---
title: "Food and Art on Wheels: Meet the New Guggenheim Hot Dog Cart"
description: "Rolling street meat goes avant garde."
date: "2016-10-10"
modified: "2016-10-10"
authors:
  - name: "Max Prince"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/max-prince"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/design/5511/food-and-art-on-wheels-meet-the-new-guggenheim-hot-dog-cart"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Food"
  - "Guggenheim"
  - "Spain"
---

# Food and Art on Wheels: Meet the New Guggenheim Hot Dog Cart

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/imgp5295.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The Roach Coach Renaissance is upon us. Last year alone, food trucks brought in an [estimated $1.2 billion](<https://mobile-cuisine.com/trends/2015-food-truck-industry-statistics-show-worth-of-1-2b/>), a staggering figure considering there’s less than 4,500 of them rolling around. And those numbers are conservative. The boom means a booming customization market, too, creative designs and wild paint schemes and unique add-ons. Bottom line: Food trucks have gotten [exceptionally interesting](<https://www.thedrive.com/design/5115/whats-better-than-a-food-truck-a-beer-truck>) to look at. Meanwhile, your average street vendor has been working with the same basic kit since Grover Cleveland was in office. No more.

![imgp5316.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/imgp5316.jpg>)
*The ultimate collapsable food cart., *Arquimaña**

[Arquimaña](<https://xn--arquimaa-j3a.com/>), an architecture and design firm based in Spain, has reinvented the humble hot dog cart. Commissioned by [Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum](<https://www.thedrive.com/design/1929/design-bilbaos-iconic-guggenheim-museum>), the project is called *Salchibotxo*. (That’s a Basque portmanteau, *salchicha* for ‘sausage’ and *botxo*, Bilbao’s nickname.) The concept? Highbrow form-meets-function, something to sling gourmet street food and craft beers while looking at home outside one of the finest museums on the Continent, a building designed by none other than Frank Gehry.

So *Salchibotxo* flips the script, ditching the box-top look for a chic A-frame. The chassis is solid steel, the body cabinet-style oak. There’s a full stereo system, a chiller for longnecks from Bilbao brewery La Salve, and a removable griddle for cooking up goods from Luis Thate, the local butcher.

![imgp5330.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/imgp5330.jpg>)
*Gourmet dogs., *Arquimaña**

The bartop, the signage, the laser-cut aluminum shutters that shade vendors and customers—it all folds up into one compact, rolling installation. Which isn’t to say the cart is compromised for storage: *Salchibotxo* can hold 500 sausages and, crucially, up to 150 bottles of beers. There’s even a secret coin slot for tips. Righteous. This is one of the neatest things you’ll see on wheels this week.

![gettyimages-2887888.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/gettyimages-2887888.jpg>)
*New York Guggenheim, circa 2004., *Chernin/Getty**

Of course, New Yorkers will get an extra kick out of *Salchibotxo*: Six years ago, neighborhood advocates threw a shitfit over “visually disruptive” yellow-umbrella hot dog carts outside our own grand Guggenheim. The museum petitioned the City Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to build a mobile eatery at the Fifth Avenue entrance on 89th Street, with award-winning architect Andre Kikoski set to design. The proposal was [unanimously denied](<https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/arts/design/21hotdog.html?_r=0>).

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/themaxprince>)