Posted by Cyrus Farivar on June 13, 2008
I’m not sure which is more strange, that hot cooking oil was fired up while a taco truck is in motion, or that a taco truck was being driven by a Vietnamese(-American?) woman.
Contra Costa Times:
CONCORD — A woman was badly burned by hot cooking oil after the taco truck she was riding in collided with another car this afternoon on Interstate 680.
The collision occurred at 1:56 p.m. on southbound I-680, north of Concord Avenue, California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Maguire said.
The Chevrolet taco truck, driven by 49-year-old Thu Phan of San Jose, was travelling south in the left-hand lane at 55 mph. In the lane to the right of the truck, a 1995 Mitsubishi sedan driven by 19-year-old Iris Lopez, of Antioch, was also driving south.
Maguire said Lopez later told officers she thought the taco truck was merging into her lane, so she swerved to the right. The taco truck never attempted to change lanes, Maguire said. Lopez then over-corrected and swerved back to the left, striking the taco truck. The front of the truck slammed against the driver’s side front door of the sedan.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
Posted by Cyrus Farivar on June 12, 2008
I had a really good pastor and carnitas taco (and a so-so asada taco) at Three Brothers Tacos in East Palo Alto today.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
Posted by Cyrus Farivar on June 10, 2008
The City of Turlock (a neighboring town of Modesto, Calif.) is butting heads with a taco truck owner as to what type of construction is and isn’t allowed.
The Modesto Bee:
Mariscos Camino Real opened two months ago with a food wagon and seafood-only menu in an empty lot next to a small car dealership. Owner Ignacio Ochoa went to the Planning Department shortly after with ideas for improvements, including a concrete pad and heavy canopy tent under which patrons can eat.
No concrete and no construction, he was told.
Ochoa and his partner, Rudy Yanez, put down brick pavers, planters filled with small palms and ficus trees, a fountain and a 24 foot-by-40 foot collapsible outdoor-event tent. Ten stone tables with custom tile tops were installed. Two speakers were hung high in the tent rafters. The men spent $80,000 and ended up with a polished outdoor eating space on a patch of leased land.
“Our goal was to change perception,” Yanez said last week. “All taco trucks are not the same. It’s not filthy. There’s space to eat.”
City officials weren’t exactly charmed.
“We went out there for another call and saw it,” said Debbie Whitmore, the city’s planning director. “The reaction was ‘Oh, my God!’ It grew beyond how it was described to us.”
Tension between taco trucks and government isn’t new. Los Angeles County supervisors in April made parking a mobile food operation in the same place for more than an hour a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or six months in jail. Riverbank uses a similar ordinance to effectively ban them. Vendors can’t spend more than 15 minutes in the same spot. The Patterson City Council is in the process of revising its taco truck policy. Modesto only allows mobile food vendors on industrial-zoned land, hence the concentration by the railroad tracks on Eighth Street. Ceres doesn’t allow them.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
Posted by Cyrus Farivar on June 3, 2008
CafePress’ Leslie Nuccio went down to LA recently to interview the masterminds behind SaveOurTacoTrucks.org. She and her team made a quick little video that is posted to the CafePress blog.
She asks the question: So, the question remains: are taco trucks unfair competition to a restaurant? And is that really the issue here?
Again, the LA County law violates California Vehicle Code, plain and simple. The law regulates “public safety,” not competition.
For those who need a reminder: CVC 22455 subsection b states: “A local authority may, by ordinance or resolution, adopt additional requirements for the public safety regulating any type of vending from vehicles upon any street.”
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
Posted by Cyrus Farivar on June 1, 2008
Ok, I’m a little late to this one, but apparently a taco truck right here in my own backyard — Los Compadres (Hayes St. and Polk St. near San Francisco’s City Hall Plaza — was going to be removed as per the request of the lot’s owner, Central Parking Systems. A concerned and intrepid taco aficionado, Matthew Goudeau, started a Facebook group and a small campaign to persuade CPS to let the truck continue to serve its delicious wares, and I’m happy to announce that it worked!
The San Francisco Sentinel and Goudeau’s Facebook group report that the truck has been saved! I just might have to go over there next week to get a celebratory taco — or three.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
