Oops, I was just trying to follow Jonathan Gold's tweets and somehow accidentally opened an account?#accidentallytweeted
When I was in LA I was reading the LA Times and came upon Gold's editorial about food carts. Sacramento isn't the only city with food cart controversy.
My favorite Gold story of late is the slapdown of Rick "Creepy Mustache" Bayliss over what's authentic Mexican.
Also, did anybody know that there was a statewide industry association meeting in town the other week where the whole bricks & mortar versus trucks issue was discussed?!
Last week the California Restaurant Assn. held a meeting in Sacramento for restaurant owners and food-truck operators. The goal was in part to settle some tensions between the two — restaurants see the trucks as siphoning off business. But another goal was to help restaurateurs get into the truck business.
Putting food I wouldn't buy into a truck isn't going to make me suddenly want to eat it. But I'd be willing to put up with a TGIFs truck if it meant they'd leave my favorite local taco trucks in peace to do business in their usual locations.
As for Twitter, I had to stop reading Roger Ebert's feed because he's constantly updating and it's hard to parse that out from everything I want to read. Steve Martin just joined and seems to be trying to do his own version of Kanye's feed.
My Sacto nightmare is the vacant lot on the corner of 24th and K being crowded by a Hot Rod's truck, an Ernesto's truck, Hot Italian truck, and a Crepeville truck...and the mayor congratulating himself for it. Apparently, though...if you have a trailer rather than a truck, there's nothing in the rules saying you can't park all day and do business in Sacto. One of the best taquerias in town (well, Florin actually) still has the trailer where their business had incubated. They're trying to sell it for $45k, but I told the owner he should call the number on the sign at 24th@K and park it there. He had seen the Food Truck Race show on TV, so it got 'em thinking. I checked back last week and he said he'd cruised by. I told him I'll keep bugging him about it. Anyway...his place is called Taco Fresco (on Florin east of Power Inn), and his business is picking up in spite of his location because it's really that good. He also makes a really excellent burger. If you go down there, make sure you give him more encouragement to keep that trailer and make it work for him (and US!).
My Sacto nightmare is the vacant lot on the corner of 24th and K being crowded by a Hot Rod's truck, an Ernesto's truck, Hot Italian truck, and a Crepeville truck...and the mayor congratulating himself for it.
Oh God, that is enough to wake up in a cold sweat when you reach the "World Class City" part of the nightmare.
Why get weirded out over food trucks from Hot Italian, Crepeville, Hot Rod's and Ernestos? At least these are all homegrown businesses, though you can debate the food quality of each. Now if the Sodexho corporation and Chili's had food trucks rolling around, then I'd be concerned. But I agree that trucks/carts like Taco Fresco should all be prominent in the mix; that's if the city council decides to allow food trucks in the first place.
rick would get weirded out cuz he likes to keep it rrreeeeallllll janky. i like to keep it moderately janky. we all have to decide the level of jank we are comfortable with.
are you saying you now have a twitter account? wah!?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Gold story of late is the slapdown of Rick "Creepy Mustache" Bayliss over what's authentic Mexican.
ReplyDeleteAlso, did anybody know that there was a statewide industry association meeting in town the other week where the whole bricks & mortar versus trucks issue was discussed?!
Last week the California Restaurant Assn. held a meeting in Sacramento for restaurant owners and food-truck operators. The goal was in part to settle some tensions between the two — restaurants see the trucks as siphoning off business. But another goal was to help restaurateurs get into the truck business.
Putting food I wouldn't buy into a truck isn't going to make me suddenly want to eat it. But I'd be willing to put up with a TGIFs truck if it meant they'd leave my favorite local taco trucks in peace to do business in their usual locations.
As for Twitter, I had to stop reading Roger Ebert's feed because he's constantly updating and it's hard to parse that out from everything I want to read. Steve Martin just joined and seems to be trying to do his own version of Kanye's feed.
My Sacto nightmare is the vacant lot on the corner of 24th and K being crowded by a Hot Rod's truck, an Ernesto's truck, Hot Italian truck, and a Crepeville truck...and the mayor congratulating himself for it. Apparently, though...if you have a trailer rather than a truck, there's nothing in the rules saying you can't park all day and do business in Sacto. One of the best taquerias in town (well, Florin actually) still has the trailer where their business had incubated. They're trying to sell it for $45k, but I told the owner he should call the number on the sign at 24th@K and park it there. He had seen the Food Truck Race show on TV, so it got 'em thinking. I checked back last week and he said he'd cruised by. I told him I'll keep bugging him about it. Anyway...his place is called Taco Fresco (on Florin east of Power Inn), and his business is picking up in spite of his location because it's really that good. He also makes a really excellent burger. If you go down there, make sure you give him more encouragement to keep that trailer and make it work for him (and US!).
ReplyDeleteMy Sacto nightmare is the vacant lot on the corner of 24th and K being crowded by a Hot Rod's truck, an Ernesto's truck, Hot Italian truck, and a Crepeville truck...and the mayor congratulating himself for it.
ReplyDeleteOh God, that is enough to wake up in a cold sweat when you reach the "World Class City" part of the nightmare.
Why get weirded out over food trucks from Hot Italian, Crepeville, Hot Rod's and Ernestos? At least these are all homegrown businesses, though you can debate the food quality of each. Now if the Sodexho corporation and Chili's had food trucks rolling around, then I'd be concerned. But I agree that trucks/carts like Taco Fresco should all be prominent in the mix; that's if the city council decides to allow food trucks in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI can back Rick up on Taco Fresco. He took me there and I liked it. Cute trailer, too.
ReplyDeleteWe really need food trucks in Midtown to counter the influx of gastrobistro15dollarsfor3ducknuggets places.
ReplyDeleterick would get weirded out cuz he likes to keep it rrreeeeallllll janky. i like to keep it moderately janky. we all have to decide the level of jank we are comfortable with.
ReplyDelete