It's hard to explain the perverse pleasure that comes from eating food served from a truck.  Perhaps it appeals to our nomadic origins or maybe it's nothing more than a worthy show of respect to anyone who can make a meal in a van. 

The splendidly orange Mud Truck, seen around Astor Place in New York, began in part as an eccentric challenge to the hegemony of a certain Seattle-based coffee empire that need not be named.  In this case, dissent costs a dollar a cup, and it turns out they make damn good coffee.

Taco trucks on the West Coast have devotees--as well as their dissenters, who call them roach coaches.  The LA-based blog Taco Hunt tacohunt.blogspot.com recommends La Oaxaquena.  The Mission in San Francisco hosts El Tonayense which has enough of a following that they've grown into a small fleet.  The Food Shark, in Marfa, Texas, is a favorite, with enough ambition to offer 'Mediterranean Salads.'   

But the Mud Truck achieved the goal that many mobile restaurants secretly covet: they were offered space in the Kiehl's store on Third Avenue, and now have a home that's more secure than a garage.

--David Coggins

When you're stuck in traffic or wandering the streets of Manhattan, keep your eyes open for manhole covers printed with mysterious conceptual conceits. As part of his retrospective, opening this week at the Whitney, Lawrence Weiner has installed manholes all over town bearing the phrase "In direct line with another & the next."

(IN DIRECT LINE WITH ANOTHER & THE NEXT Lawrence Weiner, 2000. Cast-iron manhole cover , 31 15/16 in. (81.1cm). Public Art Fund project in collaboration with Con Edison and Roman Stone, New York, Courtesy Moved Pictures Archive, New York. Photograph by Kirsten Weiner)

Known for printing words on bridges, buildings and walls of houses, Weiner is unafraid to think large.  Here, he shows a more discreet touch.  In a town where nobody looks up, he's hiding secrets before the eyes, and under the wheels, of the masses.

--David Coggins

James Bond wasn't really much of an environmentalist. He seemed more interested in drinking a bottle of Dom Perignon than recycling it. English artist Chris Gilmore has made a cardboard Aston Martin that any secret agent can appreciate.

Aston Martin is known for its hand-crafted excellence, but this is a new level of individuality. You don't have to be Q to know to keep it away from the carwash.

--David Coggins