New York -- Milwaukee's food truck and cart population is consistently growing. I came across Red Truck Sliders for the first time a few weeks ago.
But we have a very long way to go to match New York City, which has a century-old tradition of street eats. Over the years, those corner hot dog carts have been as symbolic of the Big Apple as Brooklyn accents and the Yankees.
In the winter, generations of New Yorkers have bought hot roasted chestnuts from street peddlers presiding over charcoal-fired kettles. Follow your nose to find them.
While the food truck craze is relatively new to most cities, including Milwaukee, New York has been building its meals on wheels repertoire to the point that you can find the exotic and the inventive dining opportunity as well as the mundane in Manhattan this summer.
Consider the bright yellow Belgian waffle truck that offers pulled pork BBQ as well as traditional toppings. If you're in the mood for chili, you can have it ladled over the top of a cornbread waffle.
Like ice cream sandwiches? I bet you have never had one filled with avocado, wasabi or toasted sesame ice cream. The sesame is a tasty, nuanced sibling of butter pecan.
The Coolhaus truck wedges slabs of its imaginative ice creams between equally unusual cookies. Try the pistachio agave or lemon rosemary.
I walked past a mobile kitchen yesterday selling the Korean marinated beef dish bulgogi, and you can also find Chinese dumplings and Austrian schnitzels being served from trucks.
What is the delicacy you want to eat from a Milwaukee food truck?
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
