WASHINGTON – In recent years, gourmet mobile food vendors have become a staple on the streets of Washington, D.C., but while customers are happy to have more choices than the ubiquitous hot dog, not everyone is happy about the influx, the City Paper reports.

The popularity of these gourmet food trucks, which serve such diverse fare as Canadian poutine, Korean-style tacos, Indian butter chicken, Maine lobster rolls, Middle Eastern shawarma and Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, has rattled the established brick-and-mortar restaurants and angered traditional food vendors.

The District’s restaurants are fighting back against the influx of mobile food vendors much the same way as New York City and Los Angeles: by means of legislative restrictions. Traditional food cart vendors, along with the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, have requested that the D.C. Council limit where these gourmet trucks can be parked.

For example, the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals Association weighed in with the opinion that “the concept of allowing commercial activity at a parking meter is inconsistent with the public policy that parking meters are for customers, not commercial activity or employees.” Other proposals include instructions that would not allow the trucks to stay in one location for longer than a half hour to avoid taking away lunch or dinner business from tax-paying stationary restaurants, or would ban vendors from parking “within a 100 feet of an existing food establishment of any kind.”

Most of the animosity of food trucks and restaurants is the disparity between the sales tax rates, out-of-state license plates and sidewalk congestion. The council will take up the proposals and likely make a decision soon.

Read more about food truck vendors in the November 2009 NACS Magazine article, “Meals on Wheels.”