Crepes De Pouce Gras just recently started operating in Prince William County, VA on the weekends.  Their primary serving spots are at the Dale City and Occoquan farmers’ markets.

Crepes De Pouce Gras joins other PW county food trucks, like Dylan’s Downhome and Beach Fries.

Check out more info + photos on their page!

Well, this isn’t about a food truck, but it does highlight an interesting, food truck-related point.  As the Washington Examiner details, vending trucks in the District can not be longer than 18 feet, 5 inches.  But, in other municipalities, vending trucks can be much longer.  The DC Lottery truck will still be able to vend on private property for events like Truckeroo (pictured above), but we shall see if there will be enough business off of the public streets to make ends meet.

I’ve confirmed that both the Austin Grill and Cafe Vida Express food trucks have retired. Austin Grill directly confirmed that the truck has been re-tasked and will no longer be serving directly to consumers. Though, fans of Austin Grill can still visit any of the 6 brick and mortar locations.

Cafe Vida Express’ retirement has been indirectly confirmed as my communications have gone unanswered.  Their official website is no longer working and their last tweet mentions something about moving to Florida.

If I had to speculate as to why these trucks really retired, I’d say that the owner of Cafe Vida probably did relocate.  I’ve observed that most food trucks really do have just 1 individual running the operation.  A relocation of that individual would certainly mean that the truck would cease to operate.

As for Austin Grill, their 4.5 months of operation seemed to be more of an experiment.  They are a DC-area restaurant chain and are very in tune with the local market.  So, why not capitalize on the local food truck trend?  I’m guessing that they retired due to a combination of these three points:

• too many variables in deploying the truck everyday (weather, truck malfunctions, traffic)
• their food offerings may have been less suited for quick serving out of a food truck
• the economics of their food truck business did not meet their expectations

DC’s monthly food truck festival, Truckeroo, will be hosting its 3rd event next week on August 12, 2011.  The event will be held at the same location as the previous events: Das Bullpen – Half and M St, SE Washington DC across from the Navy Yard Metro Station!

Truckeroo also has a nice new website!

Thanks to preservationgal for sending in this photo of today’s (August 4, 2011) Food Truck Fiesta at L’Enfant plaza. Can you name all 6 DC food trucks in this photo? 🙂

There is a new falafel truck that doesn’t have any sort of online presence. It has been spotted a couple of times at Farragut Square last week and yesterday. I guess that would be the place to serve if you didn’t have any ability to communicate with potential fans and relied solely on passersby giving your truck a chance. 🙂 The truck is called The Falafel House or House of Falafel. No one knows for sure because the truck is plain white without any markings!

If you happen to give their cuisine a try, please let them know about Twitter!

The Institute for Justice published a 50 page report detailing the prevalence of five major types of vending regulations in 50 largest US cities. Washington DC fails by currently instituting 2 of the 5 restrictive regulations that limit vendors’ ability to be successful. The report also makes some conclusions, such as the following:

Instead of supporting economic protectionism, cities can and should encourage vibrant vending cultures by drafting clear, simple and modern rules that are narrowly tailored to address real health and safety issues.

Boston is one of 5 cities that does not engage in this type of economic protectionism.  The City of Boston even provides a public food truck locating service on their website!

Evidently, MPD is training officers on how to inspect food trucks today in Franklin Park.  I think that’s ok, but why did they pick the busiest time of the day to shutdown trucks for inspections (especially since this isn’t an emergency)?  Last I heard, brick and mortar restaurants aren’t forced to shut down in the middle of the lunch hour so that inspectors can train new recruits.

Not only that, but the above photo looks like a crime scene.  That’s another great way to negatively impact a business.

Where are those new DC food truck regulations we’ve been hearing about?  They definitely need to address situations like this.

UPDATE: More photos flowing in from upset DC food truck fans.

A food truck will be at Eastern Market tomorrow serving up free food!  Here are the details:

“Macy’s Chefs A-Go-Go,” a national food truck tour showcasing the Macy’s Culinary Council is rolling into Washington D.C. on July 29th at Eastern Market! Macy’s first-ever food truck tour will feature Chef Marcus Samuelsson on board at the D.C. stop, cooking his signature recipes and dishing them out for free!

WHEN:
Macy’s Chefs A-Go-Go! Food Truck Tour Stop
Friday, July 29th, 2011
11AM-3PM

WHERE:
Eastern Market
225 7th Street Southeast
Washington D.C. 20003

MORE:
While the chef’s dishes are free, guests can support a good cause by donating to Feeding America ®, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization. For every $1 donated, Feeding America can help provide seven meals to those in need on behalf of local food banks.

Coming in August 2011 to the District and Arlington!  See their page for a biography of the chefs and owners.