This is what we’ve all been asking, “Why are brick and mortar restaurants always complaining about food trucks, but not starting up their own food trucks?” To that end, Dangerous Pies on H St Northeast is launching a food truck! They just tweeted about it yesterday and posted a pic of their intimidating food truck.

I’ll start tracking it as soon as they start tweeting location updates! 🙂

I was just notified of a new DC food truck coming soon: SangOnWheels! Looking at the twitter profile pic, the truck is coming much sooner than later. The truck is totally done! My sources inform me that the cuisine is described as Asian fusion and Lao. I’ll post more details on the SangOnWheels profile page as I get them!

Pic from @SangOnWheels twitter profile

Hello FTF fans! I added a new feature to the map last night that remembers where you panned & zoomed into the map so that you don’t have to redo your work every time you visit the site! Please send me your feedback by leaving a comment here, or emailing me at foodtruckfiesta@gmail.com.

Thanks! Kyle

Also, big shout out to BujeBaby for suggesting the feature! 🙂

Pleasant Pops has been a mainstay of a few farmer’s markets (Petworth, HHS and Mt. Pleasant) for the past several months, but now they have grown wheels are are mobile! Nicknamed, Big Poppa, the Pleasant Pops food truck is officially launching in Capitol Hill today! Sorry, it’s not on the map today, but it will be added for tomorrow! Some of you were able to get a sneak peek of Big Poppa at the Curbside Cookoff last week.

They will be parked near the Capitol South metro entrance at 12:30pm today. Their pops are constructed from locally sourced ingredients and today’s menu is: Watermelon Mint, Sweet Cream n Corn, and Carrot Apple Ginger. Enjoy!

Today, Bruce DePuyt from TBD Newstalk spoke with me about food trucks and the continued controversy between brick & mortar restaurants and food trucks. Brick & mortar restaurants don’t want any additional competition, and they thought they were ok in the past with just a handful of hot dog & potato chip street vendors that didn’t offer much in the way of culinary satisfaction.

Enter Food Trucks 2.0. This new breed of food trucks is operating under the same rules as the hot dog carts and ice cream trucks, except that they are providing gourmet quality food and tapping their huge fan bases on Twitter. Restaurants are seeing the results in the way of long lines and huge Twitter followings (2 DC food trucks top 8000 Twitter followers) and aren’t happy. The jury is still out on whether food trucks are actually hurting brick & mortar business, but the District of Columbia’s DCRA is hearing DC residents loud and clear: bring us more food trucks!

Today, Oct 11, 2010, I spoke with Bruce DePuyt about the situation. Click on the video below to see the interview:

I can safely say that the 2010 DC Curbside Cookoff was a HUGE success. It was hosted by DCRA and cosponsored by DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Brightest Young Things, and the Downtown BID. DCRA reports that 18,500 people attended the event which was held last Thursday & Friday. Word must have gotten around on Thursday because when Friday arrived, the lines were even longer.

I took a number of pictures and here are some of the better ones.


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This past week, I was invited to give a short interview on TBD News: Trends with Morris Jones (Channel 8 ) regarding DC’s first annual Curbside Cookoff.  I think I generally did well in the interview, but one question that I really wish I could have answered again was, “Why do people stand in these super long food truck lines?”  I gave an answer like, “No one knows why, but everyone is having fun.”

But, I DO know why.  It’s because these food trucks are providing a unique variety of food that cannot be purchased from traditional restaurants.  The food and menus are often well thought out, composed and even tested.  And, why was the Curbside Cookoff so successful?  Because it was like the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival times 100.  Twenty vendors, each serving unique food, inspired by cultures from around the world and all in one location.  That’s really exciting when your usual lunch prospects are Subway and McDonalds.

So, it’s not so much a story about food trucks as it is about the variety of food.  And, the fun!  It’s kind of fun looking up what food trucks are near you on FoodTruckFiesta.com.  Much like how the menu changed from day to day at your elementary school cafeteria, the food trucks that you find nearby are different from day to day. 🙂

If you’re wondering where to find DC food trucks today and tomorrow (Thurs & Fri), they will ALL be in one place: The Curbside Cookoff @ 11th & H St NW. 11am – 9pm, lunch and dinner!

I’ve teamed up with @districttaco to bring you a chance to win a free taco meal at this week’s Curbside Cookoff!  To enter into the contest, all you have to do is follow @foodtruckfiesta on Twitter and tweet this message:  Win FREE tacos! Follow @foodtruckfiesta and retweet this msg to enter. Details: http://bit.ly/cAEjs5

At about noon tomorrow (Thursday), I’ll randomly pick a winner and send the details on how to redeem your free taco meal at the Curbside Cookoff!

How easy is that? 🙂

The newest food truck in Arlington, BBQ Bandidos, looks like they got a crash course in Rosslyn Restaurant Relations (copyright). Their latest tweet says it all:

The fabulous manager at Chop’D threatened us with the fuzz! Now at the top of the hill!!