Soon, you’ll once again be able to call me a whiz kid. You’ll have the opportunity while I’m standing along a Massachusetts Street sidewalk pouring Cheez Whiz directly down my gullet.

Yes, downtown Lawrence is getting a new street cart vendor. Goodness Steaks will be serving classic Philly cheesesteaks from its location on the west side of Massachusetts Street between Eighth and Ninth streets. The cheesesteaks will come complete with Cheez Whiz.

Perhaps you think Cheez Whiz is some type of shortcut, but the processed product is quite popular on traditional cheesesteaks in Philadelphia. If you don’t believe me, just ask a few Philadelphians and they’ll tell you so in their polite and genteel way. After you get the Cheez Whiz out of your nose, you may be inclined to believe them. (My wife used to live in Philadelphia, so my nose knows of what it speaks.)

Eric and Julia Ireland, a husband and wife duo who ran an acclaimed food truck in Phoenix for several years, will operate the cart. Eric, who is from Topeka, wanted to get back closer to home, and the Philly cheesesteak cart is just one of the food ventures he has planned for the area.

The cart is expected to open on Tuesday. Hours initially will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Julia said the cart hopes to sell sandwiches, complete with grilled onions, peppers and other fixings for around $5 or a little more. (Although pouring Cheez Whiz down your throat likely will cost more.)

The Irelands, however, also have plans for a food truck. In Phoenix, they operated Torched Goodness, a dessert and coffee food truck that specialized in creme brulee. The truck became a hit, and actually was ranked by Smithsonian.com as one of the 20 best food trucks in America.

Julia said their plans were to reopen the food truck in Lawrence, but soon learned that city regulations do not allow for a food truck — even once they’ve received the necessary food preparation licenses — to simply find a public parking spot and start selling. Instead, food trucks in Lawrence more commonly have to be invited by the owner of a private parking lot to set up and sell, or take part in a festival that has the appropriate permits. The city created the food truck rules back in 2011, and technically the rules prohibit a food truck from operating for more than three hours in a day even on private property, unless the food truck operator gets a special permit from the city.

Julia said the city regulations are a big reason why the food truck craze hasn’t caught on in Lawrence. But on the other side of the coin, city commissioners previously have been reluctant to loosen the regulations because they worry about creating unfair competition with brick and mortar restaurants, which they note, pay a lot more in property taxes than a food truck.

Julia said Torched Goodness will operate at some festivals, although not at the upcoming Kansas Food Truck Festival in East Lawrence. But she said the truck also hopes to cater events such as weddings, corporate outings and others.

“We’ve even done funerals,” Julia noted. “We’ve done about everything.”

The food truck offers 30 different varieties of creme brulee, including traditional vanilla, lemon and raspberry. But it also offers flavors such as root beer float, lavender, eggnog and maple bacon. No word on whether they have one with Cheez Whiz.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I’m not exactly sure what wine goes best with Cheez Whiz, but I’m prepared to do extensive research. Or perhaps I could just ask around at a new charity wine event that will take place this weekend. The folks at the Cork & Barrel liquor store are presenting a new fundraiser called IMBIBE. Its grand tasting event is set from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at Abe & Jake’s Landing in downtown Lawrence. Proceeds from the event benefit Family Promise of Lawrence, the organization that helps homeless families. (A charity wine dinner is taking place at Pachamamas tonight as part of the event, but I can’t promise that there are still tickets available.)

Tickets are available for the grand tasting event. They start at $45 per person and can be bought at Cork & Barrel, Abe & Jake’s and the Granada or online. The event will have about 120 wines available for sampling, plus food and jazz music.

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