It may seem like the trucks just show up one day, parked in front of the office or the arena, with delicious hot food on the go. However, for every food truck parked on the corner there is a personal story behind the menu, a mechanic’s guide to the truck and a steep learning curve on how to work in a confined kitchen. As the fleets grow in number, it’s easy to forget how much work went underneath the hood, inside the kitchen, and finalizing those vents, pipes, and wires before the staff could dish out food to the masses. The journey of the food truck culminates with a hot, handheld delectable, but it typically starts with a broken-down machine and a dream.
While the Twin Cities food truck scene has changed significantly in a few short years, it remains influential. Sometimes the trucks are a stepping-stone to catering businesses and brick-and-mortar restaurants; other times they’re a way to showcase a unique menu item with the most personal face-to-face service in the food industry. With another summer in full swing, here are a few of Saint Paul’s hottest trucks.
University of St. Thomas graduate Alec Duncan is no stranger to food. He’s worked in kitchens across the metro, but after college he wanted to travel the world. In these travels, his path took a turn back into the culinary world. “I came across the Chilean empanada and thought, ‘This is the perfect food,’ ” he recalls. Duncan stored that idea in the pantry as he continued his travels. Ultimately, family drew him back to Minnesota. Once settled down, he knew the demanding schedule of a restaurant would make it hard for his home life, so instead he opened his own business, where he sets the rules: the pasty truck.
Upon opening, “all these pasty lovers came out of the woodwork,” Duncan says. He learned that “people were very religious about pasties.” It’s either “This is how my grandmother made them,” or the polar opposite, he says. Putting his own spin on the cuisine, he’s developed a following. The business has grown to include three trucks, a trailer, a delivery vehicle and bicycle, which allow them to reach a variety of customers around the metro.
Duncan’s favorite item is the sausage roll ($6), using house-made Sicilian sausage with flavors that carry through the flaky, bready crust. The menu also features beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian options ($9 per 1 lb. pasty). The ginger mint limeade is a big seller ($2 per glass), and he’s worked out a rotation of sweet pies: orange, lemon and whipped cream pie (called Dreamsicles), blueberry s’more pie, and piña colada pie (pineapple and coconut cream) which are $5-$6 each. Other summer specials include meat and fruit combination pies, such as a barbecue pork and pineapple combo and the grilled watermelon and brisket.
Duncan names Mears Park, Rice Park, and downtown Saint Paul as favorite spots to operate. There is also a takeout/delivery storefront on Como Avenue in Minneapolis.
Foxy Falafel
Erica Strait was raised on a South Dakota farm, worked as a personal chef in New York, and ultimately pulled the two experiences together into Foxy Falafel in Saint Paul. “When I moved here I couldn’t find falafel like I was eating in New York, so out of my own desire for falafel, that’s how Foxy’s came about,” she says. Once the idea and recipe were in place, she began serving at the farmers’ market where she bought her produce—a tie to growing up on the farm herself. Foxy Falafel now features two food trucks and a restaurant on Raymond Avenue.
The farmers market remains at Foxy’s heart. Strait uses local meats and fresh vegetables to enliven her Middle Eastern-inspired cookery. It’s a versatile menu, with menu prices ranging from $5 to $15, and all but the pita bread serving a gluten-free audience while also remaining sensitive to other allergens including dairy and nuts. Falafel is her top seller, but turkey gyros, beef kofta, and their pickle bar are popular, as are the dill-seasoned cheese curds and the cauliflower steaks. The gluten-free cheese curds served with local honey are seasoned with dill to unite them with other menu options while fulfilling a craving Strait had while living a gluten-free lifestyle herself. “We tie everything into what we can get from the farmers seasonally,” Strait explains. Greens and salads are popular in the early season with a wide variety of pickled vegetables later in the harvest season.
Foxy Falafel parks the truck around downtown Saint Paul and at locations including Macalester College, Bad Weather Brewing, and Bang Brewing. They also participate in special events such as the Saint Paul Food Truck Fair.
In 2011, just getting a truck was an adventure for Home Street Home owners Destiny Buron and Daniel Kidd. With a one-way plane ticket to Arizona, their planned truck purchase didn’t pan out, but they eventually found a new one and came back north, opening in October that year. “Home” may be their moniker, but the food ideas come from everywhere. In the offseason, Buron and Kidd drive around the country in an RV, vacationing but also researching. “We cook inside the RV, which is kind of like a food truck,” explains Kidd, giving them a perfect marriage of homemade comfort food alongside vacation memories and tied-to-the-locale cuisine.
“A lot of people say [the food] reminds them of somewhere they went,” Buron explains. Items include their burgers (one stuffed with blue cheese that sells for $10, and another featuring Korean barbecue sauce for $9), and grilled cheese ($7) that comes with a special raspberry jam (“People will order other things and just want the raspberry jam on it,” Buron says). Everything is made from scratch, including the ketchup and other sauces.
With five years in the truck, Home Street Home has also started catering, which has expanded the truck’s menu with more appetizers and sides.
Top spots include the corner of Kellogg and Robert, outside the Capitol, Mears Park, near Regions Hospital, and in front of Ecolab on Wabasha and Fifth. They’re also involved in the Lunch by the River Food Truck Court at Kellogg Mall Park.
