I tried the Louisiana Spice Truck tonight. My boyfriend got the pulled pork sandwich, I got the brisket sandwich.

They were both good, but we liked each other's sandwiches better.

I'm looking forward to trying the other trucks soon!

We've been going to Rutgers games this year, and I'm thinking this Friday night I'm looking forward to detouring to the Grease Trucks to spend some money in New Brunswick. I don't see why some good trucks in JC couldn't become the same kind of "destination" (but nicer!)

The Louisiana Spice Truck is usually parked near the Krave Truck around the same time. You can follow the Louisiana Spice Truck on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/laspicetruck

The truck was in the shop for repairs last week. Also, today is a quasi holiday.

There seemed to be more and more trucks now. This evening, Nick's was there. I bought a beef gyro from them. Maybe next time, I'll try their falafel. They must not be making enough money at lunchtime at Exchange Place.

i love the Food Trucks in the area. It's so convenient especially coming from work. Most of us don't have the time to cook or we're single to cook for one.

I've eaten the food at the The Krave truck would like to try the Louisiana Spice Truck. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it at the location. Where do they usually park and what time?

JadedJC and designknob:

OK, both of you seem to be missing my point. I was arguing for the fact that food is an experience, not a transaction, meaning that I support all types of food, both from a truck and from a restaurant. I am a huge fan of the truck on Grove St.
As far as my eating habits, I'm not going to debate my lifestyle with anyone on here.

Video:Jersey City food truck operators find it Tough making a living By The Jersey Journal October 10, 2009, 9:31PM Jersey City food trucks keep serving the hungry

Jersey City food trucks keep serving the hungry

It's a tough time to run a food truck in Jersey City, with layoffs, competition from ritzy new trucks and a city health officer under investigation for potentially issuing too many vendor licenses. Despite the increase in the number of trucks, the dedicated operators keep moving around town serving their food. (Video by Jennifer Weiss/The Star-Ledger) http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/10/post_27.html

Quote:

I think JCGirl09 has a very one-dimensional view of being a foodie...On a nice day, I like to buy a couple of tacos from the Lucinda truck (when she was by VVP on Saturdays), sit on a park bench, people watch and soak in the sights and sounds of the park and nearby farmer's market. It's affordable and I'm in the great outdoors. How is that any less of a food "experience" than going to M&P, shelling out $40 for often slow service and involutarily experiencing the annoying coversation going on at the next table? (Not to worry, I'll still patronize M&P because I'm a sucker for their mac & cheese.) The point is, there is and should be room for both. And food cart owners are every bit the local business restaurants are, too. A lot of them live in JC. I don't know how you draw the distinction that they're NOT a local business. The experience is really what you, the diner, makes of it. When I think back on a lot of my travels to great cities, I can't imagine the experience without street food. Pad thai at the night market in Bangkok, lamb and beef kebabs grilled to order at the Place Jemaa El Fnaa in Marrakech - I'd argue such fare is the ultimate foodie experience.

Quote:

So every single meal, of every single day MUST be a sit down experience? You must really have quite the life.

Listen, people vote with their dollars. If the customers are supporting the food trucks, who is anyone else to take it away? Consumer choice, FTW.

Quote:

Having an itinerant license has nothing to do with safety or public health, at least as of a few years ago. The only requirement to getting an itinerant license is finding an available one (there's a finite number issued) and paying the fee. A health inspection is what protects the public. When I owned a restaurant several years ago, there were only 2 inspectors in the whole city. I can't speak for other restaurants, but my experience with the permit process was completely laughable. The inspector came in, asked if I had a bathroom (but didn't check), bullshitted for 10 minutes, remarked that I didn't have a 3 compartment sink as required and proceeded to pass the place.

To the best of my knowledge, restaurants are not routinely inspected like NYC, which requires at least one (surprise) inspection per year. NYC takes these things a lot more seriously, though the process is all very subjective. But I digress.

Several points....the article is well written and I agree with many points but it is biased.....No one from the "other" side of the food truck issue makes any salient points....I'm certainly not the one to make the case because I think food trucks can work and add to the community.....

Also if one looks at the photo of the large lime green Krave truck, it is illegally parked in front of a stop sign line, and not in a legal parking space.

Also did find it funny that one of the "mobile" vendors complained about competition fron another mobile vendor.....huh???

Finally the local news site, The Jersey City Independent, covers the food truck issue ... with a well investigated article.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... d-trucks-plight-in-limbo/

Though I haven't checked all the carts in the neighborhood - I do know that the one's you mention have valid licenses from the city/state to operate food trucks.

Quote:

Agreed. But does anyone know if these food carts have itinerant food licenses? I would like to know the details behind this before I sign the petition. Is the city not giving out itinerant licenses or are they charging insane prices for one?

I love the food carts, but they really should be paying taxes like all other businesses. I know a lot of the hotdog vendors have the licenses, but does the taco truck, luncinda's, the soup guy? It really is in the best interest of the public health as well.

This argument always baffles me - Other countries have thriving street food scenes that bring a different element to the food culture. I guess that brick and morter stores feel threatened that these carts are taking business away from them - but I don't know many people who eat at the same restaurant day after day. We need options in Jersey City and right now food trucks are a huge trend.

So in the case of the Taqueria, they started with a food cart *gasp* and after seeing the demand and good business, they opened a full fledged restaurant. Which remains successful. We should definitely make sure this type of scenario never ever happens again.

Quote:

Great idea! I've added my signature to your petition and will spread the word to family, friends, and colleagues!

The problem is the law basically prohibits the kind of trucks/carts we're talking about. It says you can only remain in one place 20 minutes. What the OP wants is a change of the law.

As for the NYTimes article, one of the main points was that NYC was leaving millions on the table by renewing the licenses cheaply in perpetuity and then letting the licenses be dealt on the black market and looking the other way. Presumably the same it true in JC. Would it make the people calling them freeloaders feel better if they paid thousands a month to the City in license fees instead of paying rent?

OK I am not talking about the business side of things. I am talking about the experience of eating a meal from a street cart. Very different. Food should be an experience, not a business transaction. And, as a local foodie of sorts, I always support local businesses that make food an experience, not a business proposition.

We can agree to disagree, ms. skin. ha.

The ugliness of food cart vs. restaurant has been going on for sometime in Manhattan. The NY Times had an article on it a couple weeks ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/din ... =4&sq=food%20truck&st=cse

I guess it was only a matter of time before the same ugliness jumped across the river. In this economy, people do desperate things, I suppose, to protect their interests. I don't know why restaurants think the carts are taking away their business. If I decide that I really want to have Mexican food for dinner, I'm gonna get it from the cart at the Grove Street plaza. Removing the guy isn't gonna make me suddenly want to get dinner from that yucky McDonald's across the street instead. I'll just go home and cook - and then no one gets my business. Likewise, if I'm with some friends and we decide we want to sit outside somewhere over a nice dinner, we'll end up at Skinner's Loft, not a food cart.

I'm definitely signing that petition.

The Food Carts should be complimentary and not always competitive. Let?s take the taco cart near the grove street path. Great Tacos, but very different in flavor and composition then Taqueria. Both together boost the culinary quality of the city overall.

I do agree that these carts should be licensed and operate legally for all our safety, but if you are a restaurant and you are getting waxed by a food cart with about 5 square feet of cooking and prep area you don?t deserve to be in business anyway.

Good food is about the experience. Its about the Brand. Its about the emotional connection. A food cart can only simply woo you with its food. Its like a billboard of flavor ? 3 seconds to sell you.

A restaurant should be a longer seduction of flavor. A deeper more intimate experience. So in a way - one is like culinary fu**ing, the other a long marathon.

Perhaps the sub-par restaurants that are trying to **ck me should instead be trying to seduce me. Just a thought.

Street Carts are a part of city life. Period. I didn't move out of the suburbs of NJ to Jersey City to have to always go into a restaurant, sit down, and eat. I moved here to experience life outside the norm, which for me, includes walking around the neighborhood, perhaps with a yummy taco I got in passing.


---Signed.

I am all for competition (i know capitalism left this country long ago, circa 1935), but it must be a on level playing field if these trucks are not up to code, not being licensed properly, and so on down the list, there is no reason that they should be allowed to operate. If however they are, and stores are just bitter abt competition the brick and mortar places should suck it up.

This is a great effort, I support it.

As stated, if the carts are doing better than the stores it is because they are BETTER than the stores. Or, the stores are wayyyy overpriced. I know this was a big deal in newport when the restaurants wanted the carts/trucks banned, not realizing that they should only blame themselves, and on top of that, active neighborhoods and carts go hand-in-hand.

Saying that they're not paying liscensing fees or taxes is false. Any permitted cart/truck has gone through the red tape. If you want to go after illegal carts/trucks, this is a different matter entirely.

Quote:

They are doing something DIFFERENT than B/M restaurants: Not paying taxes, rent, not paying for liscenses, etc...

Hi

If you live in Jersey City you must have enjoyed food at one of the many Food Trucks in the area (think Lucinda's, Taste of India, John's Hot Soups, Banana Leaf and so on) - and you must've likely gone back for more!!! Or better still you might be a regular, like me!

Recently, some of these trucks have been harassed by some local restaurants which has led to the trucks being fined huge sums.

To support the Trucks and retain our choice of where we get our food from, a petition has been created online - if you feel so inclined, please sign this petition and pass it on to your friends who're in the area. We want to get as much support as possible for the Food Trucks!

http://bit.ly/ovYo6

PetitionOnline: Save the Food Trucks of Jersey City

PS: would also love to get your suggestions / bright ideas for this!



--- Text of the Petition ---

"YOUR support is IMPORTANT to save the Food-trucks in Jersey City"

LACK OF OPTIONS

The Food Trucks in Jersey City offer a very credible breakfast/lunch/dinner option to the people working and living in the neighborhood.

For me personally, after having worked in Manhattan and having enjoyed the multitude of food options out there - it hard adjusting to the scarcity of good budget-lunch-options in the Exchange Place neighborhood of Jersey City. But soon I discovered the 'Hot Soup' truck serving Soup / Chicken-over-rice for under $6 and the 'Taste of India' food truck serving a wholesome meal for $7. 'Mr Softee' would also park itself next to the trucks - giving corporate-workers an affordable dessert option. 'Banana Leaf' and a mediterranian cart followed with the same sub-$8 lunch options -- and we finally thought Jersey City was matching up to the options we had in Manhattan.

HUGE FINES BY THE POLICE / HARASSING BY LOCAL RESTAURANTS

One day while I was picking up my lunch with some colleagues, I found a police fining the food trucks. I was shocked to learn that the fines were not small - they ran into a few thousand dollars. And this was not a single stray incident -- they were fined almost everyday they stood there.

It seems that the local restaurants had felt threatened that they would lose business because of these food trucks and they had provoked the police and the City to take action against them.

Now, that only means the restaurants want to force us by limiting our options! Which for me, as a consumer, sounds ridiculous.

WHAT WE CAN DO

The food trucks are an essential part Jersey City's food landscape providing great food at affordable prices. In tough and uncertain times like these, shouldn't we have only more of these options available to us?

Please sign this petition if:
* You're a patron of the food-trucks that dot Jersey City
* You love the food they serve
* You have been affected by the random absence of these food trucks
* You want to have a CHOICE of where you get your food from

If enough people sign this, we'll make sure our voices are heard by the local administrators at the City Hall of Jersey City.