Street meat will have exotic company in Vancouver

A hot dog vendor in downtown Vancouver could soon face some interesting competition. July 2, 2010. (CTV)

As part of a pilot project to offer more variety and healthier choices in Vancouver's street food, vendors will be selected next week to fill 17 temporary stalls downtown.

Jason Apple and his crew at Roaming Dragon have applied for three of the spots, and they hope to bring delights like Korean tacos to the city's streets.

"Our flavours are rooted in authentic Chinese, Korean and Japanese flavours," Apple told CTV News.

"The whole concept behind street food is really high quality food, fast and affordable."

The deadline for applications has passed, and city staff are now processing hundreds of proposals for the stalls. A lottery will be held to determine who gets the spots, and the chosen vendors will need to get approval from the health authority before setting up shop.

"We've have line-ups at counters taking applications. We have been overwhelmed," said Grant Woff of the city's streets administration branch.

Whichever vendors are chosen will have to be out on the streets by July 31.

The city wasn't able to say yet what kind of food could soon be available, but Apple said he had heard some ideas from other applicants.

"We've seen lots of really interesting international concepts: everything from a sukiyaki cart to a butter chicken cart, a Jamaican jerk chicken barbecue cart, and tacos seem to be a popular theme," Apple said.

The Vancouver public will soon find out what new foods are headed for the streets -- the lottery is scheduled for July 9.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber