Food Truck Frenzy
The food truck craze is slowly gaining ground, with cupcakes leading the way.
While food trucks are still highly restricted in Chicago (no food can be cooked or in any way prepared on them), more businesses are finding ways around the city's laws and taking their food to the streets. Last month, Gaztro-wagon's Matt Maroni helped set a food truck ordinance in motion with the Chicago City Council. It will likely be 2011 before anything is passed, but until then, seek out these mobile restaurants on a street near you:
Cupcakes on parade
Since cupcakes are always made in advance and aren't served warm, it makes sense that they are the most common street food thus far. The first cupcake vendor to go mobile was Flirty Cupcakes, which serves seven flavors and one specialty cake every week. Look for cutesy names like The McDreamy (chocolate with cream cheese and chocolate filling) and the Devil in Disguise (red velvet). The owners are a husband-and-wife team, which is also cute. Track their whereabouts on Twitter @FlirtyCupcakes, on Facebook (where they have more than 7,600 fans) or at their website. They usually make multiple stops per day.
Uptown's The Cupcake Gallery hit the streets starting in July, usually stopping in the Loop on weekdays and the 'burbs on weekends. In addition to the eight to 10 cupcake varieties available on the truck, they also serve their popular Twinkees in flavors like red velvet, orange creamsicle and carrot cake. Find them on Twitter @WeBakeCupcakes.
Because good things always come in threes, the Gold Coast's more plans to unleash their truck in September, operating seven days a week and doling out 12 flavors of cupcakes. Look for the innovative shop's savory and cocktail-inspired treats. Follow them @themoremobile.
Gaztro-Wagon
Cooking its naanwiches in its Edgewater store, Gaztro-wagon finally rolled into other 'hoods on July 30 and operates from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Look for them at lunchtime, dinnertime and bartime — and don't miss the delicious plaintain chips. The current week's schedule is posted on their website, Twitter and Facebook, or superfans can sign up for text message alerts.
Coming Soon
Considering how long it takes to get a brick-and-mortar restaurant running, it's easy to see why complicated, confusing, law-bound food trucks take even longer. Keep your eyes out for Happy Bodega, which plans to serve coffee, sandwiches and possibly gelato. And to the north, Hummingbird Kitchen is fighting to become Chicagoland's first truck to prepare food on-site in Evanston. Keep track of these hopeful trucks' progress at @happybodega and @hummingbirdtogo.