Trying a food truck in Paris

Writing the menu After months of delaying, I ended up trying one of these food trucks that have been under the spotlight of the Parisian food people for a while. I didn't go around and chose the most iconic, Kristin Frederick's Le Camion qui Fume (the smoking truck), the first, from what I know, who tried the unchartered waters of getting the city administration's green light and testing the Parisian palates for this type of food from a truck. Now there are quite a number of such food trucks, making Paris look like more like a normal city in this regard. Like you can read on the New York Times article, Kristin got every kind of push-back, like saying it wouldn't work or it'll be too expensive for street food, or the authorities will balk at giving the permission. But she did it, and in spite of parking at a different place every day (or because of), Kristin's truck gets clients lining up (like me) before the truck opens its service window. Here it was at Place de la Madeleine and the proximity of Hédiard and Fauchon didn't scare her at all, the place is one of her regular stops and I think that the business runs fine here too.
Kristin is a California native (from Los Angeles I think) and after studying in France she had the idea to duplicate this food-truck culture which was widespread in L.A.

When I arrived on the place de la Madeleine, I found the truck easily, parked near the small market, and a young (obviously) American woman was busy writing the menu on the blackboard. A few people were already waiting that the business hours begin, which was set at 11am. Kristin Frederick (the woman in black on the right), who isn't doing the service herself from what it seems, arrived later saying hello to the staff.

The menu Here was the list of burgers that day, they all were priced 8 €, the french fries costing an additional 2 €.

__ Burger du Jour : boeuf maison, mozzarella, pesto, mesclun, coeur de boeuf, mayonnaise.
__ Classique : Boeuf maison, cheddar, dalade, tomate, cornichons, oignons, mayonnaise
__Barbeque : Boeuf maison, cheddar, bacon, sauce BBQ, beignet d'oignon, pignon caramélisé, mayonnaise
__ Campagne : Boeuf maison, gruyère, champignons, oignon caramélisé, mayonaise.
__ Bleu : Boeuf maison, Fourme d'Ambert, sauce porto, oignon caramélisé, mayonnaise
__ Porc : Porc braisé à la bière, sauce BBQ, coleslaw, mayonnaise
Watch the last line : no more than 5 burgers per person...

What impressed me is the 4 staff in the kitchen, plus the guy going to the waiting customers in the line to fill up their orders, that's quite a lot, there's certainly an economic model to emulate here because Kristin found a way to employ lots of workers and still make a profit.
I chose the Campagne but I should maybe have tried the Bleu with the porto sauce and the cheese. The meat looked fine, much better and generous than in a fast food. The down thing here was the fries, I don't know if they're always so miserably greasy or if that was the wrong day, but they made the whole lunch smell graillon like we say in French, meaning this smell of old frying oil. I'll try again another time to be sure.
Interview of Kristin, who speaks good French with a lovely accent.

To know the locations of the different food trucks in Paris, check pouet-pouet.com, then type "Paris" in the window above/left and click on "Go": you'll have the Paris map with all the food trucks. It is updated day after day, and by clicking on one of the red arrows you'll see the given food truck with a link to its website for further information.

Airstream food truck in Tokyo Here are a few pictures about this food-truck craze that has also overcome Tokyo.
I shot this picture in a strange place in Tokyo near Omotesando, the fashion district. It looks like a vacant lot od some sort has been occupied by a colony of food trucks, bars on wheels and so on. very American-style ambiance here, revisited by the Japanese.
246 Common, subtitled "Food Carts & Farmer's Market" is worth the detour, you'll find not only fine bread, herbs, wine, foods etc but also some shoes or other non-food items, and you'll bath in some sort of American inspired Tokyoite farmer's market format.
I found the place by chance while walking the back streets of Omotesando last march and I love the idea.

Like many people, I love these Airstream trailers and their seemingly-unchanged, boxy and lunar-module esthetics. This mobile café seems to be operated by a brich-and-mortat cafe company, W Wired Cafe <> Fit. 246 Common : Brooklyn Ribbon Fries 246 Common : Omotesando Sakabe (hot wine!) 246 Common : food shack Oops, not a food shack : a Koban (Police box) in Omotesando Other Airstream between Omotesando & Harajuku (Pizza restaurant) Crêperie Here are a few more food trucks, Tokyo style. The following trucks, vans and trailers were all located at Yurakucho, near Ginza and Marunouchi in central Tokyo. Lots of foreign flavors here too, France, Italy, America...
Many of the dishes here were priced 650 Y only (5 € or 6,5 USD at today's rates) which proves again that Tokyo has very affordable venues. Mahalo Hawai meal Boxx No-name food truck Spicy Pork Sauté Specialty Coffee Roastery Sakaeya Pizza Van Pinos Chicken Diner Omtrak 7Trayz My favorite : a Yaki-Imo truck (Nishi-Nippori)

Comments

[delval]

Bonjour,
super article:-)!!
Nous ouvrons un véritable et atypique food truck sur lille et sa région d'ici la fin du mois! Chicken Gourmet est le tout premier food truck spécialisé dans le poulet; nous proposons des Burgers & poulets rôtis revesités!
http://www.chickengourmet.fr

[Danee]

The no name truck's name is just right there on the banner flag.. But I guess you don't read kanji.