A lot of citys complain about these "roach coaches" as they are so lovingly called. They call them eyesores, and say they take up too many parking places. But they are missing the biggest impact these entrepeneurs have on a city: PRODUCTVITY. When I worked on Wall Street, I lived on these guy's food. I was not really able to take much time out for lunch. A 1-hour lunch meant stopping what I was doing, getting to the restuarant, ordering, eating, cleaning up and then getting back to work. It actually would take more than 1 hour. With the trucks parked outside our buildings, I could run down and get everything from Sweet and Sour Pork with Fried Rice, Tacos, Hotdogs and Hammburgers, Gyros and Souvlaki, Argentinian Beef, and many other cuisines. I would be back at my desk in less than ten minutes, coding away and shoveling tasty food in my mouth. So, lets hear it for the "roach coaches" of any variety! It makes us work smarter, not harder!

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I hate these things. The people driving them are all idiots and consistently cause traffic problems.

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As a former construction worker, I agree with Dan T. We often had only a few minutes to grab a meal or a break, and the roach coach was quick, the hot food was hot and the cold drinks were cold. There was a regular route, so you had the same truck each day, and knew what was good and what wasn't so good. They were regulated by the health code, and I can't remember anyone ever getting sick. Often the driver's wives made something extra special--one guy had New Mexican style enchiladas made with flour tortillas and a whole anaheim chile--kind of like a chile relleno in a flour tortilla with wet, sloppy chile verde salsa with shredded pork--it came in a foil wrap with a plastic fork and knife and is still one of my fondest food memories. He told me he sold 200+ a day and could have sold more if his wife and kids could have made more. We usually had them for breakfast, because they were gone by lunch.

Possible they weren't the best drivers out there, though.

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