The food trucks are coming
There's been movement (yuk yuk) on the Boston food truck front recently. First, several new vendors pulled up to the Greenway. Then, Citysearch announced Boston's first Food Truck Festival, to take place Aug. 8 in the South End.
Now, City Council president Michael Ross is calling for a hearing on food trucks -- actually, make that "mobile restaurants," as the order has it.
"I really support restaurants and see them as transformative devices for neighborhoods," he says by phone. "These trucks are a natural extension of that. We should be ahead of this, embracing it along with Austin, Seattle, D.C. ..."
Although there is no date set for the hearing at this time, Ross says it will happen as soon as possible. "We need to make the permitting process so much easier," he says. "We need to roll out the welcome mat for businesses, let people know Boston is a business-friendly city, embrace innovation. Food trucks are welcome."
In addition to providing livelihoods, he says, food trucks and good restaurants draw tourism. "Long gone is Boston's reputation for being only a place that sells baked beans and chowder. We're establishing ourselves as a major destination for culinary talent."
He's also excited about the potential for sustainability. Trucks can run on Frialator grease. They can sell food made from locally grown produce, benefiting farmers. And they can help teach city kids about where food comes from and what's healthy. "Farm to van to table," he says. "That would be great."
Then he adds something that is music to the ears of any food truck devotee: He thinks the city could support 50-100 trucks.
Reuters/Danny Moloshok Like this, times 50. Or 100!
What kind of mobile restaurant would he, personally, like to see pull up to his door? Ross is a fan of Clover Food Lab. And then, there's a "guy in LA going around selling unbelievable Korean food," he says.
Kogi wanna come to Boston?
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Sheryl Julian, the Globe's Food Editor, writes regularly for the Food section.Devra First is the Globe's food reporter and restaurant critic. Her reviews appear weekly in the Food section.
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Plus...
Here in NJ, we have the first 100% organic vegan truck in the country called The Cinnamon Snail. It operates in Hoboken weekdays and in Red Bank on Sundays at the Farmers Market. Check it out on Facebook or at its website www.cinnamonsnail.com. The food is absolutely delicious and very creative thanks to its chef, Adam Sobel.