Click through to find out where to enjoy Snap this month, as well as more information on the Snap team and their philosophy.

Chicago dog

For the uninitiated, Chicago Dogs feature an all-beef hot dog in a natural casing served on a poppyseed bun topped with yellow mustard, sweet-pickle relish, chopped onions, tomato wedges, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers and dash of celery salt.

 

Flame-grilled burgers and dogs from a truck fueled by fries.

Snap’s goal is to provide high-quality, sustainable food at a great price for diners on the go.

The Snap truck is coming soon to NYC. Find the Snap grill at pop-up tent locations this summer. Hire Snap for your next outdoor event – click Catering below.
…. and full website coming soon too.

Follow us on Twitter: @snaptruck

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Snap Food Truck

Where to Find Snap: July 2011 

Saturday July 9: Hester Street Fair.  RSVP on Facebook.

Saturday July 16: City of Water Day at Governors Island.  Reserve free boat tickets here.

Saturday July 23: “Irregulars”: A Summer Indie Party at Littlefield.  Buy $10 advance tickets here.

8:46 am  •  2 July 2011

Snap is LiveWe debuted Snap’s flame grill at The Bell House on June 11 for the Flavorpill NYC Culture Hunt.  It’s official, we’re in business. 

Liz and Zeph

Chicago Dog

Thumbs up for cheeseburgers.

See more pics on our Facebook page.

6:21 pm  •  12 June 2011

Snap Test KitchenAs Snap gears up for summer grilling, we’ve been testing out our menu items.  Here’s a sneak peak: 

Chicago style hot dogs (which went well with a Gruner Veltliner)

Panko crusted avocado fries with chipotle aioli

-Liz

1:43 pm  •  20 May 2011  •  2 notes

Business Planning Q&A with the DIY Business Association 

The DIY Business Association interviewed us about our dos and don’ts regarding crafting a business plan.  Click here to read what we had to say.

Snap Food Truckers share tips for getting your plan down tight. “Add a slush fund,” “prepare an elevator pitch,” and “don’t freak out” rank high on the list.

By Amy Schroeder

- Liz

7:26 pm  •  11 April 2011  •  1 note

Just finished our urban beekeeping classes at the Brooklyn Brainery. What’s the most important thing we learned? – EVERYONE NEEDS BEES! 

Some fun bee-facts:

1. Aggressive, obnoxious yellowjackets aren’t actually bees. They’re wasps.

2. Bee pollination is necessary for over 30% of all the food we eat and nearly 70% of all fruits and vegetables.

3. Bees take nectar (95% water) and reduce it to honey (17% water). Honey is concentrated bee food and has to be rehydrated before they can eat it.

4. A healthy colony of 45,000 bees can produce 150 pounds of surplus honey for their winter stores. (Or to be eaten by you, me, bears, monkeys, alligators, etc…)

5. All worker bees are female and make up 90% of a colony’s population. Male bees are called drones and have no stingers.

6. If you have a roof or backyard with a little shade and that isn’t too far from fresh water and some trees, you too can keep bees.

If you want to find out more check out  the NYC Beekeeping Group or the NYC Beekeepers Association and watch out for a new movie – Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?

-Zeph

6:20 pm  •  21 March 2011  •  4 notes

Pop!  Great idea for homemade soda: Elderberry flowers.  We received a bottle of elderberry flower syrup as a stocking stuffer and weren’t sure what to use it for.  That is until we experimented with mixing it into seltzer from our Soda Stream machine.  A tablespoon or two swirled into a pint of seltzer makes for a refreshing, not-too-sweet soda. 

-Liz

3:23 pm  •  20 March 2011

What is a Chicago Style Hot Dog Anyway? 

Our marquee menu item, the Chicago Style Hot Dog, is a rare find in NYC.  But in my hometown of Chicago, there are more than 1,800 stands selling dogs of this variety.

For the uninitiated, Chicago Dogs feature an all-beef hot dog in a natural casing served on a poppyseed bun topped with yellow mustard, sweet-pickle relish, chopped onions, tomato wedges, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers and dash of celery salt.  But we just refer to it as “the works.”

Here’s a brief history from DiningChicago.com:

By most accounts, the “banquet on a bun” had its origins in the Great Depression, when greengrocer Jake Drexler decided his 18-year-old son, local sports hero Abe “Fluky” Drexler, needed an occupation. That was in 1929, when jobs were hard to find, so Drexler converted the family’s Maxwell Street vegetable cart into a hot-dog stand, and began offering the “Depression Sandwich,” which sold for a nickel.

- Liz

4:25 pm  •  20 February 2011

Happy Valentines Day. We’re enjoying Mexican chocolate brownies baked with chocolate picked up on our trip to Oaxaca Mexico. -Liz 

8:58 am  •  14 February 2011

Hi, We’re Snap

Hi, my name is Liz, and along with my husband Zeph, we are the team behind Snap.  Here’s a very brief history…

I moved to NYC in 2002 after growing up in Chicago.  I fully embraced life in New York City — learned to love Indian food, fresh bagels, sushi, dim sum, bahn mi, pastrami sandwiches the size of my head, crispy pizza, and gooey huraches served from tents and trucks in far corners of Brooklyn.  But there was one edible thing I really missed from back home: the Chicago style hot dog.

More than a hot dog, it’s a whole meal on a bun.  A salad atop a juicy, snappy, all-beef sausage.  Not long after I started working in an office across from the Flatiron building, a cart showed up in Madison Square Park selling my beloved Chicago dogs.  Today that cart has expanded to a successful franchise.

The notion of selling Chicago dogs in NYC has been in the back of my mind ever since.  But it wasn’t until I met Zeph that the idea became a PLAN.  Zeph is a self-taught genius in the kitchen.  He’s got an endless curiosity for cooking and is constantly trying new recipes with me as his eager guinea pig.  When the economy took a turn for the worse in early 2009, the tough times inspired us to explore new career opportunities.  That’s when we realized that we just might have what it takes to turn our love for food and our talent in the kitchen into a business.  Zeph had the smart suggestion to add flame-grilled burgers to the menu, and thus Snap was on its way.

Over the past year and a half we’ve been putting together the pieces to make this business come to life, and we couldn’t be more excited and nervous and thrilled to introduce you to SNAP!

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).

]]> http://newyorkstreetfood.com/5204/street-food-news-chicago-edition/feed/ 1 http://newyorkstreetfood.com/4813/street-food-happenings-outside-new-york/ http://newyorkstreetfood.com/4813/street-food-happenings-outside-new-york/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:43:51 +0000 admin http://newyorkstreetfood.com/?p=4813

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]

Leo Suárez believes that the empanada will be the next taco.  “The empanada is the emblematic street food of Latin America,” he says of the traditional stuffed turnover. He thinks this tasty fritter has the potential to be as popular as Mexican cuisine.

Owner of the two Las Tablas establishments in Chicago, Suárez opened Macondo Colombian Coffee & Empanadas shop across the street from the popular Lincoln Avenue steakhouse location in October.  Enter the Macondo coffee shop and you experience the flavor of Barranquilla, where Suárez was born.  Order a tangy cup of Juan Valdez CaféReale direct from the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia. Macondo is the first spot in Chicago to serve the farmer-owned brand that supports social programs back in Colombia.

If you’re hungry for something a bit more hearty than the pastries prepared fresh every morning by Macondo’s Colombian baker, José Chavez, then try the almuerzo corriente, a commonplace Colombian meal, with pinchos (skewers) of beef or chicken, rice and beans, and platano maduro (ripe plantains). But don’t forget the empanadas! Cooked in the style of Tolima province in central Colombia, these corn flour-shelled goodies are fried in non-trans fat vegetable oil. Macondo says it’s “the only empanada-focused business in Chicago” that offers completely gluten-free fritters.

In Tolima, empanadas are somewhat smaller than other kinds and come two per order. The Tradicional pays homage to the standard beef and potato empanada, but there are many variations, such as mozzarella cheese and spicy chipotle sauce, or mozzarella with guava, or chicken, all with a side of savory ají hot sauce. Suárez is ready to roll out new empanada fillings, and he will solicit customer requests for their favorite ingredients.

“The empanadas that we sell here are from the exact same recipe that my grandmother fed her family on,” he says. “She would literally wake up before dawn to make about 500 empanadas, and my father, when he was a kid, would take them to this truck stop on the highway along the path to Bogotá to sell them, and that’s how they lived.” [Cafe Media]

In New York, Ruben’s Empanadas has several locations downtown, but they get mixed reviews.  They had a location in midtown a number of years ago which I tried, and it was decent, but that location closed fairly quickly.

In L.A I’ve enjoyed Empanadas Place on Sawtelle just off Venice Blvd.  I believe they opened another location in West Hollywood, but I haven’t been there yet.

Do you think empanadas can become the next taco?  They certainly are neater to eat than tacos, but part of the appeal of street food can be the messiness.  Where are other good places for empanadas in New York or elsewhere?  Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

We make empanadas at home on a fairly regular basis.  Look for our recipe in two days, as we will  make empanadas this Friday’s Recipe.

Today’s Lunch is the fried chicken platter and zongzi from the NYC Cravings truck. (Note: Since I’m actually on the road today, this was a lunch I had recently at the NYC Cravings truck.)

I got there around 1pm.  The line was about 12 people long. When it was my turn, there were no more pork chops, and there was a 5 minute wait for the fried chicken.  I ordered fried chicken and zongzi, which they also call Chinese tamales.  It was glutinous rice filled with pork, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, peanuts, beans, greens and oats(?) wrapped in a bamboo leaf.  It was very good and filling for $4.

The fried chicken had somewhat crispy skin and moist, tender, tasty meat.  There were two pieces of leg/thigh combos with some chopped greens over rice.  It was slightly salty for my taste, but well worth the wait.  Next time I’ll get there earlier for the pork chops.  I had the pork chops at the Vendy Awards in Sept. and they were delicious.

Swanky's Low and Slow BBQ - Lake Worth, FL

In Lake Worth, FL (near West Palm Beach), Swanky’s Low and Slow Barbecue has sandwiches made with pulled pork that has been cooked for 30 hours.  Next time I’m in South Florida, have to give it a try [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

Roli Roti Truck - SF

A rotisserie truck in San Francisco.  Midtown Lunch has the mouth-watering pictures and descriptions of Roli Roti, as well as a few other worthwhile places for street food in SF [Midtown Lunch]

Rick Bayless' Xoco in Chicago

Jaunted, one of my favorite travel sites, catches up with Mexican food chef Rick Bayless in Chicago, where he opened a restaurant serving Mexican street food.  No reservations and crazy lines for lunch and dinner, so you might want to try breakfast  [Jaunted]