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What I am missing are street food festivals like Taste of Chicago, or similar outdoor food festivals showcasing the food diversity.
Taste of Chicago is not a street food festival in the slightest. It's more like an outdoor expo for restaurants. Which, I think, falls flat as a concept. Food is extremely overpriced, drinks (even water) are even more overpriced, seating areas are virtually nonexistent, and crowds are horrendous. Not to mention, you get a weird juxtaposition of eating fancy restaurant foods out of a cardboard bowl with plastic forks, while sitting on a curb under the blazing sun. Because it's a city event, it's patrolled by the overworked, understaffed Chicago police, rather than specialized private security guards.
In recent years, the old Taste of Chicago also became a magnet for violent crime. To the point where the mayor scrapped the original concept altogether. Taste of Chicago 2.0 is much smaller in size and duration. The only remaining attraction, free concerts with famous bands, became paid-admission. Overpriced food and drinks remained.
Oh, and the main reason American cities "don't have a street food culture", is that you need pedestrians to even have a street food culture. And most American cities outside the Northeast don't have the pedestrian traffic to support it. Perhaps those cities, the Sun Belt in particular, can have drive-thru food instead, with street vendors selling food to car drivers.
The problem is, that if you are a B&M restaurateur and you are paying $50 per square foot for leased space, plus 9% of your gross receipts, and a food truck pulls up in the alley next to your restaurant, and has equivalent food for 1/2 the price of your sit down place, and pays no rent other than a
$100 annual permit to operate a food truck, you are feeling the victim.
Lots of street food here - a taco truck on every corner! Well, not quite EVERY corner but many of them, and yes, Mexican is the most common form here although plenty of other choices as well.
Taste of Chicago is not a street food festival in the slightest. It's more like an outdoor expo for restaurants. Which, I think, falls flat as a concept. Food is extremely overpriced, drinks (even water) are even more overpriced, seating areas are virtually nonexistent, and crowds are horrendous. Not to mention, you get a weird juxtaposition of eating fancy restaurant foods out of a cardboard bowl with plastic forks, while sitting on a curb under the blazing sun. Because it's a city event, it's patrolled by the overworked, understaffed Chicago police, rather than specialized private security guards.
In recent years, the old Taste of Chicago also became a magnet for violent crime. To the point where the mayor scrapped the original concept altogether. Taste of Chicago 2.0 is much smaller in size and duration. The only remaining attraction, free concerts with famous bands, became paid-admission. Overpriced food and drinks remained.
Oh, and the main reason American cities "don't have a street food culture", is that you need pedestrians to even have a street food culture. And most American cities outside the Northeast don't have the pedestrian traffic to support it. Perhaps those cities, the Sun Belt in particular, can have drive-thru food instead, with street vendors selling food to car drivers.
Ha! I was to 2-3 many years ago. It was fun and the prices were OK. Things changed...
I agree about the lack of pedestrians in most cities. Food trucks/vendors are usually located by colleges, nightlife and businesses. They also ( by law on some areas) need to change location every so often.
Now I wish we have some "Christmas markets" like in Europe
The larger the city the larger the presence when it comes to the street food scene.
For obvious reasons ... unlikely their is the customer numbers to support the needed cash flow unless the street vendors have a large customer base to cater to. Happening night life and a vibrant work day crowd are a must. Large sports stadiums and arenas are an added bonus. Weather also slightly effects the street vendors I am sure. Unlikely their presence is as great in the cold winter months with smaller numbers of people out and about and willing to 'hang out' on the streets.
There's a huge difference in the street food scene between Seattle ( 40 miles south of me ) and my town ( easily 450K people - so no small town by anyones standards )
The problem is, that if you are a B&M restaurateur and you are paying $50 per square foot for leased space, plus 9% of your gross receipts, and a food truck pulls up in the alley next to your restaurant, and has equivalent food for 1/2 the price of your sit down place, and pays no rent other than a
$100 annual permit to operate a food truck, you are feeling the victim.
Maybe it's different in your area. Chicago food trucks have prices almost the same as their indoor counterparts. Although in my world, food trucks are fairly new to the food landscape, so I'm sure the owners are capitalizing on the novelty factor. They're a very popular summertime lunch option, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina
Ha! I was to 2-3 many years ago. It was fun and the prices were OK. Things changed...
The changes went official in 2012, so you were seeing the new version. The old version was twice as long and had many more booths, but it came with problems that eventually caught up to it.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 12-04-2017 at 10:22 AM..
Taste of Chicago is not a street food festival in the slightest. It's more like an outdoor expo for restaurants. Which, I think, falls flat as a concept. Food is extremely overpriced, drinks (even water) are even more overpriced, seating areas are virtually nonexistent, and crowds are horrendous. Not to mention, you get a weird juxtaposition of eating fancy restaurant foods out of a cardboard bowl with plastic forks, while sitting on a curb under the blazing sun. Because it's a city event, it's patrolled by the overworked, understaffed Chicago police, rather than specialized private security guards.
In recent years, the old Taste of Chicago also became a magnet for violent crime. To the point where the mayor scrapped the original concept altogether. Taste of Chicago 2.0 is much smaller in size and duration. The only remaining attraction, free concerts with famous bands, became paid-admission. Overpriced food and drinks remained.
Oh, and the main reason American cities "don't have a street food culture", is that you need pedestrians to even have a street food culture. And most American cities outside the Northeast don't have the pedestrian traffic to support it. Perhaps those cities, the Sun Belt in particular, can have drive-thru food instead, with street vendors selling food to car drivers.
Chicago also outlawed true street food in the late 90s/early 2000s, and have only gotten it back in limited ways in the intervening years. They will allow food trucks under strict guidelines of how close they may park to brick and mortar restaurants, but pushcart food vending, such as is common in various East Coast cities, is not allowed in the same way. It was an underground economy for a good fifteen years (during which time, I bought a lot of "illegal" elote), and then in 2015, some pushcarts became able to operate again, under stringent regulations. It was a big deal, because it represents a major income source for various minority ethnicity residents.
Really, it's a lot harder in some cities to sell actual street food than others.
"Street food" isn't really synonymous with, "food truck operated as a mobile venture of an established restaurant," though that is becoming more and more people's idea of "street food."
The "trendy" food trucks around here in the Dallas area do charge just as much as a sit-down restaurant. This makes me have very little interest in eating at any of them.
I had a job in the early 2000's that had what we all unfairly called 'The Roach Coach' come visit our building every morning. Some of the best tacos and hot sauce I ever had for $1.00 each. OK, sometimes the meat was a little gristly... They were served with fresh lime wedges and thin sliced radishes and made a mighty fine breakfast.
The "trendy" food trucks around here in the Dallas area do charge just as much as a sit-down restaurant. This makes me have very little interest in eating at any of them.
I had a job in the early 2000's that had what we all unfairly called 'The Roach Coach' come visit our building every morning. Some of the best tacos and hot sauce I ever had for $1.00 each. OK, sometimes the meat was a little gristly... They were served with fresh lime wedges and thin sliced radishes and made a mighty fine breakfast.
Some of them were THE BEST! Back in the 80s, we had the "Roach Coach" come around to the small industrial complexes in SoCal where we had our business. We loved it! BEST breakfast burritos I have ever had, still to this day. I never saw them anywhere other than these industrial complexes though.
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Well, not quite EVERY corner but many of them, and yes, Mexican is the most common form here although plenty of other choices as well.
They were served with fresh lime wedges and thin sliced radishes and made a mighty fine breakfast.