These days, an increasing number of in-the-know foodies are eating on the street. Discerning diners in many cities are frequenting an alternative kind of eatery: a mobile food truck or cart that serves up delicious, artisan-crafted food. These ambitious culinary-outlets-on-wheels offer street food you’d expect but also specialize in menu items once found only in fine dining restaurants, such as creme brulee, wood-fired pizza and ethnic specialties like Korean barbecue and Japanese sushi. 

Mobile eats can be found on city streets from New York to Milwaukee to Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and points in between. The common denominator is a pedestrian-friendly location that attracts young city dwellers and office workers, as well as tech-savvy tourists who find the trucks through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Check out one of these during your next travel.

The Epicenter of On-the-go Eats: Portland
Brett Burmeister, managing editor of Foodcartsportland.com, tracks Portland’s approximately 450 mobile eateries. He says the scene “exploded” in 2009 and continues to grow.

What sets Portland apart is the establishment of 10 private lots, or “pods,” (and more in development) that are permanent homes for the micro-stands, carts, trailers and trucks. Choices range from Czech-style schnitzel sandwiches at Tabor to bi bim bop (Korean-style vegetables and rice with fried egg) at Number 1 Bento cart to wood-fired pizza at Give Pizza a Chance. Six dollars yields a hearty serving at most carts.

Mobile Cart Credo: Specialize
Portland’s carts have increasingly moved toward artisanal ingredients, sourced from local producers. The trend, says Burmeister, is to pick a single item and do it very well -- such as the stuffed waffle sandwiches from Flavour Spot.

Likewise, in Los Angeles, themed trucks include The Frysmith, which features french fries topped with add-ons like beef or vegan chili, and the Grilled Cheese Truck, where the offerings include an elegant caprese melt -- mozzarella, tomato and basil -- as well as a dessert melt of banana puree, Nutella and marshmallow.

The Sprinklesmobile typically has seven varieties of the cupcake-only bakery’s celebrated candy-dot crowned confections. “I’ve had people at intersections roll down their window and try to buy out of the van while I was stopped,” says Sprinkles’ founder Charles Nelson.

Mapping the Trend
Most food trucks announce their location via the Internet and sites that link to cell phones and PDAs. As Nelson explains, with more than 100,000 Facebook fans and 20,000 Twitter followers, Sprinklesmobile can instantly communicate its whereabouts to a huge audience. New York’s Calexico cart asks fans for feedback on new menu items, like the barbecue sparerib special that received instant and resoundingly positive reviews via Twitter.

A free iPhone application called StreetEats allows users to find trucks in four cities, and many foodies keep Twitter lists, like @foodtruckdaily, of their favorites. Often there will be 100 people waiting in line at a location in expectation of the truck’s arrival, announced via tweet. And these days, it seems no major arts event, like the Sundance Film Festival in Utah or the Soap Box Derby in Los Angeles, is complete without a food truck making the scene.

And unlike old-school exhaust-emitting catering trucks, many of the new breed are eco-friendly, fueled by biodiesel or housed in zero-emission plug-in trucks. Recyclable plates and utensils are common, and The Taco Truck in Hoboken, N.J., even has an onboard composting system. 

Time to hit the street for some eats.

As a judge on “Dancing with the Stars,” Carrie Ann Inaba shrewdly assesses spins and steps. As host of TV Guide network’s red carpet coverage for Hollywood’s award shows, she chats up celebs about coiffures and couture. And on Sunday, March 7, she’ll be reporting from the most glamorous walkway of them all: the Academy Awards pre-show. Between fittings and hair appointments, Inaba shares the ticktock of how she’s getting gorgeous for the big event.

Diet

Back when I was a dancer and had to fit into tiny costumes, I’d go on really strict diets -- including fasts and liquid diets -- before a performance. Now, at 42 years old, I don’t feel the need to have a bathing suit-ready body under my dress. Still, I totally cut out chips, because the salt makes me puffy and zaps my energy, and I added more fruit and vegetables to my diet.

Workout
I always amp up my fitness regimen for the Oscars by doing double workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. One workout is always a cardio dance class called Drenched. If I’m really going for it, I’ll do back-to-back classes, which I love, but that means I’ll be toast be midafternoon. Or I’ll follow Drenched with some Pilates at home or a Wii Fit session.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ll do just one of these workouts, and on weekends I always go for a long bike ride along the beach. I’m not working out to shed pounds -- though losing an inch or two is always nice -- but for muscle tone and energy. My favorite part to work on is my back, because so many of today’s dresses are backless. I think it’s sexy and feminine if you can see the outlines of a woman’s muscles when she moves.

Skin
I think if your skin is touchable, soft and moist, that really reflects an inner beauty and health. To get ready for the Oscars, I start on that final Friday, my big grooming day. I’ll also get a spray-on tan from the pro who tans everyone for “Dancing with the Stars” and knows how to make it look natural. Up next? A relaxing pedicure for open-toed shoes. One thing I can skip is getting my brows waxed. When I was on tour with Madonna in ’93, the makeup artist pretty much plucked all of my eyebrows out for the skinny-brow look of the time, and they’ve never really grown back.

Hair
I color my hair a week before the Oscars to give the color enough time to settle in. I do a root touch-up and both highlights and lowlights: The darker tones of the lowlights balance out the highlights and give my hair weight and depth. After all, I’m Asian, so there should be dark hair in there somewhere! I’ll likely also have a trim too -- something I do every other month -- and keep it well-conditioned to add shine. I cut bangs last year, and now I’m trying to grow them out because I’m doing a lot of updos on both “Dancing with the Stars” and on the red carpet. As flattering as they may look, you’re very limited in what you can do when you have bangs.

The Day of
My team and I gather at a Hollywood hotel in the late morning. It takes me two hours to get into hair and makeup and get dressed, and we go live from the red carpet at 3 p.m.

I start my preparation with a full breakfast at about 10 a.m., which includes two scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, some hash browns, grapefruit juice and coffee. You can’t be in a hunger cloud on the red carpet; my brain needs to be working at full capacity. I’ll also work out for 30 minutes, doing some jumping jacks to get my energy going and a little Pilates and stretching. I have an inversion board, so I’ll hang upside down for a few minutes to get the blood circulating to my head. 

Then I’m ready to hit the red carpet and start my celebrity interviews.

If you’re one of the 26 million tourists who will visit Los Angeles this year, there’s more reason than ever to pack your bags and get out of town. A quartet of snazzy new resorts has opened, and you can drive to them on way less than a tank of gas.

1. Riviera Resort & Spa, Palm Springs
Miles From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): 120
Don’t Miss: The rhinestone-encrusted Liberace pool table
Room Rates: $249 and up

This was once the playground of the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. all performed here, and even Elvis recorded in an on-site studio. The Riviera shut down for a two-year, $70 million renovation and reopened in October 2008, just in time for its 50th anniversary. Located at the edge of Palm Springs’ lively downtown area, the Riviera’s renovation starts with a lobby that features Warhol-inspired prints of onetime guests like Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Debbie Reynolds and Bob Hope.

The 406 guest rooms, spread over several low buildings, are a minimum of 680 square feet and designed in a motif of mid-century meets Hollywood regency -- white leather headboards, Lucite and chrome lamps, armchairs in chartreuse, tomato-red and Kelly-green upholstery. Riviera’s centerpiece is a stunning starfish-shaped swimming pool with spectacular views of the San Jacinto Mountains. At night, the pool deck, with its flickering fire pits and Bikini Bar, turns into the best cocktail party in town. Cure your morning-after hangover with a Javanese Royal Treatment -- featuring a massage, herbal exfoliation and a soak in a tub scattered with rose petals -- at the Asian-inspired SpaTerre.

1600 North Indian Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
760-327-8311
 

2. The Resort at Pelican Hill, Newport Beach

Miles From LAX: 48
Don’t Miss: The morning hikes to Crystal Cove Park with an on-staff naturalist
Room Rates: $695 for ocean-view bungalows

For unadulterated luxury, head down to this resort that sits on a 504-acre seaside bluff above Crystal Cove State Park on the Newport Coast. Built to evoke the vision of the celebrated Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, with rows of arched porticos, soaring rotundas and 750 olive trees, Pelican Hill feels more like a seaside Italian village than a SoCal beach town.

Guests at Pelican Hill live large: The smallest of the 204 tile-roofed bungalows, which are stacked on a hill so that almost all have an ocean view, is 847 square feet. The villas range from 2,200 to 3,600 square feet. The Coliseum Pool -- 136 feet in diameter -- is the largest circular pool in the world; with 1.1 million hand-cut blue mosaic tiles lining the bottom, it’s absolutely stunning. The 23,000 square-foot spa has his-and-hers soaking tubs, 22 treatment rooms and an extensive spa menu that includes everything from pomegranate body wraps to oxygen facials.

22701 Pelican Hill Road South
Newport Coast, CA 92657
800-315-8214
 

3. Hotel Maya, Long Beach

Miles from LAX: 22
Don’t Miss: Sunday’s lively Fiesta Domingo brunch
Room Rates: $139 and up

Don’t have time to head down to Mexico? Consider this boutique hotel with luxurious Latin flair instead. The waterfront Hotel Maya sits directly across the bay from downtown Long Beach -- a water taxi will ferry you there, but why leave when you can relax poolside in a floating cabana? Bring your pooch: The Maya is so pet-friendly, no doggy deposit is required, and canine beds are available.

700 Queensway Drive
Long Beach, CA 90802
562-453-3669
 

4. Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes
Miles From LAX: 20
Don’t Miss: Whale and dolphin sightings from the deck of Nelson’s bar
Room Rates: $270 and up

This spanking new resort is a 30-minute drive from LAX airport but feels blessedly remote. Perched above the tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, it offers unobstructed views of the Pacific from almost every vantage point throughout its sprawling 102 acres. There are three ocean-facing pools here: a family pool with a 140-foot waterslide, an adults-only pool with lounges nestled in the sand, and the tranquil spa lap pool. Rouse yourself from your lounge chair, and you can amble down a walkway to a sandy beach cover or take a self-guided hike along the scenic bluffs of the Discovery Trail. 

100 Terranea Way
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
310-265-2800