Reader Daniel passes along the news that two of the food trucks from the Vendys — the Souvlaki GR truck (2010 Vendys Rookie of the Year) and Schnitzel & Things, purveyors of a Hall of Fame sandwich — will open storefront locations in Manhattan. The Souvlaki GR restaurant will be in the Lower East Side and Schnitzel & Things will be at 46th and 3rd, not an unreasonable walk from my office for a sandwich of that caliber.

I say awesome. In both cases, the original truck will stay on the road, so it’s not like it means anyone will have more limited access to the food. Naturally, whenever anyplace expands from a single establishment to multiple ones, there’s concern about quality control. But these are two very good food trucks, and you have to figure if they didn’t care a lot about quality they wouldn’t be making such delicious food.

In the Schnitzel & Things SOTW post, I wondered about the future of food trucks. This is not one of the directions I imagined it going, but hey, cool. Perhaps food trucks will prove a legitimate way for restaurateurs to test out their shtick before investing in real estate. You figure it’s great for marketing, too. After all, I’ll now go to the Schnitzel & Things restaurant because I already know their food is good because they drove it near my office and dangled it in front of my face.

Oh, and for those concerned about the food-truck folks spreading themselves too thing I’ll add this: In 2001, on a drive from DC to Virginia to buy me a computer desk for my junior year of college, my dad and I discovered Five Guys. At the time, I believe there were only three locations — all in Northern Virginia. The burgers were delicious and fully customizable, the fries were peanut-oily and cajuny, the decor was white, red and black. I was so impressed that my roommates and I made a habit out of the 20-minute drive. There was also a Krispy Kreme right nearby, and from the start of that year ’til my graduation I believe I put on around 30 pounds.

My will power is a little stronger now, but Five Guys is no less awesome. And there are like a billion Five Guys all over the country. So there’s that.

Incidentally, in researching the number of Five Guys around the country, I discovered that one will soon open in White Plains, not far from my home. So look for me getting significantly fatter in the coming months.