Eddie's Pizza Truck Back On Roosevelt Island Tonight, RIOC Wants To Outsource Food Trucks and NY Times City Room Reports On Great Roosevelt Island Mobile Food Truck Drama

 Image From Olya Turcihin

Good news for those of you who were missing and asking for Eddie's Pizza Food Truck over the weekend.

Image Of Eddie's Food Truck On Roosevelt Island Today

They are back today on Roosevelt Island in front of Starbucks on the West Promenade. I asked earlier today if they would come to Roosevelt Island on weekends but they said they do private events then but are very happy to be here at other times.

Unfortunately, La Bella Torte is not here tonight.

The NY Times City Room Blog reported today on the Great Roosevelt Island Mobile Food Truck drama. According to the NY Times:

... In many New York City neighborhoods, the sight of food on wheels is passé.

... But not so here on Roosevelt Island, the finger-shaped strip of land in the East River straddled by the Queensboro Bridge. It has only recently joined the ranks of communities catered to by upscale food trucks....

and:

... “This refreshes the area,” said Pedro Cano, 46, a resident of the island for about a year, after buying two banana Nutella cakes from La Bella Torte.

“There’s all this new stuff happening,” said Corinne Vope, 55, a Roosevelt Islander for the past six years. “You can just feel it in the air. It’s electric.”...

Also:

... And two restaurant owners – Alfonso DiCioccio, who owns Nonno’s Focacceria, and Jonathan Hoo, the owner of Riverwalk Bar & Grill – took particular issue with allowing the trucks to set up shop free only a few feet from their brick-and-mortar establishments.

“You put them smack dab in the middle of us,” Mr. Hoo said. “As a business owner, I’d rather them not be here.”

A number of times Mr. DiCioccio has sent two girls to flank the food trucks and distribute fliers promoting his restaurant to passers-by.

“If you’re asking me,” he said, “would I rather not compete? Sure.” But he added that he thought his restaurant offered better food for lower prices than the pizza truck....

 Click here for the entire NY Times article on Roosevelt Island Mobile Food Trucks.

What's the future of Roosevelt Island Mobile Food Trucks following the experimental July waiver of $345 monthly fee? The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Real Estate Committee (full audio web cast of meeting is here) discussed these issues during July 19 meeting. The result of the meeting was that RIOC will ask the NY Street Food Association to  run a type of "food truck lot" with rotating trucks for different days of the week on the 3 West Promenade spots as well as other designated areas. It's still to be determined if NY Street Food Association wishes to operate a "food truck lot" on Roosevelt Island.

Here's the full Roosevelt Island Food Truck discussion at July 19 Operations Committee meeting. It's a very interesting view as to how decisions get made on Roosevelt Island.