, “Food Truck Friday,” as it’s being called, is drawing interest from a variety of gourmet trucks around the region, including the three that will start next week: deli-on-wheels Reuben on Rye, Cupcakes 2 GoGo, and Lil’ Trent’s Treats dessert truck.

The organizers hope the number and variety will grow once these trucks test the logistics and response.

“It’s a good business decision,” says Haddonfield-based Ginny Moles, who notes the difficulty in finding crowds elsewhere in South Jersey, especially in summer. The major difference in Camden, she says, are the throngs of families and field trips visiting the Adventure Aquarium, and the thousands of neighborhood office, law, and medical workers who have few options for food. “I think it’ll be a great opportunity.”

George Bieber, treasurer and membership director of the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association (PMFA), said several of its members were considering inclusion in Food Truck Friday.

“A nice spot like this would be awesome,” says Bieber, who considered signing up his own Sunflower Truck Stop for the summer. “You get a few [trucks] and it becomes like a party.”

That’s exactly the feel Cooper’s Ferry is trying to cultivate. By adding food trucks near Fountain Park, already equipped with colorful chairs, tables, and umbrellas, it aims to develop a parklike atmosphere on the riverfront block that’s primarily used as a walk-through by visitors.

The downtown/waterfront area already hosts sidewalk carts that sell the usual hot dogs and pretzels. But because Camden doesn’t ordinarily allow food trucks on public property, Cooper’s Ferry is securing a waiver to designate truck parking in a specific lot behind the aquarium. The organization hopes Food Truck Friday will persuade city council members to expand permissions to other parts of the city.

“A quality food truck is a quality amenity for a visitor or a resident of the city,” says Jake Gordon, Cooper’s Ferry’s vice president, who envisions trucks parked next to Rutgers-Camden and the county courthouse.

In mid-April, one food truck, Reuben on Rye, did launch in Camden by parking, with permission, in a law firm parking lot, across the street from City Hall. The operators say their strong opening-week sales persuaded them to start serving breakfast as well as lunch.

“Although we have just been open for a short time, the people of Camden are responding,”says David Serata, who partnered with the owner of Cherry Hill’s Kibitz Room to launch the first of what they hope will become a fleet of Reuben on Ryes.

Their truck serves a scaled-back Kibitz Room menu from the offices of Zucker Steinberg Sonstein Wixted, at 415 Federal St., every weekday except Friday, when they’re on the waterfront.

There have been complaints that city and county annual permitting fees (about $600) far exceed all others in South Jersey, including Cherry Hill ($200 annually) and Haddonfield ($350) without allowing them to leave the designated “food pod.” And Pennsylvania operators face some sticker shock over the New Jersey law that requires food trucks to be equipped with fire suppressant systems, which Bieber says run about $900 to install and take up valuable space that could be used for extra rolls and additional supplies.

Despite the inconveniences and costs, vendors like Jess Iannuzzi and Steve Koste of Bucks County’s Sum Pig Food Truck say they can’t wait to get their permits.

Koste believes a successful Food Truck Friday could enhance the waterfronts of Camden and Philadelphia.

“Anything that can bring more money into Camden and change its perception by boosting fun and boosting the [RiverLink] ferry would be pretty cool,” he says.

Food Truck Festival Friday

Food Truck Festival, Fun Food Friday is happening at The Plaza on Lakewood at 8911 Lakewood Drive behind CVS between 5 and 8 p.m. Friday, May 3.

Sonoma County’s favorite food trucks, including Chicago Style Hot Dogs, Bun Slinger, Awful Falafel, Fish On! and Foxy Cupcakes will be on hand.

Medical and business professionals in The Plaza will open their doors to public tours. There will be kids’ activities, raffles, and the Windsor High School cheerleaders and the school’s mascot “Jaggie” will attend the event.

-James Lanaras

Panel backs reprieve for Naper street food sellers, for now

By Susan Frick Carlman
scarlman@stmedianetwork.com

April 25, 2013 9:16PM

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Article Extras

Updated: April 26, 2013 12:32PM

Food cart operators are likely to remain a presence in downtown Naperville this summer — though it still could be their last.

After wrestling with the issue for several months, members of the Downtown Advisory Commission Thursday voted to ask the City Council to allow the two vendors now selling hot dogs and barbecue to keep working past the scheduled mid-summer expiration of their permits, through the end of the year.

Then they’ll resume the wrestling.

Commissioners will recommend that two other permits that have been granted, but are not being used, be suspended. The policy will be revisited again next year.

As she presented the staff’s most recent suggestions for tweaking the policy to address assorted concerns, community planner Allison Laff told the advisory commission that while the sale of food late at night is generally more palatable to existing business owners than lunch-hour vending, which also is allowed under the granted permits, the idea somewhat conflicts with the vision in the downtown plan and is thought by some to be at odds with the city’s image as a family-friendly place.

“There is, we’ve found, limited support from the downtown business community for the downtown vending program as it is,” Laff said.

Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership, reiterated her opposition to the mobile vending practices, especially late at night. The vendors may sell food from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily and from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. nightly, and until 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Although she acknowledged the restaurant owners have not been consulted by the city or the commission formally, Jeffries said of the 45 downtown restaurants, 21 serve food until 11 p.m., and nine keep their kitchens open later.

“I just want to point out that there are businesses, brick and mortar, operating and serving food” at the time when the mobile vendors serve, Jeffries said. “Quite a few of them.”

Other advocates for the business owners also aired qualms about the vending program. Merchant Joe Costello said he could find no compelling reason to allow it, and that it brings no benefit to the downtown brand.

Katie Wood, executive director of the Downtown Naperville Alliance, echoed that perspective.

“I do not feel that having downtown vendors adds to the ambiance of the downtown,” said Wood, who was representing Mike Evans, president of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce. Along with Jeffries, Costello and commercial property owner Dwight Yackley, Evans last month voted to discontinue the vending program. The motion failed with a 4-4 vote.

Others see the food carts as a positive thing, however.

“I think the market has spoken as to whether they’re a good idea or not,” said Joe McElroy, a City Council member, who thinks it’s a good idea to offer bar patrons a quick bite before they head home. “They’re doing quite well.”

Responding to assertions that late-night patrons can behave badly, McElroy said there are often problems at Five Guys, which also serves late, that bring out police.

“I have a problem with that,” he said.

Naperville North High School student Austin Hansen, a nonvoting commissioner, said he asked police Chief Bob Marshall about similar troubles in the areas where the street vendors work, and the chief reported there had been none.

Connor McGury, a Naperville Central student who also sits on the commission, wants to gauge the residents’ sentiments on the matter.

“I think it’s more important to ask the public what their opinion is before we ask the restaurant owners what they think,” said McGury, who also thinks the food carts are a plus, but wants the restaurateurs to have a chance to weigh in, too. “It’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s on the go. And that’s how our country is now.”

Commission member and City Councilwoman Judy Brodhead said the brick-and-mortar food merchants are abundantly represented on the commission.

“Maybe over-represented, if we’re thinking about the whole town,” Brodhead said. “I have a very hard time believing somebody selling hot dogs, somebody selling ribs can put Five Guys out of business.”

She added that she doesn’t see the logic in the undue-competition argument.

“I think we’re worrying too much about it,” she said.

Commission chairman Steve Rubin asked rib vendor John Singleton how much he brings in on a good night working his cart in front of the Chicago Avenue parking deck, and Singleton said maybe $250-$300. Rubin agreed it’s not much of a threat to most of the downtown restaurants.

“We’re talking about $300 an evening,” said Rubin, who noted many cities have found success in allowing both forms of commerce. “It seems to be a symbiotic relationship that works.”

Jeffries also appeared displeased that when Joe Hornbaker asked to be allowed to sell his Joey’s Red Hots at the Riverwalk and Main Street late at night instead of Fredenhagen Park, where he is currently required to operate for both shifts, his request was granted.

“So he would be across from Sullivan’s day and night?” she asked.

McElroy didn’t see the logic to that argument, saying, “There’s not many times that I’ve gone out of this building and said, ‘I was going to go for a steak but hey, I think I’ll get a hot dog instead.’”

Local food cart serves positive flavor

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) – Lupe Aguilar has big dreams for his shining silver food cart but he put personal profits on the back page of his somewhat unorthodox business plan.

The former radio personality gave us a hands-on tour of the stainless steel, kitchen on wheels as he told us he was born to help. Although, as a child, he needed the help. His parents gave him up as a ward of the state in California when he was 5.

“When something like that happens, “ the smiling Aquilar says with a clap of his hands. “You grow up really fast. At 5, right after that, I felt like I was instantly 20.”

He credited foster families with raising him. Right out of high school, he traveled the country, settling in Rhode Island. After 10 years as a DJ and marketing maven, he’s now focused on combining his desire to help with his business sense. It’s called The Sammys Kitchen Project .

“It’s a good model that will work,” he explains. “For this and maybe other things too.”

The goal is to fire up his food cart to compete with the growing number of food trucks out there already. He plans on selling hot dogs at first but he wants to eventually expand his compassionate cuisine.

“But the money we make, 100 percent, will be donated to a charity,” he says.

He bought the cart with donations and the hopes to one day grow from two wheels and a hitch to an actual truck and maybe even something grander than that.

‘The plan is, depending on how much money is raised, pick 1 or 2 charities a month and literally just write a check at the end of the month.”

After displaying the potential of his cart and it’s built in grill, fridge, sink and containers, Aguilar is on the go with his friend Ed Brady, posting fliers on Thayer Street utility poles. But not your typical fliers. Instead of advertising rooms for rent or get rich quick schemes, the page sized posters advertise positivity. The tabs that usually hold phone numbers, offer things like hope and kindness.

He thinks it’s a message that fits in with the tragic, explosive negativity from the Boston Marathon bombings.

“It’s times like this,” he says. “Ironically, people become more positive and we get closer and I think that’s the essence in itself. We’re here together. We’re in it together. We’re one big family.”

Aguilar expects to be serving that extended family and paying it forward by Memorial Day weekend.

Send story ideas to Walt at wbuteau@wpri.com and follow us on Twitter: @StreetStories12 and @wbuteau

WB council not open to woman’s food cart proposal

WILKES-BARRE – A Hanover Township woman wants to bring a food cart to downtown Wilkes-Barre, but city council members didn’t have much of an appetite for the idea.

Nicole Dante pitched the proposal to council during its meeting Thursday. Dante said she wants to sell hamburgers and hot dogs on Public Square during bar hours.

“Mobile food vending is one of the hottest things since bacon,” Dante said. “I think this is a great opportunity for a young, low-budget entrepreneur such as myself to launch my own business.”

The city has an ordinance banning cart businesses from operating after 6 p.m., which means council would have to create new legislation in order for Dante to open her business. Councilman Tony George said operating on Public Square would also be a problem because the park is closed after dark.

“We’re going to have to do a little research on that,” said council Chairman Bill Barrett. “It might be a difficult thing to do. It’s a city-wide thing first of all, and there’s some concerns about the businesses already here.”

Dante said her business wouldn’t interfere with existing ones because most restaurants and bar kitchens aren’t open that late.

LAG Towing

After the meeting, Mayor Tom Leighton said the city is still investigating LAG Towing, the city’s towing contractor accused of improperly billing customers. He wouldn’t say when that investigation would be complete, however.

Leighton also declined to answer questions on whether outside law enforcement agencies are investigating LAG Towing owner Leo Glodzik III and if he’d been interviewed by investigators. In February, an FBI agent delivered a subpoena to Leighton’s office seeking police records related to LAG Towing.

“The investigation on our side is ongoing, and whether other law enforcement agencies are conducting (one), we’re not made privy to that information,” Leighton said.

chong@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2052, @CVChrisHong

Phoenix Food Truck Group Promotes Local Networking

PHOENIX, AZ - Food trucks have become a stitch in the fabric of downtown’s culinary culture, a growing market in a rapidly expanding industry that pairs outside-the-box creations with mobile eateries.

As food trucks rise in popularity and number, many have banded together over the past two years to create the Phoenix Street Food Coalition.

The coalition’s main goal is to bring food vendors, local businesses and the community together and to shed light on how street food can help cities and local businesses.

Brad Moore, owner of the food truck Short Leash Hot Dogs and chair of the coalition, said he and his wife, Kat, wanted to create an association that would enable all the like-minded individuals in their industry to band together and have strength in numbers.

“(We) wanted the kind of power in numbers and the voice type deal,” he said. “We have a pretty formal organization now. We have bylaws and we have application requirements for people to become members.”

He said the coalition, founded in August of 2010 and made up of at least 54 trucks, wanted to be a business that was about supporting other small businesses.

“One of our requirements is that 30 percent of the menu has to be sourced locally or at least something that is made from scratch,” Moore said.

In addition to sourcing locally, members have to submit their menu and a list of the vendors they use in order to apply.

“They can use local farms or local meat shops or local bakeries that they work with to purvey some of their products,” Moore said.

Scott Schraml, owner and founder of Mojo Bowl, which is part of the coalition, said he thinks it’s important to source products locally for the same reason he hopes people would buy from him—it keeps everyone going.

“We’re local, we’re not franchises or big companies,” he said. “We’re little mom and pop operations and we wanna keep it all in the family so to say.”

Find the entire article by Chantelle Patel at DowntownDevil.com here

Pigs in a Blanket Fun Facts

The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know fun food facts we will look at Pigs in a Blanket.

The Facts: The term “pigs in a blanket” often refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, cocktail or breakfast/link sausages wrapped in biscuit dough, pancake, or croissant dough, and baked.

The first written record of pigs in a blanket occurs in Betty Crocker’s Cooking for Kids in 1957.
April 24th is National Pigs in a Blanket Day.
Pigs in a blanket are also known as devils on horseback, kilted sausages, and wiener winks.
They are typically small in size and can be eaten in one or two bites. For this reason, they are usually served as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre or are accompanied by other dishes in the ‘main course’ section of a meal.
In the United Kingdom, pigs in blankets are small sausages, or chipolatas wrapped up in bacon.
Pigs in a blanket are usually different from sausage rolls, which are a larger, more filling item served for breakfast and lunch in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and, more rarely, the United States and Canada.

Pigs in a Blanket Facts We Missed

Please feel free to let us know if we may have missed some in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Pigs in a Blanket

Hey Joe! Filipino Food Truck on Cooking Channel’s New Street Food Show, Eat …

Laura HahnefeldSigsigBrian and Margita Webb have been espousing the virtues of Filipino street food via their food truck Hey Joe! since it hit the streets in 2011. Now it’s time for their close-up.

The Webbs’ Hey Joe! will be one of four food trucks featured on Eat Street, the new show about street food on the Cooking Channel hosted by comedian James Cunningham.

Here’s what Hey Joe! (and street food) fans can expect — and when they should tune in.

Promising to be a “lip-smacking celebration of North America’s tastiest, messiest and most irresistible street food,” the premiere of Eat Street, called “Meat New Friends,” is described as such:

“First up, Eat St rides into Miami, Fla., to get our Mojo on the Go, a big eats truck from the Bayou serving up a ‘Gator Tail Basket, Curry Peanut Frog Legs and a mean Smoked Brisket Sandwich. Next we hop on over to Las Vegas, for some sumptuous Sliders from the Sliding Thru truck, where two hipsters reign supreme with tasty items like their Pulled Porky and a Pep Pep. Then we park up at Sanguchon in San Francisco, for some five-star Peruvian cuisine sampling Pollo a la Brasa and Lomo Saltado. Finally we high tail it to Phoenix, where the Hey Joe truck is bringing an arsenal of traditional Filipino cuisine to the streets firing off dishes such as Sizzling Pork Sisig, Deep Fried Pork Belly and even a unique Fertilized Duck Egg”

Brian Webb tells me there’s also a brief moment showing he and Margita eating balut, the Filipino delicacy of a fertilized duck embryo that’s boiled and eaten in the shell.

The Webb’s recipe for their Sizzling Pork Sisig can be found on the Eat Street website along with Mahi Mahi Ceviche and Pollo La Brassa.

You can see Hey Joe! on Eat Street on Friday, April 26, on the Cooking Channel. Go to the Cooking Channel’s website or see your local cable guide for times and channel information.

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Location Info

Venue

Map

Hey Joe! Filipino Street Food Truck

, Phoenix, AZ

Category: Restaurant

Phoenix Street Food Coalition offers food trucks a chance to network locally

(Lillian Reid/DD)

The Phoenix Street Food Coalition, comprised of more than 54 food trucks, offers the chance for the trucks, the community and other local businesses to better each other. (Lillian Reid/DD)

Food trucks have become a stitch in the fabric of downtown’s culinary culture, a growing market in a rapidly expanding industry that pairs outside-the-box creations with mobile eateries.