There's a new street-food cartel in town: the Food Truck Warriors -- and they're having a kickoff party on April 30

Last September, Rich Wong and his partner, Sharyn Nissen, rolled out a food cart, named it Street Eats and began pimping everything from Hawaiian-style kalbi ribs and Peking barbecue pork buns to chicken and andouille sausage gumbo and wild boar dogs tricked-out with cranberries and apricots from behind the confines of his flame-splashed stainless steel wheel-mobile.

And earlier this year, while the city's food carts and trucks took a cold weather sabbatical, he started contemplating ways in which Denver's mobile food vendors could band together at big events, mainly, he says, as a way to give event organizers -- and event goers -- a taste of something different from what's turned out by your typical caterer. "Basically, I decided that it would be great to pull together a bunch of different food trucks and carts to get together at the larger events around town and sell the concept of food trucks, while giving added value to the events themselves by offering an alternative to caterers," says Wong.

He mulled the idea over, bounced it off other street food vendors, all of whom expressed interest and subsequently created Food Truck Warriors, an alliance of eleven food trucks and carts -- his, the Crock Spot, Biscuit Bus, Steuben's, Max Lunch, Brava Pizzeria, Stick it to Me, The Bon Bon Buggy, Mikes2 Kitchen, Mythos Greek and Sweet Revenge Cupcakes -- that will pull up at various festivals, parties and events throughout the year to feed the masses.

But first, the Food Truck Warriors are going to introduce themselves at a monster launch party on Saturday, April 30 -- and we have all the details.

The party will kick off at 2 p.m. in the parking lot on the southwest corner of Ninth and Bannock, beer-spitting distance from the Bannock Street Garage, which is likely where you'll stumble to when the street food bonanza ends at 9 p.m.

Admission to the street food festival is free, and, along with the trucks and carts, there will be a beer garden and tap truck from Left Hand Brewing, as well as wine and DJ music by Ginger Perry and Christine West. A portion of the proceeds from food and alcohol sales will benefit ACE, a local nonprofit that provides alternative ways to get healthy. "It's going to be a great event where you can come out and taste food, hang out, listen to music and have a really good time, while supporting a local charity" says Wong, who plans to host Food Truck Warrior pavement fests every few months, possibly even teaming up with the Justice League of Street Food, another coalition of mobile food vendors that launched last summer.

You can find out more about the April 30th Food Truck Warriors kickoff party at www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=121893754555695, and beginning next Monday, we'll be holding a contest that will reward two lucky Cafe Society readers with free food and beer at the shindig. Stay tuned!