The hot food story of the summer is the success of the gourmet food trucks and carts, which we predicted in our June 3 cover story. So far, we’ve seen trucks from Steuben’s, Deluxe (read Lori Midson’s interview with Dylan Moore on page 40), Paris on the Platte, WaterCourse Foods and the Denver Biscuit Company, in addition to such gourmet carts as Biker Jim’s, the Gastro Cart, Comida, Streat Chefs and Pinche Tacos. And the Cupcake Truck, of course.

Although the trend was slow to arrive in Denver, it’s taken off quickly. “If I had more time on my hands, I’d be building trucks,” confesses Josh Wolkon, the driving force behind the Steuben’s truck. “It’s happening.” On Friday, many of these enterprises will happen to converge in a still-secret spot.

“Almost all the trucks and high-end vendors are working together at least for a launch event,” says Wolkon. “We’re all going to pop up at the same place at the same time. It will be our own version of the Portland pod.” For details, stay tuned to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of your favorite trucks/ carts. And to the Latest Word, of course, where you’ll also find an update on the status of El Mariachi, the Mezcal taco truck. Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz were the first to get on board the tricked-out truck concept a few years ago, but that project stalled with the management switch at Mezcal in late December. “It amuses me, all this truck stuff,” Morreale says. “I came up with it after seeing the ice cream truck for sale in Grand Junction. I had never heard about all these hipster trucks cruising around the Coast.” Today, Morreale and Yontz have their hands full with El Diablo, the restaurant that will open within the month at First and Broadway — and when it does, it should feature tacos and other Mexican street food that will leave their former truck fare in the dust.

Truck truce? The food fight between Colorado Fresh Markets and Civic Center Eats might be over. When one of the Cherry Creek market’s mobile-food vendors showed up on the first day of this season’s Civic Center Eats, Colorado Fresh Markets invoked the non-compete clause in its contract. But after Laura Shunk reported the controversy, Colorado Fresh Markets apparently called a truck truce. “In the spirit of cooperation, in full support of the parks and the street food scene, and in hopes that this will drive more business to our Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday Denver markets,” wrote Chris Burke, co-owner of Colorado Fresh Market, “we will make an exception for the remainder of this season for those vendors who wish to participate in the Civic Center market.”