Image of the Lowdown food truck staff by Jonathan Welch of Mountain Xpress
Food trucks are rolling as Suzy Phillips of Gypsy Queen Lebanese Street Food leads the controversial charge to bring them to downtown Asheville for the first time.
Meanwhile, the trucks serve on the outskirts of downtown or in neighborhoods, with several already gathering foodie raves.
Facebook’s the best way I know to know to track the daily location of the mobile eateries of this growing and tasty new food scene, so follow the trucks you like.
Serving now:
Gypsy Queen Lebanese Street Food
Serving shawarma, kibbeh, salads and other treats form her home planet of Beirut, Suzy Phillips makes falafel that makes the cut with friends who’ve lived in NYC – and NYC falafel is the gold standard, I hear.
Her trusty truck Spartacus is currently being fixed, but look for the blue and green truck soon on Haywood Road, at the Bywater on Riverside, and on Broadway down from the Dripolator.
The Pink Taco Truck
It’s not a joke! The truck that needs to back up to Camp Lickalotta serves, according to Mountain Xpress, “Navajo-style tacos featuring Indian fry bread shaped into big-as-your-head edible bowls [filled] with adobo chicken, green-chili pork, barbecued beef or vegetarian fillings.”
Also on the menu are roasted-poblano queso, tamales, breakfast tacos–and pink dessert tacos.
I’ve spotted the Pink Taco Truck on Patton Ave. in West Asheville, serving breakfast tacos in the parking lot of Alan’s pawn shop. It’s Facebook page says it serves 7 a.m. -2 p.m., and also vends at the Bywater bar on Riverside.
The Lowdown
A big hit with Xpress staffers, who know good food when they taste it, IMO, the Lowdown serves “a braised beef po’ boy with horseradish mayo and a crispy pickle. For the vegetarians, there’s a tofu ‘bahn mi’ with lemongrass tofu, pickled veggies, fresh cucumber, cilantro and Sriracha mayo. Both are served on a crunchy-crust baguette baked by Fiore’s.”
There is also a GRILLED NUTELLA AND PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH. OMG.
According to Facebook, look for the Lowdown at the Citgo on Broadway 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Ursa Minor Coffee Truck
From their Facebook page:
Ursa Minor Coffee is a fun, friendly mobile espresso caravan serving up local, fair trade and organic coffees from Dynamite Roasting in Black Mountain, fine teas, delicious all natural smoothies from Sweetbird, bulk coffee, coffee accessories, and fresh organic baked goods from West End Bakery in Asheville! Find us soon M-F in front of Eagledove Greenhouse & Garden Center @ 216 Swanannoa River Rd. between Tunnel Rd. and Biltmore Village and at fairs and festivals around the area!
About Ursa Minor:
Eli Masem, the owner and creator of Ursa Minor Coffee is a damn fine barista who learned the art of pouring great coffee in Portland, OR.
Eatbox
According to the Food & Wine blog, this truck I’ve seen vending in front of the Get Down serves dirty South meatloaf balls with pepper-crusted bacon, hash browns and bacon-scallion sauce. DANG.
And according to Edge New York, they were a standout vendor at Bonnaroo:
One of the star attractions was Eatbox, representing Asheville, North Carolina. Ingeniously conceived by Meg Alt and Molly Clark, Eatbox’s concept is simple: meatballs – and lots of them. Using locally sourced meats and farm-fresh ingredients, the couple brought more than 25,000 meatballs with them to Bonnaroo and left with just a handful. The women are handy with more than just a meat grinder, too. They built out the truck themselves, spending more than two and a half months to customize what was originally a step van into a veritable meatball machine.
Photo courtesy of Eatbox, via Edge New York
Venezeulan Food Trailer
Again, from Mountain Xpress:
“Through a pass-through window, the owners of the little red truck Sheila and Genaro (aka Rino) Cassano serve a number of arepas and empanadas. They do offer meaty fare, like arepa burgers (beef patties served on simple corn-dough buns for $4) and hot dogs, but everything can be had vegetarian at this truck.”
The Gypsy Queen herself, Suzy Phillips, says the VFT vends on on Haywood Road in front of O’Reilly’s auto parts, noon-10 p.m. Sun- Thu.
Not yet rolling but coming soon:
Veggie Love
From their Facebook page: “Our mission is to supply organic, healthy, top-quality entrées, snacks, smoothies, drinks, juices and desserts to the Asheville area and to regional festival and farmers’ markets attendees.”
Their truck is called Vidalia, the veggie bus of bounty.
The Flying Falafel Brothers
Another falafel food truck? Here’s the scoop from Ashvegas.
Did we miss anybody?
