Washington DC’s first mobile cupcake truck, Curbside Cupcakes opened in November 2009 and now has 3 trucks–Pinkies 1, 2 & 3 spread cupcake bliss all over Washington, Arlington and a few spots in Montgomery County!  Take your cupcakes direct from the curb or link up with their delivery service and they’ll bring your cupcakes right to you.

RH: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you inside a food truck?

CC: In the beginning, when we were still figuring things out, we had plenty of mishaps that resulted in cupcakes flying all over the place!  Once I lost my footing while loading up the trucks and they found me literally under a pile of lost cupcakes!  It didn’t feel that funny at the time, but thinking back on it, it probably looked hilarious!

RH: What is your favorite “food trade” with another truck?

CC: That’s a really tough one!  One of the great perks of being part of the food truck family is that you hardly ever go hungry!  Buffalo chicken pizza from @DCSlices, El Greco empanada from @DCEmpanadas, tofu tako from @Takorean… it’s all delish!

RH: What part of food trucking did you think would be popular that ended up not being so (locations, trends, menu items)?

CC: We thought that big annual downtown festivals would be a great fit for us, but we were really wrong!  It turns out that those festivals can sometimes be very expensive so we tried some of them but ended up losing money.

RH: What is the street food culture heading?

CC: The food truck revolution is still very new here in the city!  Hopefully we’re moving from being a new novelty to a regular institution in the DC food scene.  The new pending vending regulations will help determine if this wonderful trend is allowed to thrive.

RH: What on your menu MUST I try?

CC: Red Velvet is our best seller, but my personal favorite is our Carrot Cake.  Try both!

Follow Pinky 1, 2 and 3 Curbside

The FIRST food truck to hit the streets of Vancouver, The Roaming Dragon is also the city’s most award-winning and recognized food truck. Specializing in Pan-Asian deliciousness, their menu is rooted in authenticity with innovative inspirations and quirkiness to modernize traditional flavours and presentation. They focus on DELICIOUS food (sustainable, ethically treated, as local as possible!), a FUN customer experience (music, interactivity w/ our team), and SUPPORTIVE of our community (charitable events, fundraisers, etc).

RH: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you inside a food truck?

RD: Last Summer, we had the Dragon at a Festival and we were just about to close-up for the night when one of the Dragons stepped outside to close up shop. As soon as he stepped out, he locked eyes with a SKUNK…yes…a real live skunk! We had a truck full of team members held hostage by a skunk. For an hour, we were poking our heads out the back door, looking in the truck mirrors to see if the little stinker moved on. We honked horns, smashed pots, stomped on the floor, and the bastard wouldn’t let us go. The worst part was that we had to be there the next morning for another busy day of slangin’ our Roaming Dragon deliciousness and we were worried that if we pissed the little bugger off enough, he’d ruin our next day may making us the Stinking Dragon…needless to say, the laughs, conversations, and experience of the skunk incident was by far the funniest time we’ve ever had inside the truck (so far!).

RH: What is your favorite food trade with another truck?

RD: Our menu is pretty diverse, so we get our fill of pork, chicken, fish, beef, noodles, and salads…our best trades are when we get something that doesn’t fall into these categories. Last month, we were invited to be a part of an event for YELP and we were flanked by “The Juice Truck”…fresh juices, smoothies, and great people. By far, our favourite trading partners! We have so many exciting, creative, fun food options and vibrant food truck personalities in Vancouver, so we’re looking forward to continued trading!

RH: What part of food trucking did you think would be popular that ended up not being so? 

RD: Before the streets of Vancouver we’re open for food trucks or carts, Vancouverites were limited to see trucks/trailers/carts (serving food other than hot dogs) at festivals and events. Knowing this, we still decided to bring the Dragon to life, and we decided to sign-up for a Summer-long “Night Market”. The event is regarded as the LARGEST event of its kind outside of Southeast Asia. Hundred of vendors and tens of thousands of people coming every Fri-Sun night for 3 straight months. Although we were limited on where the Dragon could roam, we were convinced that our Pan-Asian menu would be a no-brainer success at a market whose primary visitors would be familiar with our flavour. The reality was quite the opposite. People LOVED the glitz and glamour of the Dragon, and if we had a dollar for every picture taken next to the Dragon, we’d be retired.

The Mistake: If your food isn’t under $5 for a heaping plateful of food or the item isn’t on a stick, you’re seen as overpriced and confused. Our use of organic, hormone/antibiotic free, homemade this and delicious that didn’t stand a chance. We showed up with a suit and tie to an event that called for flip-flops and tank tops…

The Upside: We stood out so much at the night market, at a time when changes for regulations were just about to happen, that we received HUGE amounts of attention. The media flocked to the Dragon to try our eats, and while the volume of business we received didn’t meet our expectations, the media love our food and appreciation for our “vision” propelled Roaming Dragon into the spotlight!.

RH: Where is street food heading?

RD: Street food is heading into an era of total accessibility. More restaurants will see the value in mobility, not necessarily taking their eats to the street, but looking at food trucks as ways to expand their brands and reach. Street food will morph into “Mobile Restaurants”.

RH: What on your menu is a must-have?

RD: Our menu has it all, so it really depends on your mood, the weather, or preferences. Fried Rice Balls are insanely delicious, Togarashi Tuna Tataki Sammy is insane, Indonesian Rendang Poutine is off the charts delicious, and our Sloppy Duck is to die for.

Roaming Dragon has been featured on the Food Network, NY Times, across virtually every Canadian news source, and as far as Japan, Australia, Korea, and beyond. The Dragon was award a prestigious “Best Food Cart” award for 2011 and the founders recently were selected as “Top 40 Foodies Under 40″ by Western Living Magazine.

The Rise of the Food Truck

Give the The Roaming Dragon a Shoutout.

It’s the Third Annual La Habra Spring Citrus Fair featuring Food Truck Frenzy.

Starting Thursday April 19 Family Preview Night (rides, Food & Entertainment), 20, 21 & 22, 2012 Exciting RIDES, Gourmet Food Trucks, Lions Funnel cakes, great merchandise and a new entertainment stage.

Purchase tickets TODAY!

Owner Jonathan “JP” Mackison’s experience comes from over 10 years working in Food Service with all types of restaurants, food, chefs, entertainment, marketing and more. With that experience and learning along the way, JP created the Miami based, Italian fusion, Ciao Truck!

Roaming Hunger sat down with JP Mack to get a better taste of South Florida’s sunwashed avenues:

RH: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you inside a food truck?  

JP: Literally got caught with my pants down by customers who were early, really wanted food and opened my back door while I was changing to get ready for the event!

RH: What is your favorite “food trade” with another truck?  

JP: So far Nacho Business Taco Trio and also PS 561′s Hotdog with the special sauce.  They both were amazing.  I have many others to try though since I’m still a rookie!

RH: What part of food trucking did you think would be popular that ended up not being so?

JP: The build your own Pasta or Flatbread.  Most people wanted to try my signature items so I’ve since removed this from my menu.  

RH: What is the street food culture heading?  

JP: I think people continue to have less time and street food is becoming a fun and adventurous way for many people to actually get the chance to try unique, gourmet and great food!

RH: What on your menu MUST I try?  

JP: Mi Bella Madria Flatbread – Red Sauce, Mozzarella, Goat Cheese, Figs, Sausage and fresh tomatoes on-top of our thin crust flatbread!

Follow the Ciao Truck!

Roaming Hunger’s featured food truck of the week comes to the streets from the heart of Nasvhille.  Just Like Nanni Fixed it, a Christian based, “country cooking” truck, serves some of the finest southern food around. Every delicious meal includes a ”Daily Bread” inspirational scripture.

Roaming Hunger waved down truck owners Kent and Crystal Davis to get a closer taste of Nanni’s fix:

RH: What on your menu is a MUST try?

Just Like Nannie Fixed It: Nannie’s Chicken n Dumplins are a must try, based on Kent’s Nannie, Grace Davis’ scratch recipe. The Best in the South..”NO DOUBT”. We also offer fried cornbread and the irresistable Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, which is like chess pie on steroids

RH: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you inside a food truck?

Just Like Nannie Fixed It: Our daughters, Jennifer and Lindsey who are home schooled and help us will try and guess the names of the cute boys that come up to the truck and Daddy will always throw in a name like Urkel or Poindexter to try to deter  and distract them.
Our son-in-law Jessie almost burnt down the truck by throwing a hot can of chaffing fuel in the trash and how he always used  Crystal’s “pink” tools to build the truck. We remodeled the truck ourselves from a engineers truck full of metal racks to what it is today including the painting outside.

RH: What is your favorite “food trade” with another truck?

Just Like Nannie Fixed It: We love to trade food with our good friend Ken from Ken’s Hot Spot, he has the spiciest, hottest Twisted Chicken around! On a scale of 1-10 it is a 99!

RH: What part of Tenessee trucking did you think would be popular that ended up now being so?

Just Like Nannie Fixed It: We tried street festivals which we initially thought would be great but with the outrageous buy in fees and the abundance of concessions it was not profitable. We prefer to serve lunches at large offices where we are an asset to them with their short lunch breaks and our quick service allowing them more free time to enjoy their breaks.

RH: Where is the street food culture heading?

Just Like Nannie Fixed It: The food truck revolution is HOT now but only the dedicated truck owners with high quality products will remain to rise above. It is also very important to be very educated with proper food handling practices to serve not only delicious food but safe food. We are extremely proud to be the only food truck in Nashville that has maintained perfect health scores of 100 during our years of operation.

See where the truck is headed, check out the menu or comment about your favorite dish at Just Like Nanni Fixed It

Greetings Roamers,

We are excited to announce Roaming Hunger’s new food truck Shoutout system!

Simply click the heart on the truck’s profile, and tell the world about the delicious and creative highlights from your meal.

Now, you can find where your favorite food truck is parked, see what’s on the menu and see/share highlights from your meal all in one place!

You can now login to Roaming Hunger with your Facebook account.

Now go eat! You look hungry…

- Team Roaming Hunger

Head to Logan Square on April 21st for the Philadelphia Science Festival’s carnival.The carnival will feature some of the Philly Mobile Food Association’s finest trucks:

- Say Cheese!

- Lil Dan’s

- Chewy’s

- Sugar Philly

- Sweet Box

- Hub Bub Coffee

For more details click here

Pacific Elementary in Carlsbad will be kicking off March Madness with a food truck fest.
For more info click here

For more info head to http://www.facebook.com/events/109645455826059/

Got the munchies? Look no further!

RH: What is the funniest thing to happen to you inside a food truck?

Mun-chee5: The funniest and most entertaining food truck moment I have had yet, has been when we went to the LoveFest 2011. At that time we would get the names of people to call out their orders and we had the funniest names come through. The crowd was an older hippie crowd and we had names such as; Free Runner, Fire Bird, Soul Flower, Love Machine (my favorite) etc. We were entertained the whole night!

RH: What is your favorite “food trade” with another truck?

Mun-chee5: My favorite “food trade” with another truck would be the Lobsta Roll with Butter from the Lobsta Truck! OH MY GOD! It is to die for!

RH: What part of food trucking did you think would be popular that ended up not being so (locations, trends, menu items)?

Mun-chee5: I thought that late night club locations would be one of our busiest! But after a lot of different trial and errors, we found that this was one of the slower locations. Who knew…. Drinking should give you the Munchee5

RH: What is the street food culture heading?

Mun-chee5: I think that this is just the beginning of the street food culture in Southern California. Since last year the number of Gourmet Food Trucks has gone up, hand in hand with the demand! Since more and more people are trying this “new age” street food, and seeing that it is the same quality as nice expensive restaurants they go to, there is nowhere to go but up!

RH: What on your menu MUST I try?

Mun-chee5: A MUST TRY item on our menu is the Munchee5 Burrito: You can pick your meat (Sliced Rib Eye, Spicy Chicken Breast, Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast), You then pick your base (Lime Cilantro White Rice, Peppered Brown Rice, Lettuce, Mac’n'cheese) Melted with Monterrey Jack, M-Sauce (Garlic Aioli), and our signature Munchee5 Salad, toasted between a large Flour Tortilla! For Dessert our MUST TRY the Deep Fried Oreo’s: Battered in Red Velvet and Fried to perfection, topped with Honey, Powdered Sugar and Feta Cheese!!!

To fill your craving, check out Mun-chee5 Profile