By now, you’ve likely heard that chef Mike Isabella will be hitting the streets of D.C. tomorrow in a Graffiato “pop-up” food truck.

“Pop-up” is fair. But “food truck?”

While Isabella will be moving around town in a wheeled vehicle, it’s really more of a promotional effort in partnership with reservation system CityEats than a real food truck. For starters, it will only be in operation for one day. And Isabella won’t be cooking on board, but rather handing out free premade samples and giving away prizes to fans who can identify the ingredients in his dishes.

“I always wanted to have a food truck. But it’s a lot of work, and there’s a lot of things you have to do to keep it going, and I don’t have that time right now,” Isabella says. “It’s a big trend… I just kind of wanted to join the party and have some fun.”

He says a real food truck is a real possibility, someday—just not anytime soon. After all, the chef opened Bandolero two months ago, and he now has two more restaurants, Kapnos and G, planned for 14th Street NW in early 2013.

Isabella says he has yet to do any homework on how much it might cost and the amount of time it might take to do a full-time food truck, “but it is something I’ve always wanted to do and have for the company.”

In the meantime, here’s where to catch the “food truck” tomorrow:

8 a.m.:            Dupont Circle – Q Street between 20th and Connecticut NW

11 a.m.:          Union Station – Corner of Massachusetts Ave and F Street NW

1 p.m.:            Franklin Park  – Corner of 14th and K Streets NW

4:45 pm:        Farragut North – K Street between 17th and Connecticut NW

6:30 p.m.:     National Mall – Corner of 10th Street and Constitution Ave NW

Photo by Darrow Montgomery