Foodies take to streets, parking lots to scout mobile favorites

Food trucks are mini-mobile restaurants with no seating, more limited menus and over the past few months, a loyal following in Shreveport-Bossier City.

According to www.foodtrucksin.com, food trucks are in over 800 cities around the country. Local trucks listed on their site are River City Seafood, Some Like It Hot and Lilah’s Mobile Bakery,.

However, there are more. Persistent searching will turn up Jester’s Catering and Mobile Food, Grill of the Dead and Crescent City SnoBalls – although technically a truck, it stays in one location.

Ange Posey, owner/operator of the Some Like It Hot truck, said she loves owning a food truck.

“It’s on a smaller scale than a restaurant, which is more manageable for me,” Posey said. “I went to school for restaurant management. I wanted to work for myself instead of other people.”

Posey started her venture in August 2012. She sells stuffed burgers, grilled sandwiches and hand-cut fries. She’s recently added hotdogs, too. “We have a quarter-pound hotdog, so it’s like twice as big. We have a BLT dog, which is just bacon lettuce and tomato in the bun along with the hotdog. Barbecue sauce and grilled onions, jalapeños, cheddar, things like that.”

An online reviewer, Chip D., liked her efforts when he tried them.

“Way better food than most actual ‘restaurants’ here in town! If you ever see the big yellow truck, do yourself a favor, stop, pull over, and order your food from there ... You will not be disappointed!” Brandon Jones started his zombiethemed truck, Grill of the Dead, four months ago. He has worked at Johnny’s Pizza as an assistant manager and cooked at Bella Fresca and Superior Steakhouse. His time as a manager opened his eyes to ownership. “I thought that I wanted to be in management. I liked it; don’t get me wrong. When I was a cook, that’s where my passion was. I told myself, I’d never cook for anybody but myself if I ever went back to cooking.”

Jones offers gourmet burgers and sandwiches with a ghoulish twist. “We took a lot of our inspiration from zombie movies,” he said, so his dishes have names like “Dia de los Muertos,” “World War B,” “Patient Zero” and “The C-Virus.” But, Jones said, “I don’t want everybody to come here for the gimmick. I want them to come for a good burger and fun atmosphere.”

One online reviewer, identified as Olga G., had this to say about the menu: “Love this place. The theme is stellar, the portions could sate the hunger of any undead fiend, but the best thing is the food. It is wonderful. Full of flavor, cooked to perfection. Grill of the Dead is sure to satisfy.”

Around town, the trucks have been cropping up at so-called “food truck round-ups” and as food service outlets at various public venues. Posey said food trucks aren’t so much competition for each other as opportunities to offer a variety of foods in a single location. “When we’re together at one spot, we draw more than if we’re working individually,” she said.

Jones said he learned about cooking from his grandfather, George Northrop, who was a cook in the military. Jones’ wife came up with the name and he said he designed the logo, which includes what he described as a tribal DNA strand. Interest in Grill of the Dead caught the attention of the administrators of the Google search engine. “They wanted to know if I was a legit business because I had so many people Googling Grill of the Dead. I’m the first that pops up when you Google that comes up for Grill of the Dead.

They wanted to know how I got there. He said you might be the only one in the world as far as zombie-themed food truck. I was like, ‘That’s pretty cool.’” Chris Jay, public relations and social media manager at the Shreveport- Bossier City Convention & Tourist Bureau, has become a self-appointed food truck  aficionado. He said others who appear around town are Tina and Ernest Palmisano, who have a mobile food vendor service. “I’m not sure of the status of some folks like Salsitas Buenisimo, I haven’t seen their truck/ trailer around in a while, and I am sure that there are at least a few that I’m missing. Of course, the first in this market was actually Geauxsicles with their mobile ‘Geauxmobile,’ and Tacqueria La Michoacana.”

–Joe Todaro