A scene from the glorious, gluttonous LA Street Food Fest. (Tanaya Ghosh)

- If the fest takes place where there's hot weather, bring water and sun protection. It will get hot, and it's hard to keep scarfing down food while sweating profusely. Trust me on this one.

- Bring a tote bag to carry all the random (but awesome) freebies you'll get, so you have both hands for eating!

- Come hungry, but pace yourself once you're there. Be choosy and prioritize what you want to eat most, because those little bites add up faster than you think. The novice's biggest mistake is to eat as much of everything they see as soon as they walk in, until they no longer can stuff their mouths with the food they really wish they had room for. This kind of tragedy kills me a little inside, personally. Don't let it happen to you!

- Wear comfortable shoes and stretchy clothing. This is not a fashion show, people. Most of us are here to eat, not to teeter around in heels as we eat -- and drink -- excessively.

If you're a restaurant or vendor, some tips from a consumer standpoint include the following:

- Offer something small but unique, because you want to be worth every bite... because there are so many vendors to choose from. People may get full before they reach you, so you want to have something small but worth tasting!

- Incorporate something refreshing, if you can... or otherwise weather-appropriate, depending on the location and season.

- DEFINITELY have a written description of the food, because it serves neither you nor your customer if your dish was the best they've had, but they don't even know what they ate. Having a sign enables you to focus on dishing out the food and greeting people instead of taking the time out to repeatedly describe it every two seconds. It also makes it easier on us food writers... just sayin'!

- Yes it can get tricky, but please try extra hard to bring enough of your advertised dish, because as an attendee, there's nothing worse than missing out on what you wanted to try the most from your favorite vendor... and it's not even halfway through the event. Having to settle for something you're serving in place of the one thing we wanted most doesn't compare, most of the time.

- Anticipate huge lines and have a game plan on how to turn the food around faster than you think you'll need to!

Of course, many vendors have these things down pat, and there are a lot of logistics that make it much harder than it looks. But from a consumer standpoint, this is what we'd love, especially for the newer restaurants out there. Anything else you'd like to add to either list, go ahead and add to the comments section!

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