The official city of Madison food cart rankings for 2014 have been compiled and there's a familiar name topping the list: FIB's Fine Italian Beef and Sausage. FIB's also topped the cart rankings in 2012.
To be clear, the FIB's in question is the original FIB's, also dubbed FIB's 1, which vends at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Main Street on the Square. FIB's opened a second cart in 2013 that has been vending on or near Library Mall; FIB's 2 ranked 25th this year.
The number one ranking for FIB's 1 is helped with its seven points for seven years of seniority, plus consistent Chicago-centric branding from the cart (complete with Chicago-themed tunes) to its focused menu and carefully prepped foods.
Every fall, a committee of two dozen or so enthusiastic cart-eaters, recruited by street vending coordinator Warren Hansen, eats at every cart during a two-week review period. (Full disclosure: This year, I was a member of the committee.) Committee members are charged with evaluating each cart on a number of criteria, and scores are weighted 40% to food, 40% to "apparatus" (which includes evaluating cart design for both visual appeal and service practicality, as well as cleanliness and maintenance) and 20% to originality (with regard to both menu and cart design). Committee members must visit 80% of the carts or their scores are not counted.
Points are added for seniority (this tops out at 7 years, though, no matter how long the cart has been vending); deductions are made by the city for health or vending code violations. Top carts get their first pick of sites for the following year. If a cart's scores fall below 70, further work is deemed necessary before it is allowed to vend.
Two carts had deductions for "significant health or vending violations" -- SoHo Gourmet with seven and Hibachi Hut with five. Most carts have no deductions or just one.
This year, 50 carts participated, down slightly from last year's 53 carts, but still up from 2012's 48.
Here are the top ten carts in the city's official scoring for 2014:
- FIB's 1
- Good Food 1
- El Burrito Loco
- Curt's Gourmet Popcorn (MLK at Doty Street)
- Zen Sushi
- Slide
- Caracas Empanadas
- Teriyaki Samurai
- Surco Peruvian
- Fresh Cool Drinks
A slightly different view of the current cart scene results if one considers what the committee came up with from the review period only (including food, originality and appearance scores, but leaving aside seniority and demerits). It's easy to see how seniority points can really affect the overall list.
Here's this somewhat altered top ten:
- Good Food 1
- SoHo Gourmet
- Good Food 2
- Slide
- Melted
- Ladonia Cafe
- Caracas Empanadas
- Curd Girl
- FIB's 1
- Umami Dumpling
Looking at the list this way shines a light on some of the up-and-coming carts like Slide, a non-burger slider sandwich cart; Melted, a fancy grilled cheese cart; Curd Girl, home to ethereal fried cheese curds and housemade dipping sauces, and Ladonia Cafe, which features "healthy comfort food" that also happens to be vegan.
Worth noting here are the high scores for Good Food 2, a brand new cart from Melanie Nelson, who has replicated her popular salad/wrap/soup cart (the original Good Food usually vends at Main and Pinckney Streets) with a somewhat different menu, although alike in concept. Good Food 2 was the highest-scoring of the new carts jockeying for spots in 2015.
For new carts that have not vended before and aim to start regular vending next season, overall scoring from the review committee looked like this:
- Good Food 2
- Cali Fresh (a.k.a. Marimar Mexican Fresh)
- Pagoda Smoothie
- Café Social
- Bulgogi Burrito 2
- Blair Street BBQ
- Imperial Pops
- Marimar on Wheels
- Say Cheese
- Johnson Public House
The lineup of future vendors lacks any radically new cuisine or food type for Madison carts (unlike last year's high-scoring Melted, for instance, which brought the grilled cheese trend to town).
Two of these new carts (Bulgogi Burrito 2 and Pagoda Smoothies) have had previous menu incarnations (as Wei's Food to Go and Tea Garden, respectively) but retain the same ownership, and so retain their seniority points for their final scores.
View the complete 2014 rankings.
