The mobile outpost of the Brooklyn-based seafood sanctuary, the Red Hook lobster truck cruises the streets of Manhattan dishing out some of the meatiest lobster rolls around. The owner travels to Maine each week to pick out the freshest crustaceans to feed your stomach and your New England nostalgia. Recommended: Lobster Roll with homemade mayo and spices on a buttered split-top roll.

photo courtesy of Liftluxe website

It’s tempting to look at craft businesses as simply a rejection of modern industrial capitalism. But the craft approach is actually something new — a happy refinement of the excesses of our industrial era plus a return to the vision laid out by capitalism’s godfather, Adam Smith. One of his central insights in “The Wealth of Nations” is the importance of specialization. When everyone does everything — sews their own clothes, harvests their own crops, bakes their own bread — each act becomes inefficient, because generalists are rarely as quick or able as specialists.

illustration by John Hendrix for the New York Times

Red Hook Lobster Pound-DC has always been of the opinion that food trucks represent win-win opportunities on multiple levels — for small business, for existing retail establishments and bars and restaurants, for the District, workers and residents. Food trucks are small businesses and are part of the engine that help the District (and the country) out of our current economic crisis: Win-win. Retail stores have told us that they love it when we park near them because the followers we attract (often from outside the area) get exposed to and shop at their stores: Win-win. On numerous occasions, we’ve partnered with bars, restaurants and coffee houses that are interested in us parking in front of their businesses for the same reason — we attract new customers: Win-win.

Image courtesy of Red Hook Lobster Pound DC website

Coming soon!