New York Street Food

Barbarella’s Diary of a Diva in San Diego hits the following food trucks – Spencer on the Go, The Nom Nom Truck, Nana Queen, Grill ‘Em All, Austin Daily Press, Crepes Bonaparte and Bayou Bowls.  It was all for a Food Network taping of a show tentatively entitled Food Trucks. [San Diego Reader]

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There are several upcoming festivals that may be of interest to New York Street Food readers.

In Portland, Willamette Week’s annual food cart festival, Eat Mobile, will take place on Saturday, April 24, 2010 under the Morrison Bridge at SE 3rd and Belmont.  Attendees will be able to sample from 30 food carts all in one place, for the same price it would cost to eat a full meal at one of them -$7.   All event proceeds benefit MercyCorps Northwest’s local economic development program.  In addition to a copious amount of food and beer, vendors will compete for the coveted Carty Award; judges include a panel of food luminaries in town with International Association of Culinary Professionals.  They are also looking for volunteers.  If you’re interested please email promotions@wweek.com.

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Starting next month, Central Park vendors will bring apples and bananas to hot dog and ice cream territory.  Not only will the new fruit carts’ offerings be healthier than normal vendor fare, it will be cheaper.  According the NY Post, they’ll sell “three bananas for just a buck, half-pound boxes of strawberries for $2 and mangoes for $1.50.”

A spokesman says the Parks Department is “trying to vary our food offerings and include healthy and diverse options.” Still, New Yorkers weren’t all enthused. “Bring on more junk food!” said one bagel-hardened skeptic.

The new fruit stands are an extension of the city’s Green Carts campaign, which we previously wrote about here.  Their inventory will come from the Hunts Point Market.

Look for them at three locations: parkside on Fifth Avenue between East 80th and East 81st streets, Fifth Avenue between East 86th and East 87th Streets, and West 110th Street between Lenox Avenue and Central Park West. [Gothamist]

Golden Gate Park will become the home to mobile versions of Blue Bottle Coffee and Annie’s Hot Dogs behind the band shell and Let’s Be Frank will park itself in front of the Conservatory of Flowers.  Annie’s will also sell at Civic Center Plaza and near Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park.

Justin Herman Plaza will get Let’s Be Frank, La Colombe Bakery, La Cucina and Onigilly while Blue Bottle will get a second location at Mission Dolores Park, which is not going to be completely closing for renovation after all, possibly.

Rec and Park hopes to generate $145,000 a year in revenue once the vendors are up and running by this summer. It’s a small step to closing a $12.4 million shortfall, but Supervisor and mayoral hopeful Bevan Dufty is still looking to bring non-corporate street food vendors out of the shadows. [NBC Bay Area]

Mission Street Food is a non-profit in San Francisco that donates it’s profits to charities, over $22,000 in 2009.   They have excellent chefs and are one of the more popular street food vendors in S.F.

Yesterday, Mission Street Food announced they were looking for investors to bring their talented chefs off the street and into a restaurant of their own. For a $500 investment, entrepreneurial foodies can own a piece of street food lore.  The people behind Mission Street Food say they have already secured a space but they needs about 100 investors who could expect to see about a 14 percent return on their investment annually.  And true to their purpose, the chefs project raising between $40,000 and $90,000 for charity annually.

For those looking to eventually get out of their investment there is a potentially sweet reward.  Day one investors will be cashed out of the co-operative with a $1,000 gift certificate at the new Mission Street Food restaurant.  [Mission Street Food]

Sounds like reason enough to sign up, not to mention the good karma.

To give you an idea of the goodies at Mission Street Food, here’s their Super Bowl Party menu:

Veggies & Dip: Snap Peas, endive, carrots with avocado-green goddess dip and crab-spinach dip – $7
Taleggio and Budweiser “Nachos”: waffle fries and caramelized brussel sprouts with tomatillo and granny smith salsa verde – $6.5
Frito Pie: smoked short rib and beef tongue chili with frito crust (veg option of smoked scallion and pasilla chili with Rancho Gordo Pinto Beans) – $8
Pig in a Pig Blanket: Braised Let’s be Frank Hot Dog in Bacon-Tomato beer bread, with dill-serrano crema – $7
Buffalo vs. Dallas: Authentic Buffalo wings with celery gremolata VS. charcoal grilled spare ribs with orange-chipotle glaze – $12
New Orleans vs. Indianapolis: mini Oyster Po’Boy with cajun pickles and celery root remoulade VS. Hoosier breaded pork tenderloin sandwich – $10
7 Layer Sundae: Terrine of Oreo crust, chocolate ice cream, coffee ice cream, vanilla ice cream, toasted almonds and cocoa nib, topped with Magic shell – $6

We recently told you about upcoming TV programs featuring street food.  Well, here’s another one:

It looks like Olympic figure skating champion Brian Boitano will be taping an upcoming episode of his Food Network series, What Would Brian Boitano Make? at a cheese cart in San Francisco’s Union Square this Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm.  Boitano will be making various cheese-laden dishes, and will reportedly hit Precita Park the next day to sample street food from local vendors.  If you’re in the area, you can check the SF Cart Project street food locator that morning for details. [SF Weekly]

With the Winter Olympics coming up in a couple of weeks from Vancouver, this looks like a good idea from the Food Network – linking their network, the Winter Olympics, and the newly “hot” cuisine of street food.

Does this look interesting to you, or is it just another example of a show trying to be “hip”?