What are your favorites?

Klausie's Pizza -- had lunch here today. Small portions, but damn good.
Only Burger
Kokyu -- Been wanting to try them out for a while, but they're hard to find.


Durham seems to embrace the food trucks while Raleigh is doing everything in its power to remain the land of strip malls and subdivisions.

http://t.co/KRfmwEx

Quote :

"Klausie’s pizza operator Mike Stenke feels like the Raleigh City Council left him at the altar today. Stenke, a leading figure in food truck vendors’s fight for inclusion in the City of Oaks, was expecting the city to finally approve new rules to allow him to operate there, but instead the council sent them back to the Law and Safety Committee. “I really heard a lot of fears and I didn’t hear a lot of courage. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought all the fears had been addressed,” he said. “It’s like the last minute just before you get married. Get some courage and give it a shot.” Fittingly, Stenke’s truck was decked in a bow tie and top hat in March at Marry me Durham, a nonprofit fundraiser celebrating Bull City idiosyncrasies. He joked that though he married Durham, Raleigh, where he resides, won’t even give him a date. Under the proposed rules, which have already been approved by the Planning Commission, food trucks could operate in Raleigh as long as they are located 100 feet from restaurants, 50 feet from food carts and restrict themselves to one truck per half-acre parking lot and no more than three trucks in a lot at the same time. Currently, trucks can conduct business in Raleigh only with special vendor permits, which are only good for 20 days or four consecutive weekends, and only on private lots with the owner's permission. On Tuesday, Stenke sat startled in the back row of Council Chambers wearing a black apron with specks of flour adorning it. He had just served the lunch rush on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, one of only a few sites where trucks are allowed. He first petitioned the council for new food truck rules last fall and has been pitching the idea to everyone who will listen ever since, often with a free slice of his Detroit-style pie. He promotes food trucks as small business incubators that can add culture to the city. “I’m very disappointed; I’m caught off guard by it,” Stenke said after the vote, adding that he expected to be giving a far different interview. “It really seemed like this was a great rule for restaurants, a great rule for consumers and it was an OK rule for food truck owners, but at least it was a small opening.” Key among the concerns from council members were the distance from current restaurants, emissions from truck generators, enforcement, impact on travel lanes and possible late-night shenanigans. “I can see this being a real problem, specifically in my district,” said Councilman Thomas Crowder, who doesn’t want trucks doing business past 10 p.m. “We have children trying to go to school. I can see some real issues there.” Crowder also wants to ensure rules prevent food truck rodeos, popular events in Durham and in Carrboro where several trucks combine to form a food court of sorts. “I have quite a few concerns for this, to be honest,” he said. Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin also wanted to make sure that rules don’t restrict food trucks from operating in the few spaces where they have been working, specifically at Big Boss and Boylan Heights breweries. “We don’t want to give something and then take something away,” she said. “Obviously we are a long way from where we thought we might have been,” Councilman John Odom concluded. Raleigh’s Law and Public Safety Committee will consider food trucks at it’s next meeting, slated for 9 a.m. Tuesday in Room 305 of the Avery C. Upchurch Government complex at 222 W. Hargett St."

Thomas Crowder is a dipshit.


[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 2:44 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 2:20:14 PM

I read this as Ford Trucks

7/20/2011 2:21:02 PM

Schwann

7/20/2011 2:22:14 PM

don't try to church it up

they're called roach coaches

and the best one I ever ate at was the mexican ladies that came on base in san diego to serve up breakfast burritos and cinnamon horchata after our 2 hour PT sessions. the burgers at the one outside the royal bermuda yacht club in hamilton is a close 2nd

7/20/2011 2:24:39 PM

Quote :

"“I have quite a few concerns for this [which i'm not going to even briefly mention], to be honest,” he said."

7/20/2011 2:27:19 PM

I love the taco truck that parks outside of Cat's Cradle. Farmstead makes some banging sausage sandwiches.

I've also been wanting to try Kokyu but am never near where they are.

7/20/2011 2:28:10 PM

Quote :

"We have children trying to go to school."

Won't someone think of the children?

7/20/2011 2:28:36 PM

Ko Kyu is my favorite (duck fat tots are amazing), with Bulkogi coming in a close second. Klausies, Farmhand Foods and Only Burger are pretty good, and Blue Sky is decent.

7/20/2011 2:30:04 PM

what the hell do food trucks and kids going to school have to do with each other anyway?

7/20/2011 2:31:10 PM

Tom Crowder can eat a bag of dicks. Why do people keep voting that buffoon in?

7/20/2011 2:34:28 PM

the independent and n&o endorse him...for whatever thats worth

7/20/2011 2:36:17 PM

I want to make a list of douchebag restaurant owners who are opposing the ordinance so i can remember never to patronize their establishments. Niall Hanley is one, and the dude who owns the Mcdonalds on Oberlin and Western is another.

7/20/2011 2:38:51 PM

OP you missed a / in your HTML.

7/20/2011 2:39:02 PM

I loved Kokyu. Mmm carnitas sliders

7/20/2011 2:41:08 PM

^looks like they'll be in RTP on friday per the twitters. i think that's gonna be my lunch.

^^ fixed.


[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 2:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 2:42:04 PM

Word. I might have to go check them out. They were really cool people too

7/20/2011 2:43:55 PM

Quote :

"I want to make a list of douchebag restaurant owners who are opposing the ordinance so i can remember never to patronize their establishments. Niall Hanley is one, and the dude who owns the Mcdonalds on Oberlin and Western is another."

All the major restaurant ownership-holdings groups in Downtown Raleigh are opposed to it, the foundation restaurant owners and the food truck owners sparred over the issue and it was pretty disappointing.

7/20/2011 2:45:01 PM

I don't really get that. The people who would eat at an establishment are not the same people who'll stand around a food truck and eat.

How much carryout volume do downtown restaurants do? That would be the only business they'd have to worry about losing to food trucks. I surmise that it's very little.

7/20/2011 2:48:47 PM

^^All of them? I went to the planning commission meeting a month or two ago and I didn't hear anybody from Empire Eats or Urban Food Group speak so I'm not sure I'm buying that they're all publicly opposing this.

Quote :

"I don't really get that. The people who would eat at an establishment are not the same people who'll stand around a food truck and eat. "

agreed.

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 2:51 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 2:49:15 PM

Both the restaurants and city council have openly admitted that they don't want food trucks because of the competition - not health or safety issues.

7/20/2011 2:59:07 PM

Whatever happened to free trade

7/20/2011 3:02:21 PM

I'm not sure if the downtown area has a large enough consumer base to need food trucks. I'd rather have restaurants on every corner and no food trucks than vacant lots and food trucks

7/20/2011 3:04:24 PM

I wish the food trucks in RDU are as good as the ones in Austin.

7/20/2011 3:04:34 PM

Its a really stupid argument in my opinion. As long as a pizza truck doesn't park directly outside a pizza place downtown there shouldn't be much competition. Plus, increasing any reason for people to come downtown should be seen as a good thing, whether it be food trucks, festivals, art shows, concerts, etc. Someone comes for Klausies, and sees Poole's diner, or Bulkogi and decides to try Buku on the next visit, or that night.

Plus the tired argument about paying taxes is sloppy. The buildings have seats, restrooms, air conditioning, and all sorts of other advantages. Plus those building owners have equity in the brick and mortar, that is why the taxes are owed. The food trucks pay huge gas prices, on a depreciating asset, and can't offer much in the way of seating, no air conditioning/heat, or bathrooms. Its just a silly, silly argument by the restaurant owners in my opinion.

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 3:06 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 3:05:08 PM

Agreed. They're two different beasts and plenty of cities have both coexisting without restaurants going out of business.

Really, if you manage to go out of business because of a food truck that parks nearby a couple times a week, your restaurant probably sucks.

7/20/2011 3:06:53 PM

Only Burger FTW

Klausie's is pretty good

and there is no good argument against having food trucks downtown

7/20/2011 3:09:21 PM

Quote :

"Tom Crowder can eat a bag of deworming agents from Grag Hymen"

7/20/2011 3:12:35 PM

7/20/2011 3:13:20 PM

Quote :

"^^All of them? I went to the planning commission meeting a month or two ago and I didn't hear anybody from Empire Eats or Urban Food Group speak so I'm not sure I'm buying that they're all publicly opposing this."

More than a few of the reps were outspoken enough to talk to media, including the operators of Sitti (which is definitely Empire Eats). And Urban Food Group hardly has that much stake in downtown food-warring as Empire Eats.

Quote :

"Its a really stupid argument in my opinion. As long as a pizza truck doesn't park directly outside a pizza place downtown there shouldn't be much competition."

That was one of the main arguments given by the foundation restaurateurs, that food trucks might do exactly that. Some of the food truck operators were kind of offended at the insinuation that they were specifically undermine the other restaurants, and they should be, because it's pretty accusatory--and if it's the only opposition to food trucks then it's ridiculous.

7/20/2011 3:17:13 PM

Quote :

"I'd rather have restaurants on every corner and no food trucks than vacant lots and food trucks"

right because those are the only two possibilities

I think a lot of people fail to realize that most, if not all food truck owners would like to eventually open a brick and mortar restaurant if their food truck is successful enough. Only Burger opened a brick and mortar location in Durham after they build up enough of a customer base with the truck.

7/20/2011 3:17:53 PM

KoKyu and Pie Pushers are the best imo

7/20/2011 3:18:18 PM

They're all over DC. Today I ate at Pi Wagon, which is pizza with the sauce on top of everything else. That's really the only one I get to regularly because the rest don't make stops in Foggy Bottom all that much. If you go up to Farragut Square around noon, you'll see a ton of them.

I'm going to try to catch the Halal truck tomorrow. They have some kickass souvlaki.

It's an institution here. I'm sorta worried it's getting too crowded and it's going to flame out quick.

As for competition, I'm pretty sure that hasn't even been raised as an issue here, but you've got so many people working in the downtown area that demand is pretty high.

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 3:21 PM. Reason : s]

7/20/2011 3:21:22 PM

Quote :

"I think a lot of people fail to realize that most, if not all food truck owners would like to eventually open a brick and mortar restaurant if their food truck is successful enough. Only Burger opened a brick and mortar location in Durham after they build up enough of a customer base with the truck."

The case is more often that it's former foundation restaurant owners that make the switch (for any number of reasons, sometimes not being able to afford the overhead, but also supposedly because some like it more), so I don't know if I'd assume that most, and especially not all, want to eventually settle down on a permanent location. I suppose the stupidly successful ones would obviously consider it, but it's by no means an inherent goal of food truck owners to "graduate" to permanent stores.

7/20/2011 3:21:27 PM

All of the Food Truck owners I've talked to said they want to eventually open a brick and mortar restaurant, maybe that's not the case in other areas of the country but I think it's certainly the case here. Many of them said they couldn't raise the capital required to open a regular restaurant, and that is why they went the food truck route.

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 3:35 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 3:32:27 PM

Yeah, that's a possibility. I know the OnlyBurger operators but other than that I don't know the ones in Raleigh and Durham personally, so maybe the smaller market for food trucks here leaves them aspiring for more? I'm used to talking to the operators of food trucks in major cities where the business is not only embraced but pretty lucrative.

7/20/2011 3:35:37 PM

Carrboro had a food truck gathering event this past spring off Green St. i believe. I can't remember specifically which truck companies were there but they were all delicious.

7/20/2011 3:35:39 PM

i work one block from the lunch time food truck ground zero in DC. it's fantastic. especially the lobster truck.

they also had a food "truckaroo" (all the food trucks in the city gathered in one spot with a beer garden and a band) last friday, though i didnt make it out. still, food trucks are glorious.

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 3:50 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2011 3:50:12 PM

Quote :

"especially the lobster truck."

This is relevant to my interests.

7/20/2011 4:05:29 PM

I really want to try Pie Pushers, but I rarely go to Durham.

was talking to someone recently who is planning on opening a BBQ (eastern style) food truck

7/20/2011 4:13:30 PM

^now you've done it...people are going to bitch about eastern vs. western

7/20/2011 4:16:46 PM

they gather in durham at motorco on sundays

[Edited on July 20, 2011 at 4:22 PM. Reason : g]

7/20/2011 4:21:57 PM

My good friend's boyfriend was trying to get a food truck started here in Raleigh but with the restrictions still in place, it looks like it's a no-go which is a shame because their idea was pretty baller.

7/20/2011 4:25:07 PM

Quote :

"^looks like they'll be in RTP on friday per the twitters. i think that's gonna be my lunch."

7/20/2011 4:27:10 PM

Quote :

"Thomas Crowder, who doesn’t want trucks doing business past 10 p.m. “We have children trying to go to school. I can see some real issues there.”"

You got children going to school past 10 p.m.?

You sending your daughter to hooker school Mr. Crowder?

7/20/2011 4:30:58 PM

Bulkogi

7/20/2011 5:00:20 PM

+1 for Ko Kyu, short rib sliders are fantastic. Had Slip n Sliders once too just b/c of the name, decent sliders & a lot of variety as far as sliders go.

7/20/2011 5:05:45 PM

Fuck Mr. Crowder.

7/20/2011 5:07:26 PM

Quote :

"I really want to try Pie Pushers, but I rarely go to Durham. was talking to someone recently who is planning on opening a BBQ (eastern style) food truck "

What Pie Pushers should do is make BBQ hand pie. I have made this and it's heaven in a pie.

7/20/2011 5:07:46 PM

A hand pie truck actually would be a good idea. They have them in England

7/20/2011 6:52:26 PM

BTTT

kokyu today?!?!?!

7/22/2011 11:52:28 AM