Nope, it’s not just oppressive Los Angeles that wants to fight the newest, twittering generation of taco and food trucks. Sadly, it’s my hometown, Santa Monica.

This coastal outpost of liberalism is upset about these new trucks, as big business on the Third Street Promenade — or rather, the businesses parent association, the Bayside District Corporation — says that the trucks should have to pay to do business in this high foot-traffic area. At the corporation’s October 22 meeting, boardmembers were regaled with a presentation by the local police department on “Food Vending Truck ordinances and enforcement options.”

If the title alone didn’t suggest that there was much warm-and-fuzziness between the likes of Bayside and trucks like Nom Nom, the Santa Monica Daily Press provided an account that wasn’t exactly encouraging, either.

“I think if these people benefit from the Bayside District, they should have to pay for it,” said Barbara Bryan, a board member who owns the Interactive Cafe on Broadway, in an interview with the paper.

Of course, as the paper notes, all the trucks that operate in Santa Monica must have a vendor permit from the local police department and a business license from the city to operate legally. City ordinance allows them to conduct business in a parking spot, but they must move 100 feet every 30 minutes. Further, they have to be at least “10 feet away from the entrance, doors, vestibules, driveways and outdoor dining areas of any business,” according to the newspaper.

Gary Gordon, the executive director of the nearby Main Street Business Improvement Association, was a bit more blunt in his statement to the paper: “We would like to get rid of them.”

Hoo boy, this will sure get interesting.

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First, I got some new photos to share from Lexica and Jeff from last weekend’s awesome taco truck tour of Fruitvale.

So, in the spirit of nomadic taco photography, I’m instituting a weeklong taco truck photo contest.

The prize?

A copy of this soon-to-be released book by Scott Wilson (of TacoMatrix.com fame), Tacos: Authentic, Festive & Flavorful.

From old standby dishes to taco truck favorites to more ambitious varieties like the Hot Fudge Taco, this book contains something for every fan of a dish that’s both simple and soul-satisfying. Taco obsessive Scott Wilson includes such delights as Tacos de Cazuela (slow-cooked tacos served from the pot) and Sauteed and Fried Tacos. He explains the varieties of tortillas (and how to make them from scratch), along with meat and vegetarian options, appropriate salads, sides, salsas, and drinks and desserts. Includes 50 recipes and 25 color photographs.

To submit an entry, send me an email [cyrus @californiatacotrucks.com] with “Taco truck photo contest” in the subject line and an original photo of something related to a taco truck in California.

It could be a photo of tacos bought at a truck, horchata being poured, taqueros, art — anything. There just needs to be a California taco truck in operation somewhere in the photo.

If you’re so inclined, feel free to upload to Flickr with the tag “taco truck photo contest,” and send me an email with the URL.

Please include your name, city, and the name and location of the taco truck that you shot.

1st prize – a copy of the above book
2nd and 3rd prize – $5, Paypaled to you by me to spend at the taco truck of your choice.

The photos will be judged by me.

Deadline: November 4, 2009, 12 pm Pacific Time

Good luck!

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According to the Red Bluff Daily News, this northern California town of 13,000 people is finally allowing its first new taco truck since the town banned them nearly a decade ago.

As we reported earlier this year, the town has not allowed any taco trucks since 2000, except for one that was grandfathered in.

This afternoon, the Red Bluff Planning Commission will meet today to consider the first new application since the May decision allowing for new trucks under certain conditions, like not being parked in parking spaces, being at least 12 feet from buildings and property lines, having at least two off-street parking spaces, not operating on private property, and not being closer than 300 feet from another vendor, among other requirements.

Carmen Gutierrez is applying for the as-yet-unnamed truck at 8 Sutter St., next to the Valero gas station. She has proposed an 8 am to 8 pm Monday-Saturday operating schedule and has received permission from the gas station to operate.

The meeting will take place at the Red Bluff City Council chambers at 555 Washington Street in Red Bluff at 5:15 pm this afternoon.

Update: The Red Bluff Planning Commission recommended the truck to the City Council, which will take up the matter at a forthcoming meeting.

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Veni. Vidi. We ate a ton of tacos. (I personally had six tacos plus a tostada de ceviche.)

Man, what a ride! Thanks to all who came out! I don’t know what the total number was, but someone told me that at its peak we had 35 riders and taco aficionados! Wow! I’m stoked that so many people were out to enjoy the afternoon sunshine, biking y muchos tacos! (Scope the pictos, here.)

Also thanks to CouchSurfing, Thrillist, 7×7, FuncheapSF and mybart.org for helping me get the word out!

If I did talk to you, I’m glad to have met you! If I didn’t, make sure to come chat with me the next time around — for future reference, I was this guy.

Jennifer Webber and Ryan Morris sent me some photos. Email me if you have any more: cfarivar [at] cfarivar [dot] org.

We even rocked a proudly used Twitter hashtag: #tacotrucktour. BTW, you can find the Twitter account for this blog @catacotrucks, or my personal account @cfarivar.

Dudes, I can’t express to you adequately how fun this was. I really thought that only three people were going to show up, which would have been fine. I didn’t anticipate being the “taco boss,” as someone called me. I’m just a guy who likes to eat tacos. And ride bikes.

I mentioned that there’s a Google Map of Oakland taco trucks. As you can see, we only made a small dent in the trucks here. I’d definitely like to explore more of what Oakland has to offer, and then perhaps do an SF version and maybe Richmond, too?

I’m thinking Sunday, November 22, 2009 for the next one? Again, Fruitvale, but this time, different trucks? I’m open to ideas. Feel free to leave ‘em in the comments. I’ll post once it’s finalized.

Stay hungry, and ride safe!

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Yuba City, Calif., is becoming the latest in a series of central California cities taking up the issue of regulation of mobile vending, reports the local county paper, the Appeal-Democrat. As the seat of Sutter County, it sits about 43 miles due north from Sacramento.

The local city council will take up the issue of mobile vending as it pertains to stands, taco trucks and other types of food trucks at the meeting tonight.

For the last few months, mobile vendors, established brick and mortar restaurants and others have met and will present the city council with their findings. The city council, in turn, is expected to give its recommendations for a new city ordinance.

This issue came about this summer when Fat Daddy’s Frankfurters began serving in front of Has Beans Café, which apparently cut into the café’s business.

As the paper reports:

Paul Kaiser, owner of Fat Daddy’s, understands concerns related to mobile vendors, but when cities govern and manage too much, it stifles free enterprise, he said.

If the council enacts an ordinance based on discussions he’s been a part of, mobile vending may not be allowed on public property, Kaiser said. Vendors would need permission from a private property owner and must get approval from similar businesses in a certain radius.

“If McDonald’s wants to open across from Carl’s Jr., they don’t go over to Carl’s Jr. and ask them if it’s all right,” Kaiser said. “Any rational person knows nine times out of 10 nobody is going to say ‘Yeah, come and open up.’”

If the city takes that approach, any new restaurant should have to ask for nearby vendors’ approval, he said.

“If it’s going to be good for the goose, make it good for the gander,” he said.

I’m not currently sure how many taco trucks are operating in Yuba City, but there’s at least one that hits a local high school at lunchtime.

The city council agenda devotes six pages to the issue in a memo drafted by Aaron Busch, the community development director. He describes that a series of three meetings were held by three street vendors and three brick-and-mortars as a means to advise the city on mobile vending.

According to the memo, city ordinances do not define mobile vending very well, as it does not distinguish between public/private vending, nor does it distinguish the various types of vending possible.

This group agreed that carts and “food wagons” (taco trucks) should have to move 400-1,000 feet every 30 minutes, but will not be required to have a planning department permit.

Interestingly, the agenda also contains the first comparative table of mobile vending in Northern California that I’ve ever seen. I’ve reproduced it here (click for a larger version):

We’ll see how this one plays out.

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Before it gets too rainy, I thought I’d take whoever would like to join me for a taco truck bike tour of my four favorite trucks in Fruitvale this Sunday:

When: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Meet: 12:30 pm, Lake Merritt BART station (9th and Oak St., Oakland).
Start: ~ 12:45 pm
End: ~ 3 pm ish, Fruitvale BART station

Itinerary:
1) Tacos Sinaloa at 22nd Ave./International Blvd. (via 10th St., International Boulevard)
2) Tacos El Grullo at 26th Ave./International Blvd.
3) Mi Grullense at 30th Ave./International Blvd.
4) El Ojo de Agua at E. 12th St./Fruitvale Ave.
5) Nieves Cinco de Mayo (ice cream) at 3340 E 12th St.

When it’s all said and done, feel free to bike or BART home. Anyone is welcome to join up or leave at anytime, obviously.

Afterwards, I might even be up for a beer at The Trappist (8th/B’way, downtown Oakland).

Bring: bike, helmet, $10-$15 for tacos+ice cream, camera if you want to document the deliciousness

RSVP: Email me cfarivar [at] cfarivar [dot] org. Put “Fruitvale taco truck bike tour” in the subject line.

All are welcome!

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So you know how there’s all these new trendy Twittering trucks hitting the streets of Los Angeles these days? Well, just as there’s a new generation of trucks, there’s a new generation of truck vendors too. Many of these fancy-pants trucks — Nom Nom, Kogi, Marked5 and others — are supplied by Road Stoves, a downtown Los Angeles truck company.

These guys do the whole deal: permits, insurance, maintenance, marketing and all the rest.

As Los Angeles Downtown News reports:

Road Stoves has received hundreds of food truck proposals, Appel said, the majority of which it rejects. Some were duplicate ideas of what is already on the streets, or trucks they feel won’t deliver the type of quality cuisine that will ensure the trend outlasts the hype.

“We had people that wanted to do noodles, but you can’t boil the noodles on the truck unless it’s the Top Ramen kind where you throw hot water on them, and for that you really don’t need a gourmet truck,” [co-owner Morris Appel] said.

[Co-owner Josh Hiller] added, “When someone comes to us and says, ‘I want to do exactly what so and so is doing,’ we don’t feel that’s the best way to enter the marketplace.”

The article also includes the first reaction from some of the more classic trucks that I’ve seen so far — I want to believe that the market is big enough for everyone.

Juan Torres, president of the Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de California (Caterers Association L.A. United Family of California), which represents food truck drivers in the city, said many of the newcomers bring positive attention to the industry.

“They look good, they’re well managed and clean, and that makes all of the industry look better,” he said.

Appel said within the next five years Road Stoves plans on going national. In the meantime, they have a few new trucks in development, with operators prepping a grilled cheese truck, a gourmet hot dog truck and a dessert truck.

“The food is the most important thing,” Appel said. “As long as it’s good food this can go on forever.”

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According to local media reports, Wayl Aljunaidi, 23, of Oakland, was shot just before 11 pm last night at 3326 Foothill Boulevard in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. He died at Highland Hospital at 3:15 am this morning.

Based on a quick check at Google Maps Street View, it looks like it was just outside the Tamales Mi Lupita taco truck, which was featured earlier this summer on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.”

The Oakland Tribune reports:

Investigators say the man was approached by a group of men, and one of them shot him.

He died at Highland Hospital at 3:15 a.m. today.

Robbery may have been a motive, said Oakland police Officer Jason Andersen, but it has not been determined if anything was taken from the man.

His death marks the city’s 92nd homicide of the year. Last year at this time, there had been 107.

Tragically, this is by no means the first killing at a taco truck in Oakland. Abel Martinez Mejia was killed in January 2008 when he was buying tacos at 85th St and San Leandro Ave. His murderers were sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.

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The Oroville Mercury-Register reports the arrival of El Toro, the first taco truck in this city 70 miles north of Sacramento.

The truck operates 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at 2816 Olive Hwy in Oroville.

Also apparently the city has some restrictions as to mobile vending as well, notes the Mercury-Register:

The city also denied [owner Carlos Zuniga]‘s first applications for different locations on Olive Highway, but he was tenacious.

Zuniga applied for about five locations over a year, he said. When he finally found the current location, he was careful.

When a city planner asked Zuniga if he planned to have tables and chairs outside, he replied, “If it is allowed I will, and if it isn’t allowed I won’t.”

The planner told him outdoor tables and chairs were not allowed.

The city requires potential vendors to draw up a plan showing where they want to put outdoor tables and chairs, even though city zoning prohibits them.

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Starting early next month, there will now be a 500-foot rule (that’s about 1.5 city blocks) on vending by taco trucks, ice cream trucks and any other form of catering or vending in unincorporated areas of Sonoma County.

That’s thanks to a new rule passed last week by the county Board of Supervisors adds a new section to the Sonoma County Code.

The county’s own Summary Report states:

On March 19, 2009, at a meeting of the Joint City and County Roseland Subcommittee, during the public comment period, representatives of the Roseland School District and parents of children attending schools in the District, asked for assistance in regulating mobile vendors around school sites. A number of concerns related to the mobile vendors were expressed. They include:
– Sale of unhealthy and unregulated food products raising concerns about health and food safety;
– Potential sale of other products not legal for sale to minors (cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs, etc.);
– Unsafe conditions resulting from children darting in and out of cars and crossing streets to reach mobile
vendors; and
– Conduct of some of the mobile vendors raising concerns that school children might be subject to
inappropriate verbal comments and other forms of harassment.
The City of Santa Rosa has an ordinance restricting mobile vending. The County does not have such an
ordinance thus has no way to regulate mobile vendors around school sites in the unincorporated area.

Now I’m not really sure of any instances of “inappropriate verbal comments” given by any taquero to myself or anyone I’ve ever been with at any taco truck, but ok, fine.

This new ordinance is not unlike a measure earlier this summer that forced El Tonayense in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood to move to at least 1,500 feet from schools.

LA taco truck attorney Phil Greenwald also reminds me in an email:

Los Angeles has a 1,000 foot restriction regarding how close to a school a catering truck may be lawfully parked.

Since no one wants to jeopardize the health or safety of school children and since kids have been known to forget that crossing a street (when they are focused on getting to a food vehicle) is a dangerous thing, I personally am in favor of such a restriction. 500 feet is (on average) about 1.5 blocks. That seems reasonable to me, don’t you think so?

Meanwhile, Erin Glenn, CEO of the new Asociación de Loncheros, says that there may be other factors at play here:

This type of problem was allegedly one of the reasons the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wanted there to be more stringent regulation of catering food trucks. In terms of operating near a school during school hours– this type of regulation actually makes sense, if a proper assessment of the situation i.e., traffic studies, etc. has occurred; hopefully, the Sonoma County regulation is motivated by the need for greater child safety, not by the need to “protect” brick and mortar establishments that may be near the schools in question. After all, let’s not forget that children need to cross the street to go into a convenience store as well.

About the food that may be sold from catering food trucks near schools: I would bet pound for pound, unless there are extraneous circumstances proving otherwise, the food one would get at a traditional taco truck is much healthier than typical fast food.

If taco trucks don’t comply, the ordinance also states the penalty:

Any person violating or causing the violation of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Except where other penalties are specified, each offense may be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed sixty (60) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

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