By John Birdsall, SFoodie Editor in Buzz Machine, Pavement Cuisine

Thu., Nov. 12 2009 @ 2:51PM

CaliforniaTacoTrucks.com

Curry Up Now: Poaching from established merchants?

In September, the Peninsula city of Burlingame got a spicy taste of taco-truck Indian food via Curry Up Now. But according to a story in the San Mateo County Times, the truck is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of at least some of the city’s brick-and-mortar merchants, who think it has no place in Burlingame’s affluent downtown and want it gone. The Times‘ Mike Rosenberg reports that owners Akash and Rana Kapoor are complying with a police request to move the Curry Up Now truck 500 feet every 30 minutes.

“The appearance of the new Curry Up Now food truck in downtown Burlingame … has irked some restaurateurs and business leaders who pay high rents in the area,” Rosenberg writes. “City officials and police, meanwhile, have begun fielding complaints and investigating the legality and rules surrounding lunch trucks, and they may ask the owner to move to an industrial area near the Bay.”

The Kapoors argue they’re not stealing business away from anybody. Rosenberg reports that Akash Kapoor reckons some 20 to 30 percent of diners come from dozens of miles away — visitors who are likely to patronize Burlingame’s brick and mortar shops. Customers can keep up with Curry Up Now’s shifting whereabouts through tweets, some that list its GPS coordinates.

A planned meeting with city officials, business leaders, and the Kapoors might result in Curry Up Now having to move out of downtown. Read an interview with Akash Kapoor from early October on Cyrus Farivar’s California Taco Trucks blog.