- Arnab Bose
- Street food in Calcutta, anyone?
If you think Seattle’s street food scene isn’t as cool as New York’s or Portland’s, you’re not alone. Folks at the City of Seattle agree. In fact the Seattle Department of Planning and Development is trying (.pdf) to roll out more food vendors on the city’s sidewalks and parks with the consent of the City Council. The Downtown District Council is hosting a public workshop at City Hall today at 5 p.m. to talk about a proposed street-food initiative. So if you love Marination Mobile, Maximus Minimus, or the taco truck in your hood, this is your chance.
Currently food trucks are only allowed to park on private property (only hot dogs, coffee, and popcorn can be heated and served on the sidewalk) in Seattle, which results in turf wars and perhaps even haggling for space with a property owner. DPD planner Gary Johnson—who totally gets it—told me that he wants to change Seattle’s street food system to Portland’s. Yes! Finally someone who understands the joy of having some 580 cheap and tasty licensed food trucks mobilized all over the city. Council Member Sally Clark also gets it. “We are trying to figure out what are the rules that keep food carts from being really successful,” says Clark, a self-confessed street food fan. Except for the hot dog carts, Seattle doesn’t have food vendors selling smoothies, sandwiches, and fresh food, Clark says, because of existing health code rules. The Health Department is considering lifting the restrictions to allow “assembly of pre-cooked ingredients.” She adds, “The new codes will provide start up business opportunities and turn sidewalks into more interesting places. The flip side is litter and less room for wheelchairs.”
Make no mistake, I love street food. Full disclosure: I come from a country where people eat street food at all times of the day and night. But I have seen the evil side of street food: overcrowded sidewalks, garbage and blatant health code violations.
My mom used to scare me by saying that street hawkers in Calcutta had an inch of dirt beneath their fingernails and were constantly scratching their balls (but I ate their chaats anyway).
Jump to San Francisco, another street food mecca (I miss you, bacon-wrapped hot dog) which I left for Seattle, though not without hitches. Cupkates, the Bay Area’s first cupcake truck, recently got into some trouble with the City of Berkeley for vending from a metered parking space, but I believe they are now back in business.
More after the jump
“The onus is going to be on the applicant to prove themselves,” says Johnson, when asked about the implications of expanding Seattle’s street food scene. “They can sell gyros and burritos and crepes and all sorts of things as long as they can be done safely.” Street vendors in Seattle will require street-use permits under the new ordinance. Belltown and the Pike-Pine area already have a robust street food scene, but most vendors are operating illegally, Johnson says. “Much of what they are doing are permitted, but it’s not legal yet,” he says. “Enforcement’s been a bit spotty.” The new legislation also hopes to assign a mobile food vending zone—something like a permanent Mobile Chowdown. “That’s great,” says my friend The Hungry Koala, whose favorite Seattle street grub is the Torta Guadalajara. “They will be easier to find. Most of us don’t have time during a business day to run from one street corner to the other.” Right now a lot of people follow their favorite street food vendors on Twitter.
How are well-established Seattle restaurants taking it? Not too well, according to Johnson. “There have definitely been concerns raised from restaurants and fast food joints who see mobile food trucks as a threat in a weak economy, so we are proposing setbacks from any food places,” Johnson said.
Oh and this just in—Mayor McGinn, who was a hit at the CHBP Sunday, is a big supporter of the street food initiative.
I hear they’ll be serving street food in the Billionaires Tunnel.
Fricasseed sewer rat on a stick.
And fried turtle jambalaya.
Riya – the jump & permalink aren’t working…
As many already know, Portland’s food carts are typically rooted on either rented parking spaces near sidewalks or in underutilized land parcels (usually vacant lots where a house or business used to be or construction project that did not have enough financing to complete). I cannot remember a street cart there found literally on the sidewalk. Seattle could easily replicate this by using its myriad of underutilized parcels (the block long parcel on Pine where Cha Cha/Kincora/Bus Stop used to be comes immediately to mind…) for food cart pods. Let’s do this and get people back to work doing what they’d love to do!
My first job in Seattle was selling popcorn off of a cart at the Rainier Bank Tower. In my day, we were at the corner of 4th and Union, but later they moved the cart to the main entrance on 4th.
It was a great job – lots of fun and really good tips. I’ve often wondered why it went away.
@2, I’ll check. thx!
You quote Johnson as saying “Belltown and the Pike Pine area already have a robust street food scene”
Where? The only choices I can think of is the corn guys next to Vita & Maximus down near the Market… 2 vendors a mile apart does not a robust street food scene make.
I hate to agree with CT @5, but they’re right about Belltown street food vendors. Not about Pike/Pine tho.
Sounds like good ideas all around, but I do worry about putting rent-paying cafes out of business. I hope the City finds a way to create a relatively level playing field for street food vendors v. the fixed-site establishments.
Sounds like good ideas all around, but I do worry about putting rent-paying cafes out of business. I hope the City finds a way to create a relatively level playing field for street food vendors v. the fixed-site establishments.
Oh, compulsive ball scratchers of Calcutta, will you ever hear the end of it?
Listen. There are a shit ton of complaints by Dan Savage, Charles Mudede, Dominc Holden etc etc etc about goose shit. Slog hates goose shit almost as much as pit bulls and logic.
Well, the goose shit you find in Seattle park lawns and sidewalks is nothing other than reprocessed human food waste. Seattle people by the hundreds of thousands dump their lunch trash on the ground, all the geese in the Pacific Northwest hear about the good eats to be found, alter their migration path accordingly, eat the food waste, and shit it out. That’s the cycle.
So I love food carts too but you all need to sit down and think about what you’re asking for. Is there a way to have more street food for people and less for geese? Or are you just asking for more green goose turds?
The only food I eat out of a truck is Ice Cream, and in India the only food vendors to trust are the roasted corn guys.
where does one find Torta Guadalajara, yo?
I love food carts, I really hope they are legalized, but require them to use compostable plates & utensils and provide compost bins please.
Yuck. There are so many dirty Seattle restaurants; I can’t imagine what a health hazard these carts will be with looser regulations and less vigilant inspections. Not to mention all the garbage bound to be produced that will neither be recycled nor composted but more likely dumped on the street.
DANGIT. I missed the workshop. Were there any handouts?! Meeting minutes?! Will they have another meeting? I hope I hope I hope this happens.
I love eating on the streets. I think some of the best food I have had on vacations were from street vendors. There are also a lot of start up business opportunities with street vending. I actually think you could make quite a bit of money with vending. There are not a whole lot of overhead costs. I think I have almost convinced myself about starting one. I think it would be a fun job.
http://www.mybenadetto.com/