понедельник, 30 ноября 2009 г.

Recession drives U.S. restaurateurs, diners to trucks

Original: Recession drives U.S. restaurateurs, diners to trucks

Submitted by Dmitri Davydov on Mon, 2009-11-30 09:59.

 Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Every Thursday night, Lonnie Bishop and Lisa Case have a dinner date. For $5 each, the couple dines on fancy hot dogs served from a food truck parked outside their favorite wine shop in Los Angeles.

The fire engine-red truck labeled "Let's be Frank" is part of a growing fleet of mobile food vendors that serve tasty and inventive fare, often organic.

The trend has drawn entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in the recession and diners seeking cheap eats.

The new vehicles raise the bar from the traditional "taco trucks" that sell mainly Mexican fare at construction sites and in neighborhoods in U.S. cities with big Latino populations.

Their menus are wildly Cohen and her business partner leased a boxy truck complete with a kitchen and an order window.

BURGERS AND TRUFFLES

Their hot pink truck, called "Baby's Badass Burgers," flaunts a logo of two buxom cooks who could double as pin-up models and sells gourmet mini-burgers. Parked off Hollywood Boulevard, the truck draws workers like Lara Yturriaga, who ordered a Cougar -- two mini burgers topped with St-Andre cheese and black truffles.

"I'm on a quest this whole month (to eat at) 10 food trucks," Yturriaga, 25, said. So far, she's tasted Indian crepes and Asian-style meat in a rice-patty bun.

"I like that it's always something different," she said.

Many operators use Twitter to tell customers where they're going next. 'Kogi,' which serves Korean barbecue tacos, was among the first to use the free social media site.

"A restaurant is more like a passive sell. The lunch truck is more active," said Takeshi Kimura, w said.

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