New York Street Food

Hot Doug's

Huffington Post recently had a feature on the best hot dogs in Chicago.  Among their favorites – Hot Doug’s, Superdawg, Weiner’s Circle and Jimmy’s Red Hots – as well as the Wrigleyville Dogs and White Sox Dog at the two baseball stadia. [Huff Po]

We love pickles and relish on hot dogs, but tomatoes we can do without.

Wrigleyville

Matt Maroni's gaztro-wagon

We have told you recently about some great Chicago street food trucks – Troy Marcus Johnson’s All Fired Up and Flirty Cupcakes.

Now Matt Maroni has unveiled his gourmet food truck concept. It’s called gaztro-wagon, with a storefront at 5973 N Clark St – and he has a food truck to go with it.  His menu features naan-wiches, sandwiches served on Indian naan bread.  In New York, there used to be a small storefront on Bleecker St called Naanwich that we loved, but alas, it’s no longer there.

Here are some naan-wiches from his menu.  They look amazing!

Wild boar belly with fennel, olives, yogurt and shaved red onions – $7.00
Pork shoulder with radish, cilantro and queso fresco – $7.00
Portobello with arugula, goat cheese and crisp shallots – $7.00
Smoked salmon with watercress, crème fraîche and shaved red onions – $8.00
Baby greens with feta, pecans, piquillo peppers and citrus vinaigrette – $7.00

Romaine with tomatoes, bacon and Cabrales – $7.00Chicken thighs with mushrooms, Brie and thyme – $7.00
Beef short ribs with tomatoes, onions and herb salad – $8.00
Slow-roasted lamb with gyro fixings – $8.00
New England lobster roll – $12.00

Chicken thighs with micro celery, Cabrales and spiced orange sauce – $7.00
Handcrafted Italian sausage with tomato–onion salad and herb aïoli – $7.00
Capicola–mozzarella–basil–tomato melt – $7.00

[Time Out Chicago]

Time Out Chicago is speaking out to help their citizens’ attain the right to eat meals that come on wheels.  There are a bunch of articles about Chicago’s first food truck, why it’s finally time for street food to be accepted in the Windy City, and they even have form letters to send to local politicians. [Time Out Chicago]

Flirty Cupcakes - Chicago

A new cupcake truck is born in Chicago.  Flirty Cupcakes has cupcakes with nicknames such as the McDreamy (chocolate cupcake with a chocolate-cream cheese filling), CBFF (”chocolate best friend forever”—chocolate with Nutella ganache) and a No Plain Jane (vanilla with vanilla buttercream).  You can follow Flirty on Twitter (@flirtycupcakes).

Q's pulled pork sliders.

Jonathan Eismann’s Q American Barbeque has joined Miami’s meals-on-wheels craze with a shiny silver cart selling $3 sliders of beef brisket or pulled pork.  The retrofitted hotdog cart bears the new snazzy orange and brown logo. Look for the Q wagon at the monthly Second Saturday Art Walk and follow it on Twitter @QMiami. [Miami Herald]

All Fired Up’s Troy Marcus Johnson dishes the goods to late-night clubgoing “ladies and dudes who look like ladies”.  Catfish and salmon get a crunchy cornmeal coating, shrimp take only a light dusting of seasoned flour before they’re flash-fried, chicken wings get “fried hard” resulting in cracker-crisp crust and perfectly juicy meat, and the massive grill, attached to the back of the truck, smokes rib tips for four hours after the meat soaks in Johnson’s grandfather’s marinade. [Time Out Chicago]

Boo-Kies Burgers has been serving up some great food in Burlington for seven years, including burgers, hot dogs, breakfast sandwiches, gravy fries, cheese fries, Philly cheesesteaks, and the Boo-Kie Bowl (a plate of fries topped with a burger patty, drenched with gravy).  Count us in! [Serious Eats]

Last night, a new site, ChicagoFoodTrucks.com debuted, with a singular mission: Bring tacos on wheels to the Windy City. The site is manned by chef Phillip Foss, and according to their mission statement, the site represents “A group of food service professionals interested in gathering support for an ordinance that will allow mobile food trucks to operate within the city limits of Chicago.”

Time Out Chicago will also launch Street Food Now next month, an online campaign to raise awareness about the need for food trucks and new regulations.

Rick Bayless is also on board! He just re-tweeted about the new site: ”Me too! RT @chicagofishdude @chicagofoodtrux I really want to be involved w helping make this a success. Let me know what I can do to help.”

When you have Bayless on your side, you’re destined for success. Can you imagine Bayless’ fish tacos on every corner? We can’t wait. [NBC Chicago]