Charlotte's food truck rally is still rolling

Thursday night was supposed to be the end of the July Chow Down Uptown food truck rally, in the parking lot across from 7th Street Station.

But it's been such a hit that Moira Quinn with Charlotte Center City Partners says it will continue, probably once a month, for as long as the truck people want to do it. "They're driving, they're in charge," she told me at the 7Venth Market public forum.

By Friday morning, they had apparently picked a date for the return: Aug. 18. Same spot and same time (5:30 to 8 p.m. or so, or however long the food holds out.)

The food trucks certainly have grown. There were nine or 10 out Thursday night, from Emma (say it EEE-mah) Merisier of Southern Cake Queen to my old colleague Dan Huntley of Smoke. I hit Roaming Fork for the pulled pork sandwich, got a very tart lemon frozen-fruit bar from Lollie's at Huntley's truck and did a dueling-cupcake tasting at Southern Cupcake (Summer Bliss, lemon cake with raspberry buttercream) and On the Go Cupcakes (the Elvis -- banana cake, peanut butter buttercream and candied bacon).

Favorite find of the night: Deep-fried Deviled Eggs from Roaming Fork (left). Those turned out to be more like egg salad (but good egg salad, very yolky) coated in panko and fried, then served with a honey mustard dipping sauce. You got three big ones for $3.

If you want to keep up with where the food trucks are roaming, you can follow most of them individually on Twitter.com, or follow @cltfoodtrucks.

The food is great, but eating in a parking lot isn't all that charming in July. Here's hoping the trucks keep rolling in October, when it will be a lot more pleasant. In fact, given our usually-mild winters, couldn't we have a food truck rally in February?