Where do you all stand in the Food Truck debate!!Yea or Nay (Chicago: apartment, neighborhoods)

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by SoxCub Fan

their is a nationwide movement so to speak of great food being sold out of trucks by chefs and non-chefs alike....and Chicago is not apart of this great moment in history.

[reppin_the_847]

I think you should be addressing Vlajos, not me. I'm all for these food trucks, gourmet & non-gourmet as long as they are sanitary about it.

Originally Posted by SoxCub Fan

Maybe you need to leave the "847" for once or just turn on the Food channel and you would know that Food Truck's have evolved and their is a nationwide movement so to speak of great food being sold out of trucks by chefs and non-chefs alike....and Chicago is not apart of this great moment in history.

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

The "Chicken & Rice" stand at 53rd & 6th in NYC has an insane following. People lining up like crazy in the post-clubbing hours every weekend out there.

Yes! I have tried that, NYC really is the model for street food/food carts/food trucks, the lack of those in Chicago has been always been one of my major complaints about the city.

[chet everett]

The densities of Manhattan or even the Bronx mean they can support street vendors. The combination of very high income and very small incomes, together with factors like TINY apartments, true 24x7 crisscrossing transit, and a tolerance for stinking sewers / leaking steam utilities all give NYC unique factors in the ability for normal resturants to survive alongside "food trucks".

Similarly the factors present in LA (like its monstrously wide surface streets linked to horrendouslly interlinked freeways) means that a culture of "drive around for hours" keeps people and cars intertwined in ways that just don't happen in Chicago.

I sorta feel like being a cranky old man and telling you goofs "If some stupid people want to jump off a bridge are you going to jump too?" -- beleive me the "corporitization" of lunch spots in the Loop makes me sad / angry / nuts too, but the reasons for that WILL NOT BE MADE BETTER by making it even TOUGHER for physical carry out / sit down resturants to stay in business!!!!

Food trucks may look cool on TV but I guar an-GODDAMNED-TEEEE that it will have a whole raft of unintended consequences that will snuff out the littlest guys on the big hierarchy of resturants FIRST and when the morons that are pushing asinine food truck ventures realize there is NO STREET SCENE when is HOT AND MUGGY or so friggin' cold it hurts NONE of these trucks will around. That building with the goofy "wedding cake" top light across from the Sears Tower (stick Willis where it belongs...) TRIES to have 'cook outs" but given the troubles with weather and the relative LACK OF LONGEVITY of the restaurant(s) in its atrium I think I have seen just how DIFFICULT it is to make anything really work.

It is the STUPID CUP CAKE FAD ALL OVER AGAIN!!!! Once the people figure out just how HARD it is get paid a fair price for the effort that goes into actuallly making food they realize they can't charge enough to make it worth thier time.



Believe me if you get what you wish for you will find out how bad a food desert the Loop the can be...

[grapico]

Originally Posted by Attrill

Chain places definitely dominate in the Loop, but there are plenty of other options - Perry's Deli, Eat & Drink Chinese, Off The Tracks Grill, La Cocina, Pierogi Heaven, Taza, Haifa Cafe, Takashi Noodles, and Frontera Fresco to name just a few. You don't have to eat a chains if you don't want to.

Yeh those places are all good, at least Taza/Perry's/Haifa Deli, but such a small percent it is laughable. And aren't all those right off Wells/Franklin street??? Siam rice is right there too... I thought la cocina was bleh though. There was a good indian lunch buffet for about a year above the 7-11 that closed.
There is a new hot dog place though, on wells, looks good and I think it just opened

http://www.westminsterhotdog.com/

thats about the only area of the loop though that is non chain, there, and over by jackson/library area. the rest is filled with mcdonalds, cosi, subway, corner bakery, starbucks and dunkin donuts for the most part.

There is a new Sbarro also, over by sears tower, oh boy!...w/ all the good pizza places here, they open a freaking Sbarro...

[grapico]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Right, you can get a hot dog or a falafel from a cart in NYC? Who cares?

lots of people, it's actually pretty awesome. and they are open late by the bars/clubs too...

this is nothing like a cup cake fad either...

the streets in nyc have always been full of street vendors as far back as I can remember going there. I think it adds to the feel of the place, activity allover, lots of newspaper stands, bagel stands, hot dog stands, falafel stands, chicago has PLENTY of foot traffic for it.

the most interesting one I have seen is the tamale truck where the guy wears a sombrero and a mask.

then one that looks like it came straight out of atlanta, southern fried mac n cheese...

[SoxCub Fan]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I think you should be addressing Vlajos, not me. I'm all for these food trucks, gourmet & non-gourmet as long as they are sanitary about it.

Oh you're right..sorry.

[reppin_the_847]

I disagree a bit here. I really think that the nightlife districts in Chicago have enough density and late night foot traffic to support these trucks in the late night hours. The Loop has the foot traffic for daytime business easily.

Originally Posted by chet everett

The densities of Manhattan or even the Bronx mean they can support street vendors. The combination of very high income and very small incomes, together with factors like TINY apartments, true 24x7 crisscrossing transit, and a tolerance for stinking sewers / leaking steam utilities all give NYC unique factors in the ability for normal resturants to survive alongside "food trucks".

Similarly the factors present in LA (like its monstrously wide surface streets linked to horrendouslly interlinked freeways) means that a culture of "drive around for hours" keeps people and cars intertwined in ways that just don't happen in Chicago.

I sorta feel like being a cranky old man and telling you goofs "If some stupid people want to jump off a bridge are you going to jump too?" -- beleive me the "corporitization" of lunch spots in the Loop makes me sad / angry / nuts too, but the reasons for that WILL NOT BE MADE BETTER by making it even TOUGHER for physical carry out / sit down resturants to stay in business!!!!

Food trucks may look cool on TV but I guar an-GODDAMNED-TEEEE that it will have a whole raft of unintended consequences that will snuff out the littlest guys on the big hierarchy of resturants FIRST and when the morons that are pushing asinine food truck ventures realize there is NO STREET SCENE when is HOT AND MUGGY or so friggin' cold it hurts NONE of these trucks will around. That building with the goofy "wedding cake" top light across from the Sears Tower (stick Willis where it belongs...) TRIES to have 'cook outs" but given the troubles with weather and the relative LACK OF LONGEVITY of the restaurant(s) in its atrium I think I have seen just how DIFFICULT it is to make anything really work.

It is the STUPID CUP CAKE FAD ALL OVER AGAIN!!!! Once the people figure out just how HARD it is get paid a fair price for the effort that goes into actuallly making food they realize they can't charge enough to make it worth thier time.



Believe me if you get what you wish for you will find out how bad a food desert the Loop the can be...

[Irishtom29]

I dunno; along Wabash alone there are several local food joints---Al's, Miller's Pub, Exchequer, some little deli I don't know the name of and a Chinese joint in one of the jewelry buildings at Madison and Wabash. And a hot-dog stand right next to my favorite cigar hang out, Iwan Ries. And that's all south of Madison. And that Pizano's joint is also at Madison and Wabash.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

I dunno; along Wabash alone there are several local food joints---Al's, Miller's Pub, Exchequer, some little deli I don't know the name of and a Chinese joint in one of the jewelry buildings at Madison and Wabash. And a hot-dog stand right next to my favorite cigar hang out, Iwan Ries. And that's all south of Madison. And that Pizano's joint is also at Madison and Wabash.

That is true, why are all the good places under the train tracks? Wells/van buren/wabash?


As to this will only work in LA or NYC... that is not true at all Austin has a better food truck scene than Chicago, I wonder how that happens...

the only reason you don't see it in chicago is nanny state laws. I'm pretty sure there used to be food vendors allover the loop but Daley pulled them off.