by Ken B » Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:47 am
Okay, I'm not new to the forum, but have mostly lurked here (and then also kind of looked for jobs). Not sure why I feel compelled to chime in on this topic, but here goes. Hope I don't insult anyone, if any of this comes off as pejorative, my apologies in advance.
So . . . I think the first question here should be, is there something intrinsically appealing about "street food" versus just "food". Now, though I've eaten in Michelin starred restaurants, some of my most vivid and favorite food memories are: walking down the street in Brooklyn with a paper plate in one hand, a folded slice in the other, orange grease dripping down my arm and chin; regularly partaking of Beefs so juicy with natural gravy from Johnnie's in Elmwood Park that you'd need a mop next to you if you ate it indoors; late night Polish on Maxwell St. or better yet tacos de cabeza from any of a handful of vendors on the new Maxwell St.; the soon to be legendary Jibarito (if you don't know, ask me) of the Chicago Boricua; and one particularly transcendent moment in Florence, enjoying sausage-stuffed deep-fried jumbo olives. Plus I've hit more than my share of taco trucks and various roach coaches over the years, including plenty of dirty water dogs, which I will eat again, stories of homeless dudes just tryin' to earn a buck notwithstanding. But I have two points here: first, yeah I do like street food, and second, all of the street food I mentioned above actually came from (more or less) bricks and mortar establishments, not some truck.
Yeah, Portland (and much of CA) has a great street food scene. Some savvy food writers covered it. Then some savvy producers at the Food Network jumped on that wagon, and now foodies all across America want trucks delivering burgers with funky toppings or new wave tacos. But street food in all kinds of incarnations existed long before trucks topped the list of food trends in 2010 (see that thread elsewhere on the forum), including here in Louisville. Didn't the Mayan Cafe start out as a truck? Coversely, when comparing cities of similar size, look at New Orleans. No (or few) trucks down there, but a vibrant food scene at all levels.
Are our health code restrictions that different than other cities that they are the primary barrier to this kind of thing blossoming here? I think others have nailed the geography/demographics/population issues. If there is a hole in the food scene here, it will get filled. There are too many smart, entrepreneurial folks, and too many food knowledgeable hungry mouths for it not to happen. For my money though, I'd be happier if something else off that list took hold, maybe Banh Mi shops, and why not, there's a solid Vietnamese base here. Heck, it may exist and I just haven't found it yet.
I'm not trying to accuse Marsha or anyone else of trend hopping, and fairly, for any scene: food, music, art, whatever to grow, it needs to show awareness of things that are cool that are happening in other places. But in my experience (with food, music and art) the most interesting and remarkable things are created not by folks aping larger trends, but finding interesting (and often native) avenues to exploit and explore.
In response to one other question in this thread, one Midwestern town I know of that has equal (or greater) climate challenges to Louisville, but a thriving street food scene is Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to the largest & oldest farmer's market in the US (um, farmers driving into town and selling food on the street = street food to me) the capitol square in the downtown is ringed with kiosks (not trucks) of all varieties that exist solely to serve the lunch crowd there. They're not all fancy and new wave, but most of them are quite good, and lots of different ethnicities and cuisines are represented.
The Wine Market
1200 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY
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