Former Cosmos chef Stephen Trojahn is the creative force behind this meals-on-wheels version of a locavore-minded gastropub, minus the beer. The slider, sold in pairs on grilled New French Bakery buns, is the food vehicle of choice, and each one elicits a major case of the You Gotta Taste This: smoked trout blended with wild rice and dressed with red peppers, tender slow-cooked pork belly topped with butter-braised Swiss chard and tangy pickled daikon, a vegetarian's dream of a barbecued sandwich, done up with black-eyed peas and smoked tempeh. Even the sides are worth the trip. Ditto the sodas.

Co-owners Birk Grudem and Christina Nguyen, found inspiration for their teal-green truck while dining at a Venezuelan restaurant in New York City. They zeroed in on arepas, hand-rolled, fresh-baked cornmeal buns that are split, grilled and filled with superbly executed taste sensations. Combinations range from slow-roasted, fall-apart pork with black beans and crumbled Cotija cheese to a cilantro- and pickled onion-studded chicken salad. Coming soon: a corn-dogged arepa, deep-fried plantains and yucca, and, whether Minnesota is ready or not, confit-style guinea pig. "It'll go," Grudem said with a laugh. "It tastes like rabbit."

Hot dog stands have been downtown staples for years, but no one does the genre better than Nate Beck. After years of selling local chefs Birkenstock kitchen shoes, the Nate in Natedogs decided to get into the business himself. He's starting small, pulling his compact trailer all over town from the back of his 1989 Jeep Cherokee. Beck gets all the elements right. The delicious all-pork dogs and brats hail from Pastures A Plenty Farm in Kerkhoven, Minn., where the pigs' comfortable lives come through in each smoked, uncured bite. He tops them with sweetly caramelized onions, a sharp sauerkraut and a squirt of coarse-ground mustard mixed with Minnesota-brewed beers. Beverages? Fizzy Spring Grove sodas, bottled in tiny Spring Grove, Minn.

Just as I had passed a cute orange minivan at 10th Street and Nicollet Mall, I heard a woman squeal the word "Frosting!" You'd stop, too, wouldn't you? Turns out the van was Cupcake on the Go and the featured attraction was 50-cent shots of butter- and sugar-laden vanilla icing, just the right size for those in search of a sweet treat. Owner Kevin Vanderaa, looking for a way to maximize business at his Prospect Park bakery/cafe during Central Corridor light-rail construction hassles, is hitting the streets with a changes-daily rotation of lavishly frosted cupcakes and other baked goodies for dessert-deprived downtowners.

Go for Fiona Carter's charming Brit accent, stay for her fiancé Alex Duncan's savory pasties, single-serving pies filled with all manner of deliciousness, from a potato-carrot-spinach combo tossed in lively red coconut curry sauce to chunks of slow-roasted pork tossed with Granny Smith apples and onions. Duncan, a Barbette and 128 Cafe vet, spent months perfecting his pastry recipe, and the efforts show in each golden, tender bite. Going into the street food business was a no-brainer. "In England, food trucks are as old as running water," Carter said. "And pasties are as popular as Subway is here."

More trucks are on the way. Ngon Vietnamese Bistro chef/co-owner Hai Truong plans to roll out Didi (@ngonbistro), his two-tone green VW bus, in downtown St. Paul in mid-July, serving caramelized pork sandwiches, taco-style lettuce wraps and pho in ramen-sized cups. Di, by the way, is Vietnamese for "go."

When it appears in downtown Minneapolis in the next week or two, the Twisted Sister House of Hunger (houseofhunger.com, @houseofhunger) will focus on smoked-meat sliders, fresh-cut French fries, deep-fried all-beef hot dogs and two desserts: frozen cheesecake on a stick -- produced by Chubby Girl Cheesecakes, which shares the truck's commissary kitchen -- and co-owner Wesley Kaake's mother's chocolate cake recipe.