Once a week VendrTV profiles a fan of the show and street food in a section called Cartivores. This week’s Cartivore is Scott Samson, a podcast who’s talks all about comics in his podcast Comic Dork’s Cast

Name: Scott Samson @ScottDont

Age: 28

Where you from? Saint Louis, MO and despite being the home of T-Rav’s (aka Toasted Ravioli) and Provel cheese on super thin crust pizza, unfortunately the street food scene here is pretty nonexistent. There is occasionally a hot dog cart late at night in The Loop (one of America’s Top Ten Neighborhoods).

Though we do have a burgeoning food community here in the Lou that is being lead by chefs like Gerard Craft, Josh Galliano, Vito Racanelli, and Anthony Devoti (to name a few) we have yet to grasp the many wonders of the Street Food Scene.

Cool! What do you do? I am the Manager of a Comic Book & Gaming Store called The Fantasy Shop and while it’s not part of my occupation I am also a podcaster, blogger, and content creator for The ComicDorksCast.

Nom nom nom! I’m an omnivore, I love all kinds of food and really haven’t found anything that I wasn’t able to find a dish that I could grow to love. Some favorites are Thai, Vietnamese, Sushi, Italian, Ethiopian, all kinds of Regional American … some favorite dishes are Pad See Eew, Bahn Mi, Fried Chicken, and not to be forgotten The Bacon Explosion (which I have now made at home 3 times for different occasions).

Do you hate anything? I’m not a terribly big fan of Mushrooms (never been a particularly big fan of the texture, though Morels are sometimes an acception) or Persimmons (which I have only ever eaten once but it was not a particularly pleasant experience), but I’d say that I am open to pretty much anything.

Let’s talk street food Even though we are woefully under represented here in Saint Louis when it comes to street carts I’d have to say that my favorite is still here, there’s nothing better than coming out of a concert late at night and having the hot dog carts there in front of The Pageant on The Loop, I usually get mine with sautéed onions & BBQ sauce to get kind of a smoky funky sweet dog that I can eat as I wander back toward my car. It always hits the spot.

Anything wonky? I’d say the craziest thing I’ve ever eaten has been a Twinkie Wiener Sandwich (I was a pretty big fan of UHF) which I ate back in high school (which I did not dunk in milk as is indicated by the recipe).

Dream the street cart dream… If I were to open a cart, I’d open it here in Saint Louis and would serve hot dogs of all kinds (corndogs included and especially the bacon wrapped dogs that I saw on the Bacon Dogs episode from San Francisco). I would also serve funnel cake. Make it like a carnival food cart, deep fried twinkies and all kind of nonsense, really appeal to the fat kid lurking inside us all.

When did you lose your V-Cart? Man, the first time I had street food was probably on a trip to Manhattan, I had quite a few street vendor dogs when I was up there for spring break. I think that there is nothing better than the kind of hotdog that you get from a street cart, it’s just something that is pure unsullied Americana, no matter how you get it prepared.

Final thoughts? Questions? When was the last time you visited a comic store? And if it’s been a while then why not check in on one. You clearly love movies based on comics so why not check out the source material. We’re far friendlier than pop culture would lead you to believe.

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