Jennifer Silverberg

This, but twenty stories up.

There seems to be no easy answer to the conflict between food trucks parking in the city and the bricks-and-mortar restaurants that don't want them there.

Or have we just not been thinking creatively?

An article in today's New York Times suggests a different direction.

Up.

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Jennifer Silverberg

Every now and then the Telex here at Gut Check International Headquarters spits out a piece of news so remarkable that we have to quadruple-check it before we post it. The following is such an item. And, yes, it's legit.

Guerrilla Street Food (@GuerrillaStreet;314-529-1328) is giving away food today.

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Jennifer Silverberg

A "big fat sushi roll" from Chop Shop

Seoul Taco (@SeoulTaco; 314-517-8916) slings the original hip-food-truck cuisine. Chop Shop (@ChopShopSTL) offers a cuisine seemingly unfit for food trucks. My review of the two trucks is now available online, as is Jennifer Silverberg's slideshow of Chop Shop.

Robin Wheeler

Eliott Harris left Miso on Meramec to start Chop Shop, a sushi food truck.

This week, I take a look at two of the more interesting food trucks rolling through our streets: the Korean-Mexican mashup Seoul Taco (@SeoulTaco; 314-517-9816) and the sushi truck Chop Shop (@chopshopstl). A sneak preview of my review after the jump.

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Gut Check noticed last week that the Sicily Streat (@SicilyStreat; 314-440-2636) appears to have gone AWOL. The food truck has sent no tweets from its account since the end of February, and -- anecdotally, at least -- there have been no sightings of it since then, either.

Our attempts to reach the Daake siblings, the trucks' owners, have been unsuccessful so far. However, Sauce was able to speak with Catherine Daake, who says the truck remains in litigation with Mangia Italiano (3145 South Grand Boulevard; 314-664-8585).

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Has this week's review of Guerrilla Street Food (@GuerrillaStreet; 314-529-1328) convinced you to stop grumbling about "the kids these days" and embrace the food-truck revolution? Are you already a food-truck aficionado, but can't keep straight just how many there are -- or where they are today?

Gut Check has the solution. And you don't even have to leave your favorite food blog to find it.

Our food-truck tracker is now live on the right side of every Gut Check page. This draws from the Twitter feeds of every truck on our comprehensive list of mobile St. Louis vendors.

Do you know of a truck or other mobile vendor whose Twitter account we missed? Let us know in the comments.

Jennifer Silverberg

The "Flying Pig" at Guerrilla Street Food, a food truck

Pigs fly at Guerrilla Street Food (@GuerrillaStreet; 314-529-1328). They also wander. My review of Guerrilla Street Food is now available online, as is Jennifer Silverberg's slideshow of the food truck.

via Facebook

This week I visit Guerrilla Street Food (@GuerrillaStreet; 314-529-1328), the badass Filipino food truck.

Guerrilla Street Food cuts an imposing figure as it rolls through the streets of St. Louis. No candy-colored graphics or cute cartoon logos for this food truck. The vehicle is painted black, and the logo resembles a military insignia: a gold star, at the center of which a knife and spatula are crossed like swords.

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Blackfinn American Grille (1147 Saint Louis Galleria, Richmond Heights; 314-726-5300) will have its official opening this Thursday, March 29. Curious? You don't have to wait till Thursday. The restaurant, which is taking over the former Mark Shale space in the mall, has been in soft-opening mode for the past few days.

Blackfinn joins J. Gilbert's Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood (17 West County Center, Des Peres; 314-965-4600) and BrickTop's (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard, Frontenac; 314-567-6300) in the ranks of higher-end chains to open in St. Louis over the past year. Blackfinn also has locations in Houston and Austin, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Merrifield, Virginia.

Gut Check will have a "First Look" at Blackfinn very soon. In the meantime, you can view the restaurant's menu or call 314-726-5300 for more info.

When each week seems to bring news of a new food truck or two, you can easily lose track of all the trucks already on the streets of St. Louis. Which is why Gut Check didn't notice till a Twitter friend pointed it out this morning that Sicily Streat (@SicilyStreat; 314-440-2636), née Mangia Mobile, one of the first of the new wave of food trucks, has been awfully quiet of late.

In fact, the truck hasn't tweeted since February 28. This was its last message:

We're trying to get in touch with the truck's owners for more information, though the phone number listed on the Sicily Streat website is no longer connected.

More as we learn it. (Has anyone seen the truck out and about this month?)