The idea of a DFW Food Truck blog was born during a July 4, 2011 Eat St marathon on The Cooking Channel. Shortly after the blog launched, Eat St asked me to keep them updated on the DFW truck scene, which has been a huge honor. What I never expected to happen was that I would get to interview the host of Eat St, James Cunningham.
Our phone chat covered the gamut of all things food truck, Eat St and the newly released Eat St Cookbook related. Eat St is currently airing its fourth season on The Cooking Channel and will feature Dallas trucks Green House, Good Karma Kitchen, Jack's Chowhound, Three Lions and Nammi along 107 other food trucks from across North America. After four seasons on the air, creating a cookbook of items featured in past seasons "just made sense", according to James, who is not a cook himself. With most street food being simple ingredients, he and I agreed that most of the recipes in the cookbook lend themselves to the home chef, of any cooking ability.
Most of my conversation with James revolved around operating a food truck and the cities that are home to the amazing trucks seen on Eat St. With the various rules and regulations, we in DFW know that it takes patience and research to understand the ins and outs of operating a food truck. I asked James what he thought was the "best" city for food trucks and not surprisingly, he believes it to be Portland, with the highest per capita number of "trucks", with trucks being a relative term since Portland street food is generally sold out of carts and pods. James' second truck friendly city is Austin, for the same reasons, high per capita numbers, again with stationary trailers.
James and I talked about the unique, tasty food coming through the truck windows and it is James' opinion that when you find a truck offering regional cuisine you are assured to get something great. I asked what kind of food truck he would operate and his response was "a bannock bread truck". As I was not familiar with bannock, James explained that it a North American Indian dish, taught to the Indians by the French Voyagers. The bannock is basically dough, wrapped around a stick and then fried. Recipes like this, according to James are the best for food truck owners; a unique dish, that can be done well and served many different ways...savory, sweet, filled, plain. All that is needed is a small inventory of ingredients and quick cooking which leads to higher profits.
We talked quite a bit about the Dallas food trucks, both those filmed for Season 4 and Dallas trucks that are making an impact. James is very aware of the trucks being in the Dallas Arts District and how that relationship has served both the trucks and the District well. We also talked about the trends of the truck movement; when the truck culture starts in a city and as seen in Season 1 of Eat St, the trucks start in downtown areas of a city. However by years 2 and 3, and as seen in subsequent seasons of Eat St, the trucks are just as likely to be found in the suburban areas, in areas with office complexes and areas where restaurant options are more sparse.
The relationship that the food truck culture has with restaurant was described by James in the best way I have ever heard it articulated "Restaurants and food trucks are two faces of the same industry and there shouldn't be competition. Neither is taking business from the other". He cited an example in Calgary where a 5-star restaurant, Charcut, had excess burgers one night and one of the kitchen staff posted on social media that they would sell the burgers from the backdoor. Night after night, the number of people coming to buy the burgers increased, exponentially, until the owners decided it would be best to sell them from a food truck. The restaurant and the truck are both very successful, each serving a different customer base.
James and I also talked about the success of the chef driving truck where an Executive Chef, with years of experience walks away from the restaurant and opens a truck. It was these trucks that propelled the food truck movement and when paired with social media brought us to the truck experience that we have today. I asked which "celebrity" chef James thought would be successful in operating a truck and while many name were discussed, we both agreed that Jamie Oliver would be the one that we would like to see have a truck in our respective cities.
I couldn't end the call end without asking James about the Eat St contest currently being run where social media fans are asked to submit photos of their food tattoos, in order to be chosen to win a copy of the Eat St Cookbook. James tells me that the entries have been amazing including a bald guy with a fried egg tattooed on his head. If you have food tattoos, get those pictures submitted!
.JPG)
If you don't have tattoos or don't want to submit a picture, but are interested in the cookbook, you can always purchase one on Amazon. By using this link, you can order the book and a tiny bit of the payment goes to me, to help support my blog expenses.
I am so appreciative of James taking the time to visit with me and share his insight. I am also happy to know that so many DFW trucks are on Eat St's radar. I'm hoping this means they will be back to film for Season 5. So far, Eat St has not been renewed. If you would also like them to come back to DFW to film, join me in sending a message to The Cooking Channel via Facebook or Twitter. And be sure to watch every Tuesday night at 7:00 CST. The Dallas trucks will be profiled in June and July.
