Denver Struggles With Exploding Hot Dog Carts: They're the Wurst

Red State ^ | 10-24-26 | Ward Clark

[dynachrome]

Portable food carts are an accepted fact of life in many of our major cities, and even in some small towns. For years, in the Alaska town of Talkeetna, a regular fixture on that small touristy town's main drag was the halibut taco cart. The halibut were cooked using a propane tank under the cart — until the tank exploded, breaking windows and causing damage all up and down the street. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. But if it's a halibut taco you want now in Talkeetna, you're out of luck.

Here's the thing: The Talkeetna halibut taco cart was legal. Now, back to the lower 48. Denver, Colorado, is a city that is beset with problems, not the least of which is Democrat governance. City officials piously pronounce Denver a "sanctuary" jurisdiction, and so their population of illegal aliens has grown almost continually for years now. Some of those illegal aliens, and to be fair, some in the city legally, have shown some enterprise. Denver's Lower Downtown (LoDo) area is a typically gentrified urban district, with restaurants, bars, and shopping.

LoDo also, it seems, has a lot of unlicensed, uninspected food carts. This seems a lot like a public health crisis in the making.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Food; Humor
KEYWORDS: denver; foodcarts; illegals

[dynachrome]

Free food poisoning for everyone!

[dynachrome]

Meth camp Mike and gov. poleass are improving Denver./s

[PeterPrinciple]

There is a tension here. Total govt regulation vs freedom and responsibility.

My local hardware store has to have a permit to give free popcorn to customers. Because of the hassle, I don’t get free popcorn anymore........................

[drwoof]

Yep. LIke the Homemade Tamales! being sold on street corners in my town. In a first-world society, food service to the public is regulated in order to ensure public safety. Street food vendors, while apparently ‘trendy’, are to me an example of how our civilization is declining. They have been given an advantage over brick and mortar restaurants that pay property taxes and are subject to periodic inspections by the Health Department.

[butlerweave]

OMG , Hotdogs falling from the sky

[Fungi]

You think that’s bad, consider this:
According to a 2026 report, Mayor Karen Bass directed the Los Angeles Police Department to stop issuing criminal citations to unpermitted street vendors. The report cited city data showing:

~50,000 total street vendors operating in Los Angeles
<700 active vending permits issued by the city

Only 53 of those permits are for food vendors

What do you expect from a commie mayor?

[Ezekiel]

The halibut were cooked using a propane tank under the cart — until the tank exploded...

Something's fishy here.

Why would the hotdog carts explode? Just for the halibut?

[Disambiguator]

Hotdognado.

[PLMerite]

WMD: Wiener of Mass Destruction:

[Labyrinthos]

Yep. Like the Homemade Tamales! being sold on street corners in my town.

You got tamales? In the NYC metro areas, illegal aliens and their pre-tween children sell fruit that they stole or purchased with SNAP cards at the intersections of busy streets and highways. 95 degrees + bright sun + high humidity + no refrigeration = rapid growth of bacteria and high potential for food poisoning. Then again, anyone dumb enough to purchase illegal food from illegal aliens gets what they deserve.

[Chickensoup]

Dirty hands.