I fully understand if no one has an answer, but any chance there will be food trucks outside during PAPA 19/IFPA 13?
And if so, any chance they will have something vegetarian on the menu?
(Even if I can´t play like Jorian, I can at least try to eat like Jorian! )
I love food trucks! I follow a bunch of them in my area.
Any chance the trucks themselves can simply park outside somewhere? I don’t know how the laws are like where PAPA will be though. I remember asking about food trucks in another topic and they said that in Pittsburgh, they’re not allowed to park in public. (Apparently, San Bernardino is like that too.) On the opposite end, each Friday, there’s a food truck gathering in Granada Hills, CA I frequently visit, and the city itself actually reserves the curbsides for about two and a half blocks for the food trucks, labeled as a “special event.” This is a street sign from the area:
And this is a small part of the line of food trucks that results (those gaps get filled in later in the day):
[size=7]For the record, these trucks, from left to right, are Cousins Maine Lobsters (seafood rolls), Dreamy Creations (cupcakes and cookies), Kimbobrex (Korean), Primetime Meals on Wheels (classic Americana), and…a Hawaiian one whose name I forgot and can’t make out from this photo.[/size]
Would PAPA be able to get this sort of permission? Perhaps they won’t be able to have permanent street signs like that, due to the event being once per year, but I see film shoots and streetside festivals get temporary “Reserved Parking” or “No Parking, (X) Permits Exempted” signs.
I asked about this for past tournaments there, but the PAPA folks work with one food provider to be the exclusive onsite option so food trucks are a no go during that time.
For the IFPA championship, I don’t think the facility is “open,” meaning that there will be fewer than 100 people there. (No spectators? I am not up on this.)
There are plenty of good food options within a few miles, including some that deliver. I’m a fan of Raya’s Pizza (which delivers to PAPA) and Cafe Delhi (which has many vegetarian options and takeout). I think there’s also a chain sandwich shop that delivers. Also in Carnegie, Bob’s Diner has decent comfort food, and I’m excited to try Bacn (which, as you might guess, is not vegan-friendly). A bit further out there’s Mad Mex at Robinson, with a large and diverse Cal-Mex menu, late hours, and online takeout ordering. Hit up Yelp and Google Maps and you won’t starve.
That exclusive food provider wouldn’t happen to be Aramark, would it?
Even if there is an exclusive food provider, it doesn’t mean there can’t be food trucks. At least in the case with the Los Angeles Convention Center, when it was partnered up with Aramark, Aramark had no say in whether or not food trucks could arrive. This is because Aramark’s area of control was inside and around the building, but the food trucks parked across the street (which was outside of their control). Hence, you could get Aramark food inside, or you could walk out and get food truck food.
Again though, I guess it comes down to local law. I don’t know how it works where this competition will be.
The parking lot for PAPA isn’t big enough for more than one food truck at a time. Last year we did try a different food truck every day.
We received lot of complaints for the lack of variety (we only had one truck per day due to space limitations) and the trucks would only stay for a few hours, so that generated complaints because food was only available onsite for a short window.
Add to that, one day some equipment broke on one of the trucks and they left about 20 minutes in so we got complaints that there wasn’t a back-up food truck (no I’m not making this up).
There are quite a few options within driving distance and our local vendor (Harris Grill) has provided us with great service in the past.
Ah, thanks for the detailed explanation! That actually explains a lot. (Complaints that there isn’t a back-up food truck would make sense if that was the only food option on the premises and there wasn’t a list of suggested places to go somewhere–if I’m in a town I’m not familiar with, and I am on foot, I’d prefer not to take chances.)