Food Trucks

Food Truck 101: An Introduction

Food Trucks are like people. Some folks love them, some folks don’t. They come in all sizes and shapes and colors. Some smell bad. Some smell unbelievable. Some are so attractive that when they go by, they slow down traffic, while some food trucks fly under the radar, seemingly uncaring about trendy fashion and flashy gimmicks, only to shock us with the goodness that is inside. But perhaps the most important similarity between food trucks and people is that, in the DMV anyways, their population seems to be growing at an alarming rate.

And it is my goal to try each and every one.

My name is Steve, A.k.a. The Mysterious Man on the Street. I love food trucks and it is my mission to tell you about all of them. Eschewing a more structured reviewing system, I intend to provide you with all of the Pros and Cons of each truck.

I’ll be keeping y’all posted with such important factoids as:

  •  My take on each truck’s aesthetic qualities
  •  Detailed exploration of a truck’s overall cuisine
  •  Some backgrounds and origin stories of our trucks and their fearless drivers
  •  Each truck’s pricing and an overall price range
  •  A few of my special menu picks

And I’m going to get it started right now.

I know the modern, hip and contemporary image of the food truck in most people’s heads is that of a sort of cab-on box van that Xzibit and the folks over at West Coast Customs have gone to town on. And yes, the most popular food trucks fit this precise profile. But we can’t forget about the food trucks that we pass every single day (especially if we take the metro).

DC Generic Hot Dog Cart

Yeah. You know which ones I’m talking about. The carts with the doors spread open holding a huge rack of assorted chips. The carts that all have the same exact images advertising their limited hot menu (I’ll get to my issue with a couple of these images later). The carts that always have a massive cooler filled with drinks and ice out in front. The cooler, of course, that you are never up early enough to see put in place, and you are not certain as to how the cart employee, often a tiny older woman, could possibly move.  (Shout out to Stefano Cassar for his epic photo skills.)

I first became familiar with the DCGHDC while attending GWU. There, one of these ever-present carts sits in front of the library. Another resides literally directly across the street. And since graduating, I have become familiar with the locations of many more carts such as these around the city proper. Often you can find these carts at a popular metro entrance or almost anywhere right off the national mall.

These carts all have what appears to be the same menu. This very basic list of pre-prepared hot foodstuffs includes such notable menu items as hot pretzels, pizza, eggrolls, and of course a selection of hot dogs and sausage. This includes one of Washington D.C.’s two grand entries into the great lexicon of global cuisine, the half-smoke (the other of course being Mambo sauce). The half-smoke, which is the official dog of the Washington Nationals MLB team, is, in the most simplistic terms, a bigger spicier hot dog. And our generic carts have had perhaps the biggest hand in proliferating these local specialties throughout our city.

My only real problem with these generics is a small bit of false advertising. This comes first in the form of the pictures, bordering the top of each cart. The eggroll, pretzel and pizza pictures are fairly accurate (though one must remember that the eggroll is vegetarian, and that no pizza ever gets quite so cheesy) but the issue is with the hot dog picture. Frequently, the hot dog picture is of a classic Chicago dog, meaning that it is on a poppy seed bun with lettuce, tomato and a slice of pickle. I assure you, that when you order your dog, this is certainly not what appears moments later in your hand.

Other than that though, you pretty much know what you’re getting. A plain hot dog is going to be small and watery, but you will be able to dress it up with ketchup, mustard, onions and sometimes cheese or relish. The pretzel will likely come out different every time, either stale or fresh, hot or warm, salted thoroughly or slightly lacking. The vegetarian eggroll is going to be a vegetarian eggroll and if you are buying pizza from a cart like this you ought to get your head checked out.

I suppose what I am saying is two fold. First, if you need a snack, hit up that cart. It will be pretty okay for what you are going to be paying, somewhere between one and three dollars, cash only. Second, get a half smoke, cover it in the works, eat it, and feel a little bit closer to the DC history and culture that exists all around you.

DC is a fast paced city. It needs fast paced food. Food that moves.

Eat Food Trucks. Eat Cheap. Eat the District.

 

Comments are closed.