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On Wheels
The primary gripe people seem to have about The Food Trust's Night Market series, which kicked off in October 2010 in East Passyunk, is the crowd crush — daps to FT for rolling out one of the city's most popular and prominent food series, but that often translates to long lines, interminable waits and vendors running dry of product. If you ask us, it's shortsighted not to expect as much — toss a bajil hungry people into an annexed area and there will be bottlenecks. Deal with it. But The Food Trust has developed a new bit of programming to introduce a VIP-type element to its 2012 events. For $50, you can become a "Friend of Night Market," which entitles you to beer from Yards, cocktails from Quaker City Mercantile, vouchers for food from various participants and a comfy place to perch, beneath a tent complete with snack spread from Catering by Design. For queue haters, note that FoNM status will not grant you the power to skip lines at vendors and food trucks.
The Food Trust will roll out the Friend program at the first Night Market of 2012, scheduled for Thursday, May 24 at Second and Poplar. Friend tix are available online, and if you purchase before midnight tomorrow, you'll lock in an early-bird price of $45 a head.
The mobile-biz brainchild of childhood friends Joe Cohen and Mike Neal, Gozen Yogurt is Philly's first self-serve froyo truck, traveling the city in a retro-fitted military vehicle. The business started back in October 2011, with Gozen setting up shop at various events and festivals. Once the weather got cold, they closed for the winter, reopening three weeks ago for spring. Now Gozen stations itself at several locations in town — Love Park Mondays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and at 33rd and Arch Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The weigh-and-pay truck serves eight flavors at a time, with numerous toppings options; chocolate, vanilla and original tart are staple flavors, with the other five rotating biweekly. Lately, they've been offering cookies and cream, cake batter and blueberry acai tart. They also feature special seasonal flavors (think pumpkin or berry sorbet). Follow them on twitter at @GozenYogurt or peep their website for menu updates, locations and news.
Photo: Courtesy of Gozen Yogurt
Head to Front and Master between the hours of 6 and 11 this evening to grub at the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association's inuagural food truck pop-up. The first installment in what will be a monthly series, the event will bring together Pitruco Pizza, Spot Burger, Little Baby's Ice Cream and the brand-new Zea May's Kitchen, which is serving a Native American-inspired menu. The foursome will set up shop in the parking lot of the Lutheran Settlement House (1340 Frankford Ave.) and a portion of sales will benefit the non-profit. No seating in the lot, but eaters can take their food across the street to the garden owned by the Settlement House, so pack a sixer and takd advantage of this chance at a truly unorthodox four-course meal.
Weather’s looking like a balmy 79 tomorrow for the seasonal opening of the beer garden at Memphis Taproom (2331 E. Cumberland St.). The pub's mint-green truck (above) will be serving hot dogs (much love for the "Suicide," topped with onion rings, roasted jalapenos, sriracha and habanero cream), while the bar will be cracking cans of Sly Fox Pikeland Pils, Sixpoint Sweet Action and other warm-weather brews. And be sure to pop off your beer can tabs and drop 'em in the garden's designated bucket; Memphis collects all season and donates them to the Ronald McDonald House.
Photo: Courtesy of Memphis Taproom
The Food Trust's infinitely popular Night Market initiative, which has brought its lively street food/entertainment circus to Philly 'hoods like East Passyunk, West Philly and Chinatown, is kicking off the 2012 season with the announcment of two dates: Thursday May 24 in Northern Liberties (Second and Poplar) and Thursday, June 28 in the Italian Market (Ninth and Washington). Considering the rich options surrounding both intersections, these first two Night Markets should be a smash. The Food Trust also promises that they'll return to Mt. Airy, site of the most heavily attended market to date, sometime this summer. Keep eyes on nightmarketphilly.org for updates.
Last Tuesday, UPenn allowed food trucks to set up on their property prior to the beginning of a Philadelphia Mobile Food Association meeting — a temporary but promising peek at a mutually beneficial relationship between food entrepreneurs and landholders. (The city's "restricted zones," which block carts/trucks from many potentially lucrative perches on city property, is a major point of discussion with the PMFA.) NoLibs' Garden Variety pioneered the idea of a private food-cart lot locally, and now more people are looking to jump into the game. For example: We recently heard from a party looking to convert the industrial-zoned trapezoid lot at 2400 Weccacoe (pictured), right behind Ikea, into a multi-use food truck "depot." The 2.5-acre space would feature a commissary kitchen, parking and an outdoor "garden/picnic area" where eaters can hang and grub. They're looking to lock in tenants for a June 1 launch; anyone vendor interested in hearing more should contact Kristen Muldoon at 215-351-9366.
Tomorrow, March 20, the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association will host a launch meeting for current members, potential new members and associates (those who are affiliated but not in the mobile game) to discuss the state of the association and its goals for the coming months. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Silverman 240A at UPenn Law School (3400 Chestnut St.), but several trucks will be parked in front of the venue starting at 4 p.m. to feed attendees. This is notable since one of the toughest hurdles trucks/carts face in Philly is lack of access to diverse vending spots; UPenn has agreed to allow the entrepreneurs to sell on their property in this two-hour window as a test run. An auspicious, if ephemeral, peek at something that could become more prominent as the PMFA builds its relationships with local businesses and the city itself. For more info, check out phillymfa.com or email info@phillymfa.com.
Dapper Dog duo Seth Russell and Harry Stormes are back in action tonight after a several-month cold-weather hiatus. They'll be slanging their wieners starting at 9 p.m. from the corner of Second and Poplar. "[We're] sticking to our classics but dressing them up a bit, and keeping some delicious weekly specials," says Russell. These guys have been cranking it out since 2010, before Hot Diggity!, Underdogs and many mobile competitors dropped anchor in Philly.
Photo: Drew Lazor
Paul Davis and Steve Renzi snuck out their Kung Fu Hoagies cart, which we first mentioned back in November, out for a quick run the other day, practice for their official rollout at Clark Park this coming Saturday, March 10, at 10 a.m. The partners plan on vending their vegetarian fare — they're not a strictly vegan operation, though everything on their opening menu does happen to be vegan — from Clark Park on the weekends (Sunday, March 11 too) and from 34th and Chestnut on weekdays. If you miss that paint job, inspired (like the name) by Davis' practice of martial arts, you need way better glasses.
Melissa Torre of Cookie Confidential (517 S. Fifth St.), the evil baking genius behind Philly's meatiest sweets selection, will soon add a food truck to her arsenal. By mid-March, she'll relaunch the existing Sugar Rush truck (pictured), which vends from 12th and Norris on Temple's campus. After giving the truck a dramatic aesthetic makeover, she'll institute a selection similar to what she does at her store — a rotating lineup of cookies (basics like snickerdoodles, wacky signatures like cheesesteak), "Undercover" cupcakes in jar and pop form, One Village coffee, craft sodas, local/organic milk, etc. Once the truck is approved for a utility pole, they'll be able to scoop Franklin Fountain ice cream and Capogiro gelato, too.
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