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