It’s already February and the warm weather is just around the corner.  Time to plan ahead if you want to have a food truck (or 3) at your spring or summer event.

We are currently booking food trucks for a private birthday party for 200 people, a corporate promotion, and the All About Downtown festival in Jersey City.  We have also booked trucks for corporate events and weddings, and can help book a food truck for your event too.

If you would like to hire a food truck for your event, please email perry@newyorkstreetfood.com.  We will work with you to find the right vendor(s) for your event, as long as you have a minimum of 100 people.  Easy as that!

One of the tastiest and most interesting food trucks in NYC is Mexicue.   As it says on their website, Mexicue is “the sweet, sweet love child of red-hot Mexican cuisine and down-home, barbeque goodness.”  We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

One of the thing we’ve learned over the past few years of eating at food trucks is to definitely check out the daily or weekly specials.  They are often seasonal, and are usually as good, if not better, than the regular menu.  If a vendor is going to highlight a dish, I’ll give it a try.

Mexicue had 2 specials when we went there recently, and we also got one of our favorite regular menu items, a burnt ends chili slider.

burnt ends chili slider

The first thing we picked up was the burnt ends chili slider ($3.50), which had sliced, pickled jalapeños and crema on top of the chili.  You know how some chili can be mostly meat and some chili can be mostly beans – this was mostly meat.

The chili had a sweet, smoky bbq-type sauce, and was excellent on a slider.  The bun was pillow-soft, and the pickled jalapeños were a perfect addition, kicking up the heat level a notch or two.  Mmm good!

BLT taco

The next item we tried was the BLT taco ($3.50).  Every few months, Mexicue has a recipe contest where people send in recipes using one specific ingredient.  Previous contests were for sweet corn, butternut squash and cheddar cheese. You can find out about the contests from their newsletter, which you can sign up for here.

The most recent recipe contest was with bacon, and the winning recipe was a BLT taco.  In addition to bacon, there was lettuce, thinly-sliced green tomatoes, crumbled cojita cheese and chipotle mayo.  This was a pretty good taco, but I added a little bit of their homemade sweet BBQ sauce, which went very well with the bacon.

BBQ beets & goat cheese taco

The last item I ate was a taco with BBQ beets, goat cheese, cilantro and lettuce.  I didn’t think I liked beets, but this dish turned my preconceptions on their ear.  The beets were soft but not mushy, with a slight grilled flavor.  Goat cheese was an inspired choice to go with the beets instead of cheddar, jack or something along those lines.  The cilantro added some herbiness to the taco too.  I don’t care if you think you like beets or not – give this one a try.

You can follow Mexicue on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.  They have two trucks, but I believe only one is out during the winter.

They also have two storefronts, one on the Lower East Side and one near Penn Station, which is perfect if you go to a game or concert at Madison Square Garden.  It’s much better than the fast food in that area.  The stores serve beer and wine too, and it’s much cheaper than MSG.

The World Financial Center Food Truck Lot we told you about a few weeks ago will open Monday, Feb 6th.  An official press release was just received, so you can take this to the bank.

There will be 21 participating food trucks rotating in a new lunchtime food market directly outside Four World Financial Center on North End Avenue and Vesey Street.  The World Financial Center Food Truck Court will offer fresh savory and sweet foods weekdays a week from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., through 2013.

Click here for the first week’s schedule.

Up to five trucks will be featured each day and will provide workers, community residents and visitors with additional dining options on Manhattan’s most spectacular waterfront.

Props and thanks must go to David Weber and The NYC Food Truck Association, as well as Brookfield Office Properties, which manages the  space.  Great job all!

It’s a nice, sunny, cool winter day.  Warm up with some great New York Street Food from the vendors on the right and the trucks below.

Uncle Gussy’s has some free bite size blue frosted cupcakes for their twitter followers.  Can’t wait for Sunday.  Go Giants!

As always, check the Mobile Munchies twitter feed before heading out, in case anyone had to move at the last minute.

bongobros Today we are on Varick St and Charlton St from 11:30 to 2:30!

SweeteryNYC Gd morning Hudson/King St, stop by to have ur taste buds delighted. DISCLAIMER: Stoping @ Sweetery can b hazadious to ur work day game face

KorillaBBQ Good morning! We’ll be ready at columbia u (116th n amaterdam) by 11:30! Come get your brainfood!

lobstertrucknyRedHookLobsterTruck We’re at 46th & 6th today till abt 2:30. I hate it when the street number is a higher # than the temperature.

KimchiTruck Good morning! Lunch in Midtown 47th & Park Ave 11:30-2:30.

gcnyc1Gorilla Cheese NYC Yoyoyoyo wassup!!!! 47&lex till 3pm…Cornbeef Ruben….and try our new GRILLED STEAK MELT( skirt,Swiss,carmelized onions,vidalia sauce)

LukesLobsterNY HEY! It’s Friday! Hitched the wagon on 47th between Park and Madison! Open by 11a. First Friday Feast!

seoulfoodnyc TGIF !! We will be MIDTOWN today…. 51st (betw Park/Madison) today for all of our loyal SEOUL foodies….come… fb.me/11G5SPIOB

UncleGussys Happy Friday twitter fam!!!!!!!!! #GoBlue #GoGiants #SuperBowl Blue truck lots of food and complimentary cupcakes ) @NFL @Giants

morristruck Hey Chelsea, don’t even act like you’re not in a grilled cheese mood today. Come pay us a visit at 6th & 19th, 1130-3! #sweetsatiation

RickshawTruck TGIF! Woohoo! Dumpling trucks parked at Wall Street and also Hudson+Houston. Missing us in midtown? Come to the store at 45+lex!

bigdsgrub G’mornin Midtown East!! Come and grab some Grub today at (53/Lex) Today is our last Friday here, some come and get it!!!! #tgif

bobjoTruck We are on 46th St and Vanderbilt corner. Pick up your meal before the line gets too long. Call 213-434-4020 before 11:30am.

CalexicoNYC If you’re in soho this mornin, come on over to Broome & Crosby and try our new breakfast burritos! Breakfast from 9-11 and lunch from 11-2!

fritesnmeats Hello FIDI, lunch 2day @ 10 Hanover sq b/t water st & pearl st. Burger of the week THE MEXICANA! Preorders r available all day @ 9172929226

CoolhausNY You ever see a food truck pull up right into your office?! We”re on the 12th floor of 601 W. 26th slingin’ for all of Starrett Lehigh 12-4!

ChefsamirtruckComme Ci, Comme Ça is on 36th St @ Broadway today!

Valduccis We”ll be ready for lunch!52nd&Park! It’s #FinallyFriday closer to #TheBigGame. #GoBigBlue!

EddiesPizzaNY Happy Friday! Hudson and King for lunch until 4 pm. 81st/york (area) for dinner tonight. Call ahead your lunch order before 12pm. 9174397522

realgoodtruck We will be in financial district on Friday. Our Wafflewiches are very good for happy Friday lunch for sure

GOBurger Varick and vandam for lunch today

schnitznthings Were parked & serving on the corner of Water & Broad sts today 1130-2pm come by for some delicious Schnitz or preorder 347-772-7341 cu soon!

CrispOnWheels Located on 46th and 6th avenue.

NEW JERSEY

TwoPitasInAPod Hoboken. Lunch today. Will post when docked.

To help celebrate the release of Mary’s Maple Porter, there will be a brunch at Brooklyn Brewery with unlimited Wafels & Dinges, platefuls of bacon, free flowing beer (Mary’s Maple Porter and others), Mary’s maple syrup – and as much coffee as you need to get home.

Click through for more details, including the date, place, time and cost.

Tickets are available online here.

When you think of Jerusalem, street food is not the first (or even the 10th) thing that comes to mind.

But the Travel Channel recently shone a spotlight on one of the highlights of street food in Jerusalem – fried dough with cheese in the middle.   What isn’t better fried, especially cheese!

The video can’t be embedded, but you can click here to watch this tasty 2 minute video.

Boy, the things you find by just walking around our great city!  I headed over to the Park Ave food truck corridor yesterday for lunch, and ran across a new truck I had never seen before – Domo Taco.

The guy in the truck told me they have been around for a little while, usually parking around Astor Place, but this was the first day they tried Park Ave (at 30th St).

The Korean taco truck field is getting crowded, and I’m happy to tell you this is not another one.  Domo Taco is more of a pan-Asian taco truck, with elements of Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine in the tacos, along with Mexican ingredients.

There are 5 different tacos to choose from, plus rice bowls and a couple of sides.  You can get 3 tacos or a rice bowl for $8.  I went for 3 tacos to try a few different things.

fish tempura, kare beef and carnitas tacos (l. to r.)

The first taco I tried was the tempura fish taco.  It included a long, thin, single piece of beer-battered fish, shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, crema, and I asked for hot sauce.  Fish tacos are usually my favorite tacos, but this one was not inspired at all.  There was not much fish, and it was just kind of…boring.  The hot sauce didn’t add any heat either.

After the fish taco, I picked up the kare beef taco, which had shredded curried beef, cucumber/pineapple salsa, beans and crema.  This was much better.  The beef had a light curry and cumin flavor, and there was a decent amount of it.  The salsa was good, but it was mainly cucumber. I would have liked more pineapple in the salsa, which would have played off the curried beef even better.

kare beef taco

The last taco was carnitas – char siu pulled pork, pico de gallo, pepperjack cheese and crema.  The pulled pork was good, as was the crema, but the cheese was a measly little rectangle of jack cheese on one side of the taco, and I didn’t see any peppers in it either.  A nice amount of shredded pepperjack would have been very welcome in this taco.

In my opinion, the kare beef taco was the most interesting one, followed by the pork.  The beef and pork tacos also would have benefitted from using two tortillas each, as they both broke during the meal.  As I’ve said before, there oughtta be a law against using one tortilla on tacos.

Domo Tacos has interesting ideas, but some tacos worked well (beef), while others didn’t (fish).  I am curious about the lemongrass chicken taco, and the side dishes look worth checking out too.

You can find Domo Tacos on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed. Their facebook is here as well.

Indian Fast Food (53rd & Park)

Kind of an overcast day, but you can brighten it up with great New York Street Food from the vendors on the right and the trucks below.

Several trucks will be at the Baruch University Winter Carnival on 25th St between Lex and 3rd Ave.  So far I see Red Hook Lobster, Gorilla Cheese, Wafels & Dinges and Frites ‘N’ Meats.  Excuse us if we missed anyone. According to Bog Red’s tweet, there will be an ice skating rink and a toboggan run.  Nice!

There’s also a new truck on our list – Domo Taco. We ran across them for the 1st time yesterday on Park Ave, and will have a full review ready for lunchtime today.

As always, check the Mobile Munchies twitter feed before heading out, in case anyone had to move at the last minute.

DomoTaco 53rd and park…ready at 11:30

RickshawTruck Thursday dumpling spots: TRUCKS: Hudson+Houston, Fidi: Wall St+Williams and our kiosk in Times SQ: 43+Bway.

CrispOnWheels Located on 50th between 6th & 7th avenue. Order online & beat the line crisponwheels.com

LukesLobsterNY All set for lunch on 57th st at 8th ave! Usual Hearst Thursday spot!

KorillaBBQ Headed to 46th and Vanderbilt!

Valduccis Running a little late today! Almost there! 52nd & Park! See you for lunch!

Mexicue Water and broad at 1130! The more you eat, the better chance you have of seeing your shadow…

bongobros Sorry Old Slip and Water unfortunately we’re not able to go to our usual Thursday spot @seoulfoodnyc but we are going to figure it out asap!

realgoodtruck Hello West Village! It’s Wafflewich Time! Varick and Vandam st. Beefwich Deluxe + Fried Chicken and #Waffles + OMG Waffle Fries! Yep!

morristruckMorrisGrilledCheese Quick move, but don’t despair! Just 2 blocks away, at 52 & Park.

TaimMobile 5th ave at 20th today ladies and gents!

milktrucknyc at 23rd & Park Avenue South today until you stop eating. think that says it all.

fritesnmeats Hey peeps, today we will be serving lunch @ baruch college winter book fair @ 25th st & Lexington. Come join us:)

KimchiTruck Good morning! Happy Groundhog Day! Lunch Hudson & Charlton 11:30-2:30.

EddiesPizzaNY Lunch today on 47th/Lex. Call in your lunch order before 12pm. 917-439-7522

waffletruck We love Thursdays! De Grand Wafel Truck is making a special visit to 25th & Lex for the Baruch Winter Street Fair from 9:58 until 4:31. De Wafel Carts: De Bierbeek is on Columbus Circle by TimeWarner Center until 8:59. De Goesting is on 23rd & 5th by Eataly until 7:57. Thursday Wafeling in Central Park. De Vedette is on 60 & 5th until sundown. For 1 free Thursday dinges: what year was ground hog day first celebrated?

cupcakecrewnyc Attention tweeties: we will be doing a modeling shoot w/17 magazine on E31st & Park ave until noon.Get your treats before we split. Todays flavors:Red Vel,Banana Hummingbird,Triple Choc creamcheese brownie,German choc,Salted Caramel & MAPLE BACON-Baked Fresh Daily!

bigdsgrub Hellllloooo Midtown West! Another beautiful day in the neighborhood…see you for lunch. We have rice platters today too! (50th St 6/7Ave)

cupcakecrewnyc Good morning Murray Hill.Truck is parked and ready to serve on E31st & Park ave w/some delicious flavors.Come by and taste the LOVE!

CalexicoNYC We’re back on Broome & we brought breakfast!! Now serving breakfast from 9am-11am and lunch from 11am-2pm! Broome & Crosby in Soho!

UncleGussys On the menu PORK CHOPS, Oven Roasted Lemon potatoes. Lentil soup Greek strained yogurt parfaits U know it’s Thursday

lobstertrucknyRed Hook Lobster Iiiiiiiit’s Groundhog Day! We’ll see you at Baruch Winter Carnival @25th bw 3rd&Lex till 3.

OurHerosTruck Today’s specials are. Arroz con pollo. The American hero crab cake sliders meatball sliders and soup is veggie pasta. Come on by and enjoy

CoolhausNY Midtown East it’s your lucky day of the week!Catch us @ 47th/Lex 11-5! @midtownlunch We’ve got Snohettas & @bluebottlenyc to wake u up!

SweeteryNYC Hello Hudson/King St. hope u r not tiring of us. We r back the seen like a cookie making machine bring delight 2 all of the big boys & girls

ChefsamirtruckComme Ci, Comme Ça is on 36th St @ Broadway today!

bobjoTruck We are at 24th St and 5th ave corner! Skip the line! Pick up your service! Call 213-434-4020 before 11:30am!

NEW JERSEY

TheKrave 12:00-2:00 Hudson and Harborside Pl. tmblr.co/ZyfrWyFmbbwV

TwoPitasInAPod Newark. We have been made aware of construction at our usual spot. Going to try to park by PSE&G. Will post once success is found.

Interesting article in The Brooklyn Bureau about the friction between street food vendors and brick-and-mortar restaurants in Bay Ridge.

Javaid Syed, who owns franchises of 22 Burger King and Popeyes locations throughout the city, is complaining that two falafel carts nearby account for most of a 30% drop in revenues at one of his stores.

Really? We find that pretty hard to believe. If that’s the case, BK should start serving falafel.

Maybe people are finally realizing that street food is freshly cooked right in front of you, and that fast food is mostly processed garbage.  Even the elimination of pink slime from the menu is not enough to bring some people back to fast food restaurants.

The article does make a good point that Bay Ridge merchants pay additional fees to the area’s two business improvement districts, or BIDs, for supplemental sanitation services, streetscape enhancements and marketing efforts—a cost of doing business that food carts don’t share, according to Patrick Condren, executive director of the 86th Street and Fifth Avenue BIDs.  We agree that street carts should share in these types of expenses that benefit the entire neighborhood.

Syed and other local merchants contrast their rents and other costs with the license and permit fees paid by food cart vendors.  But they totally discount significant commissary costs incurred by street vendors to clean, stock and park their carts every night.

David Weber, president of the New York City Food Truck Association, put firth a vigorous defense of the street vendor business model, with “rent taking the form of costs at a Department of Health-approved commissary — which mobile food operators in Bay Ridge peg at $1,000 a month.

Weber also pointed out that: “A food truck never does the revenue that a restaurant does.”  Nor are they exempt from related costs, such as disability insurance and workers’ compensation, he added.

“A food truck is great when it’s a sunny day and it’s convenient for people to grab something on the go. On a rainy day, it’s not so great.” said Weber.

Weber argued that food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants serve different customer needs and compete fairly under existing rules, and that “I don’t think it’s the place for a municipality to intervene and regulate competition between these different business models.”

Well said. We couldn’t agree more.

Kimchi fries from Chi'lantro BBQ

One of our favorite columns to read is The Frugal Traveler in the NY Times.  When you’re loooking for good, cheap eats, as he often is, street food is usually at the top of the list.

This week he wrote about Austin, where he spent a $100 weekend.  Now that’s frugal!

We went to Austin last year for the SXSW Festival, and while it cost more than $100, our food bill was quite low from eating at only food trucks and trailers.

While Seth doesn’t name specific street food vendors, he does mention the Austin Food Carts app, put out by our colleague Mike Krell.

Click here to read the full column – and if you ever have a chance to go to Austin – take it!

Fried chicken from Ms. P's Electric Cock