The new Hot Hot Bakery food cart is spending its first day on the streets of Arlington today, featuring freshly baked croissants and other French inspired fare.
Chris Deutsch and his wife Amy Fuller spent a year baking and training in Paris in preparation for opening a food business in Arlington. Deutsch, who is part French, grew up eating the type of pastries featured in his food cart.
The Green Eggs and Burgers cart first started serving customers in October, from an underused parking lot in Bethesda. Today, the cart also started serving Rosslyn. The cart is serving breakfast and lunch today on N. Lynn Street, according to the cart’s Twitter account.
Green Eggs and Burgers’ menu includes breakfast items like an egg sandwich, pancakes, french toast, a french toast egg sandwich and omelettes. Lunch items include burgers and fries.
Founder Osiris Hoil tells ARLnow.com that the new location, at 1309 F Street NW near Metro Center, will open to the public on Friday. Hoil, who launched the District Taco cart in 2009 after being laid off from a construction job, called new restaurant “my American dream” on Twitter.
The D.C. eatery is District Taco’s second location. Hoil opened the original restaurant, at 5723 Lee Highway in Arlington, in November 2010.
The new District Taco restaurant will be located at 1309 F Street NW, near Metro Center. It will be District Taco’s second brick-and-mortar location, after its popular Arlington location on Lee Highway. Owner Osiris Hoil tells ARLnow.com that he hopes to be able to open the D.C. eatery at some point this spring.
Partly on account of the effort to complete the build-out, and partly on account of the cold weather, District Taco has garaged its popular, battle-scarred food cart — dubbed “El Torito” — for the next couple of months.
Over the weekend, Pedro & Vinny’s opened in the tiny (repainted, non-mobile) building that once housed Santa Ana Restaurant on Columbia Pike, in the parking lot between the CVS Pharmacy and the new Penrose Square apartments.
Pedro & Vinny’s Pike outpost is not owned by cart proprietor John Rider. Rather, it’s the first Pedro & Vinny’s franchise, owned and operated by the owner of the former Santa Ana Restaurant.
The bright yellow van that tows the cart was involved in a fender bender this morning in nearly the same location as the first accident — on Lee Highway at Lynn Street in Rosslyn. Twitter user @heryandotus captured the scene from a nearby building. It appears that a car swerved into the van’s lane, sideswiping it. Luckily, the van and the cart were able to continue on to Crystal City to serve breakfast tacos.
“It’s fixed, Amigo!” District Taco said on its Twitter account.
District Taco Cart Returns — Just two days after it flipped over in the middle of a busy entrance ramp, the District Taco cart was patched up and serving crowds of customers at the Courthouse Farmers Market.
McAuliffe to Headline LGBT Fundraiser — Terry McAuliffe — who’s said to be considering another run for the Virginia governor’s mansion — is headlining a fundraiser for the Virginia Partisans, the Political Action Committee of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. The fundraiser, which seeks to raise $40,000 for Democratic state Senate candidates, is being held at the house of County Board member Jay Fisette on July 14.
The cart flipped over this morning on the ramp from Lee Highway to I-66/Roosevelt Bridge in Rosslyn. On Twitter, District Taco blamed a broken tow hitch for the mishap.
“The life of a food trucker is not easy,” @districttaco lamented. “This is one of the problems that we have to face.”
Capital Empanadas will serve “freshly-made Andean-style empanadas” to denizens of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and, in a few weeks, Crystal City as well.
The cart’s owner, Richard Villegas, is a native of Colombia and a ten-year Arlington resident. Villegas says he is “thrilled” to introduce this “unique treat” to the area.
(Updated at 2:10 p.m.) Food trucks and carts were out in force around Welburn Square in Ballston today. With temperatures reaching into low 70s, workers flocked to the square for some spring-like outdoor dining.
The proprietors of the BBQ Bandidos truck, who continued serving their signature sandwiches and cemitas through the cold weather months, said business has picked up considerably. Across the street, a long line extended from the bright pink Curbside Cupcake truck.
The event, “Food Carts: Regulations and Best Practices 2011,” will be held between 6:00 and 8:30 p.m. on March 9 at the Central Library auditorium (1015 North Quincy Street). Registration is free.
Among the featured speakers will be District Taco owner Osiris Hoil, who “will share his insight on how he used his food cart business to secure a retail lease in Arlington County.” Representatives from the Arlington’s health department, police department and tax office will also be on hand.
