New York Street Food

New and repeat food truck festivals are taking place this weekend in NYC and Boston.

In an encore performance of a very successful debut, the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market is having another Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar…and Boston is holding it’s 1st Annual Food Truck Festival.

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With my son attending college in Cambridge MA, it was with great interest that I read the Serious Eats Profile of Lefty’s Silver Cart in Cambridge.  With the terrible quality of the food in his dining hall, this is a great alternative to the dining hall, fast food and junk food many students eat.

Lefty’s sign says “Local-Organic-Real Food”.  Although we’re not sticklers about organic food in our house, quality is important – which is something Lefty’s Silver Cart has in spades.  They set up shop at two local farmers markets in the area, buy as many ingredients as possible that day from the farmers, and turn the food into that day’s menu.

Here’s a small taste of their menu:

Granny-Be-Good: Grilled sourdough from Iggy’s with sharp cheddar cheese, Granny Smith apple, and a side of dark Taza chocolate.

The Renegrade: Grilled sourdough bread from Iggy’s with pepper jack cheese, arugula, and tomato, with a side of conichons (those yummy little pickles) and stoneground mustard.

The Phillini: Grilled pan de mie bread from Iggy’s with tomato, pesto, mozzarella.

The Elvis: Grilled hearty country white with peanut butter and bananas and a side of fluff.

To add to the fun, all grilled sandwiches come with the free use of a hula hoop.

Click on the following link for the complete Serious Eats Profile. [Serious Eats]

Boston is having it’s own Food Truck Challenge this summer – but with a twist.  Mayor Thomas Menino is inviting vendors to compete in Boston’s inaugural summer Food Truck Challenge — but one of the main criteria will be how healthy the cuisine is.

There will be additional TV coverage for food trucks coming up in the spring.  Two items of particular note:

TLC is shooting a five minute segment on food trucks for part of a show called American Eats.  For the show, the Clover Truck near MIT in Cambridge, MA was followed for a typical day.

The Clover Truck is eco-friendly and uses old vegetable oil for fuel.  In developing a new breakfast menu, they also discovered how to make high-quality eggs using a circulating water bath with precise temperature control to cook the eggs so they still taste good hours later.

Guess there are some advantages to serving MIT students and faculty.  His grandmother will be so proud.  [MIT News]

It has been pretty widely reported that Courtney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette are developing a show about food trucks in New York called Eat Street.  It will be a comedy, and will explore the world of street vendors in New York City and “the whole subculture around these pop-up bistros”.

We believe the first to report this was OK Magazine. [OK]

It cannot be verified that other possible names under consideration are the Cougar Truck and the Scream Truck.