The Chez Dikel operates from the Gulf gas station parking lot on Colesville Road. (Photo: TBD Staff)

That new food truck in Silver Spring is really more like a mobile cart vendor, and that small difference between "truck" and "cart" is what brought them to Silver Spring.

Owners Ali and Dikel, who declined to give their last names, said they came to Silver Spring after they couldn't get a license to sell in D.C., where at least for the time being, new food trucks can get licenses, but not cart vendors. 

Starting up such a business is no easy task, and outfitting a truck that moves locations throughout the day can be much more costly than selling from a more stationary cart. So the owners of Chez Dikel, who sell French and Malian-fusion cuisine, could be the first of many street vendors to come to Silver Spring after growing impatient with waiting on D.C. to rework its rules on mobile food vending.

Montgomery County officials have said they are wide open to gourmet food trucks. Chez Dikel operates from the parking lot of the Gulf gas station parking lot during the week, and travels to different events during the weekend. Its semi-permanent location along Colesville Road is ideal given the proximity of the Silver Spring Metro Station and Discovery's headquarters.

Ali says the type of cuisine they sell gives them a competitive edge against brick-and-mortar restaurants since there is nothing quite like it around Downtown Silver Spring. He's only been in business for three weeks, but says that business is slowly picking up and he now has regulars.

Interestingly enough, their menu proclaims the establishment is indeed a "food truck." But whether they are a cart or a truck, Ali says that buying food on wheels is for "people who have a sense of adventure."