On Wednesday, the Program and Services Committee will discuss an ordnance that would allow food trucks in Newton. Good idea?
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like
On Wednesday, the Program and Services Committee will discuss an ordnance that would allow food trucks in Newton. Good idea?
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like
I love food trucks. I don’t know what the cons are to this debate but I’m pretty sure I want food trucks in Newton.
Food trucks could be a huge boon to Newton events. Imagine a couple of food trucks at the Friday farmer’s markets, what a pleasant way to lunch in the summer, walk over to the market from Boston Scientific or other local businesses for some fresh food and then pick up some veggies and other things for dinner.
My son and I are huge food truck fans and anyone who was at the Boston vs New York food truck throw down yesterday could tell you about how crazy the lines were. Staff Meal Truck (a favorite of ours) ran out of food at one point. The line for Waffle truck from NYC, Cookie Monstah from Boston and two of our favorite, and friends, Mei Mei’s Street food and Roxy’s Grilled cheese were insane.
The food on these trucks are fresh and innovative.
Now let’s take this a step further: imagine a Newton North Food Truck. We have both a culinary program as well as an automotive program. With mentoring from the Boston Food Truck community, we could be preparing and training our students in a growing industry. Our automotive kids would have training for commercial vehicles (and given the wear and tear on trucks, qualified mechanics are in demand).
As to the argument trucks have an unfair advantage over brick and mortar store fronts, ask yourself this: in bad weather, would you rather stand outside waiting for food or wait inside a sheltered, climate controlled store? There are days when being on a truck is tougher than in a store. There are days when it is much better. In the end it balances out. Further I never hear “there are too many restaurants…” about a place (think Moody Street aka Restaurant Row), a food truck adds to the community.
If you have any doubts, try them out. There is often a truck in Cleveland Circle (Mei Mei, Clover Food Lab and Roxy’s are staples there). There’s an app for that: from independent fans all the way up to the Food Network’s app. If you aren’t sure what to order, I can not say enough about Roxy’s Fall Special (Grilled cheese sandwich made with VT cheddar cheese, apples, sweet potatoes and raisins with a rosemary maple syrup dipping sauce). I’m waiting for the return of the Duck Confit special (Grilled cheese sandwich made with brie, duck confit and an apple cranberry compote on Brioche), the mac and chourizo grilled cheese sandwich and the Mighty Rib is always a winner. Mei Mei’s pork bun slider, black and blue raviolis, braised beef tater tots or the Double Awesome. (Hand made scallion pancakes with local made cheddar, pesto and two poached then fried eggs.)
I love these trucks, I love their food and I especially love the people. Newton would only be richer with the addition of food trucks.
I agree with Karla. I went to MIT and the food trucks were a great alternative, especially the felafel truck. And Karla’s idea of integrating food trucks into the NNHS vocational ed program is exciting.
This would be great but I fear the BOA will try and be too politically correct and limit the kind of foods that can be sold based on what THEY think is healthy for us. As long as vendors follow all the necessary health and food safety guidelines, let the consumer decide what to eat!
Its a great idea. Bring them on. I do hope TWT’s fears are unfounded and that the BOA doesn’t try to micro-manage them.
Oh TWT say it ain’t so! Of course most of my faves would be allowed in Newton. Mei Mei’s not only buy all local produce but one of the girls is a butcher, so they buy their meat locally and she butchers all their meat. (Soooooooo goood.) Clover Food Lab has mostly vegetarian options and Bon Me is healthy Asian (primarily Vietnamese).
Staff meal may serve beef coffee (they didn’t have it Saturday so I can only assume the legends of its awesomeness are true) and mostly meat, but again, their stuff tends towards the “healthier” side.
Of course if the BOA tries to micromanage, many will still have to travel out of town to get their Blue Ribbon BBQ from a truck instead of stopping into the West Newton storefront.
Yeah… I admit. My name is Karla and I’m addicted to food trucks.
@TWT, I docketed this item, I am a big fan of Blue Ribbon BBQ, and I have no intention of micromanaging what food trucks can and cannot serve. That said, my concern is that some of my colleagues may seek to limit who can operate food trucks in Newton based on whether they have brick and mortar restaurants to go with their food trucks to protect competitors–not competition. I very much believe in competition and I want this to be a free enterprise.