It seems every time there's a food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park, it is the largest one ever. And they've done it again.

More than 50 trucks will gather from 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday for the Triangle's largest food truck gathering to date. The trucks gather in downtown Durham at the intersection Foster and Hunt streets where the farmers market pavilion is located.

Brian Bottger with Only Burger just confirmed that this event will include beer. Fullsteam Brewery will be selling beer to go with the food on these trucks and many more: Pie Pushers, Stoke & Smoke BBQ, Boxcarr Farms, Big City Sandwiches, Porchetta and Blue Ribbon Delights.

To see the complete list of trucks, go to durhamcentralpark.org/events/food-truck-rodeo/

Each fall, Durham Central Park offers a series of fundraising dinners called Meals from the Market. The schedule of those events and tickets are now available HERE.

One of those events is a small food truck rodeo called "Trucks from the Market" next Sunday, Oct. 14 from 6-8 p.m. Instead of long lines and trucks running out of food, this will be a ticketed event to make sure everyone gets a taste off every truck. So for $50, you get a taste of food from all 13 trucks, 2 Carolina Brewery beers and hopefully a lovely Sunday evening in downtown Durham.

The participating trucks include Only Burger, Pie Pushers, Triangle Raw Foods, Chick-N-Que, Mama Duke's, Sympathy for the Deli, Porchetta, KoKyu BBQ, American Meltdown, Farmhand Foods, Monuts Donuts, The Parlour and Daisy Cakes.

Here's where it gets good for one lucky Mouthful reader: the organizers have offered a pair of tickets for free as a giveaway.

So you know the drill, leave a comment below this post before noon, Thursday, Oct. 11. I will pick a winner at random and arrange for the winner to pick up tickets at the event. Good luck!

Come over to The News & Observer from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3 for lunch from a food truck.

We'll have Only Burger, Klausie's Pizza and The Parlour, which will be dishing out scoops of ice cream. The trucks will be parked in the front lot at 215 S. McDowell St.

And mark your calendar for the last N&O food truck Friday of the year on Oct. 5.
 

Officials with both the Durham Central Park and the Durham Farmers' Market said Tuesday they were surprised by city officials' proposal to ban food trucks and other vendors from the streets surrounding the park.

Both Matthew Coppedge, president of the park's board, and Charles Samuels, a member of the farmer's market board, said they were unaware a new policy was in the works. "I don't want people to think the Durham Farmers' Market had a hand in writing these regulations," Samuels said late Tuesday.

The public can attend a hearing about the new rules from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, July 9 at Durham City Hall in the audit services conference room on the first floor.

Samuels said market manager Erin Kauffman met with the park's board, city parks and recreation officials and an assistant city attorney in March 2011 but hadn't heard anything from city officials since. Coppedge said the discussion centered on unlicensed and unauthorized vendors in and near the park when the market meets on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

"We were looking for guidance from Durham Central Park and the city," Samuels said. (Samuels' partner, Phoebe Lawless, is a vendor at the market and owner of Scratch, a downtown Durham bakery.)

Both men added that their organizations support the park's vibrant scene. In fact, the park board teams up with food trucks to host a regular gathering of 30 or more food trucks that attracts hundreds of people to the park.

On Monday, Durham officials sent out a press release announcing the proposed food truck rules, which not only ban trucks around the park but also ban food trucks within 100 feet of the front entrance of a restaurant unless the truck has the owner's permission.

The rules appear to not only affect food trucks but anyone selling from "a vehicle, cart, stand, table, or other device or thing, whether or not wheeled." There is a similar restriction around the Durham Bulls ballpark.

Durham has long been considered the friendliest town in the Triangle to food truck entreprenuers. Raleigh and Chapel Hill are more restrictive towards food trucks, in part due to protest by restaurant owners. Neither city has as vibrant a food truck scene as Durham.

In Durham, many food trucks have had a long-standing practice of parking on the periphery of the farmer's market. In fact, Brian Bottger, who owns the Only Burger truck and restaurant, had recently obtained a permit to close off part of nearby Hunt Street to create a designated area for food trucks during the market. City officials told Bottger that his permit could be revoked if these new rules are approved.

On a recent Saturday morning, Bottger said there were not only food trucks but folks selling lemonade, t-shirts and frozen food. "I didn't see business licenses anywhere," said Bottger, who also serves on the Durham Central Park board. "It's getting a little chaotic. I can understand people wanting to get it under control."

Durham City-County Planning Supervisor Grace Smith, noted that the city wants to stay friendly to food trucks in Durham. She pointed out two other proposed changes help the trucks. City officials want to remove a rule that require trucks to move 60 feet every 15 minutes and another rule that required truck owners to obtain a mobile cart permit.

Go HERE to read the proposed rules.

Durham officials are considering banning food trucks from within 100 feet of the front entrance of a restaurant and from the Durham Central Park area.

Go HERE to see food writer Andrea Weigl's post about the new rules.

The recipe was inspired by Only Burger's Morning Burger (pictured left). It  was shared courtesy of John T. Edge's "The Truck Food Cookbook: 150 Recipes and Ramblings from America's Best Restaurant on Wheels." Edge will be at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 20.

I had a Q&A with Edge published in this morning's paper. 

Click READ MORE to see the recipe.

Congrats to the five Triangle burger joints that got a mention in this month's Southern Living magazine: Only Burger and Bull City Burger and Brewery, both in Durham, Chuck's in Raleigh, Buns in Chapel Hill and Johnson's in Siler City. (The latter is one of my favorites in the state.)

Go HERE to see the Durham mentions in the story, courtesy of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Click on the pdf below to see the entire story.

Documents:

I'm giving away a copy of John T. Edge's new book, "The Truck Food Cookbook: 150 Recipes and Ramblings from America's Best Restaurants on Wheels."

Only Burger, Daisy Cakes, Klausie's Pizza and Farmhand Foods Sausage Wagon get a mention in the chapter on Durham. And there's a recipe for Only Burger's fried green tomato and pimento cheese burger.

You know the drill. To enter, leave a comment below this post before noon April 27. I'll choose a winner at random. Good luck!

The sixth annual Empty Bowls fundraiser will be serving up bowls of soup to benefit Urban Ministries of Durham as usual. But this year, organizers have added an after party at Fullsteam Brewery  and Motorco Music Hall with a food truck roundup.

So now you have two opportunities to help the Urban Ministries of Durham's Community Cafe, which serves nearly 220,000 meals annually to those in need.

From 5:30-8 p.m. March 8, eleven restaurants will be competing for the title of "Best Soup" at The Durham Armory. You can pay $15 to enjoy some soup or $30 for soup and a handcrafted bowl made by local artisans to take home. Children age 6 and under eat for free. To buy tickets, go to  www.umdurham.org.

The participating restaurants include Guglhupf, Revolution, L'Uva, Papa Mojo's Roadhouse, Thrills from the Grill, Watts Grocery, Blu Seafood and Bar, Whole Foods, Toast, Saladelia Cafe and Mad Hatter Bakeshop and Cafe.

If you can't make the earlier event, head over to Fullsteam Brewery and Motorco Music Hall starting at 8 p.m. for the after party. Seven food trucks will be debuting a new dish and donating a percentage of their sales to Urban Ministries of Durham. The food trucks include Pie Pushers, Will & Pops, The Parlour, Chirba Chirba Dumpling, Klausie's Pizza, Only Burger and Farmhand Foods Sausage Wagon. 

The opening night of Green Day's "American Idiot" at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium will feature a food truck rodeo.

From 5-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, six trucks -- Klausie's Pizza, Only Burger, KoKyu BBQ, Baguettaboutit, Lo Yo On The Go and Chick-N-Que -- will serve food before the 7:30 performance. The trucks will gather in front of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.

There is also a special ticket offer for the opening performance: $32 for seats in the orchestra section, $22 for seats in the mezzanine section. That's a $10 discount. Use the code ROCK when ordering. Call 831-6941, ext. 6944. To order online, go to www.nctheatre.com.