Fuentes tells us that “in baseball terms, we made strike three and now the DOH is going for enforcement.” Yes, the period of benevolent “observation” is over. The DOH has told Fuentes that they will be all over the vendors like salsa on a goat taco, or words to that effect, even going so far as to say that they would be paying their inspectors overtime to keep watch over the poor vendors. “They told us we have to meet minimal requirements for the DOH, but there’s a lot of ambiguity,” Fuentes says. Some announced requirements, like a refrigerated truck, are plainly impossible without a major investment of capital; others, like rented hand-washing stations, are just ludicrously impractical. Two were tested out over the weekend, only to be stolen. The DOH demands even the vendor’s assistants be licensed, despite their unofficial status (often they’re friends or family members) and irregular presence. “They don’t really know where to put us,” Fuentes says. “We’re very ethnic, but not like a street fair. We’re unique to Latin America. The things the DOH has come to expect from mobile food vendors are not what we do. We’re not a halal street cart.” No, what they are is endangered. The DOH, trying to save face stained by teeming rats in a worthless fast-food restaurant, is now overcompensating — ruining the city’s most precious artisanal-food resources, like Di Fara’s and the Red Hook vendors. Do us all a favor, DOH: Stick to keeping rats out of Taco Bells.

Complete Red Hook Ball Fields coverage. [Grub Street]