By Miriam Valverde | Â Sun Sentinel
There’s a new food truck rolling around town, but you have to wake up early to catch it. Eggstatic Food Truck is trying something nontraditional, serving quirky-named breakfast items prepared with organic and natural ingredients for their new on-the-go clients. It is providing a healthy alternative in the morning for what’s considered the most important meal of the day.
Healthy, early and food truck aren’t often found in the same sentence.
But, so far, it’s been a hit.
Eggstatic began cracking eggs in early June and had a grand-opening celebration last weekend outside the Satori apartment complex, just north of Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. The truck stations itself outside the apartments Tuesday through Friday mornings from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., serving around 40 people per day, on average, according to Eggstatic co-creator Diana Lichter.
Arie Gonzalez stopped by the bright-green food truck Tuesday after working out at Satori’s gym. Eggstatic’s organic approach drew her in. Within a few minutes, she walked up to the truck’s window and picked up her falafel-and-fried-egg breakfast, the “That’s All Yolks.”
“Your body is your temple,” the 19-year-old Gonzalez said. “So, you have to take care of it.”
Plus, it saved her cooking time, she said.
“It’s very convenient,” Gonzalez said. “Coming from the gym and then eggs on the go, why not?”
There are other cleverly named options, such as the “Great Eggspectations” — organic cinnamon-raisin French toast with maple agave caramelized apples topped with powdered sugar — or the “Huevo-Over-Your-Head,” spicy chili on a deep fried tortilla topped with a fried egg, spinach, and shaved cheddar cheese topped with sour cream.
Lichter is a graduate of the Johnson & Wales University culinary school in North Miami, and Charles Massad is her Eggstatic business partner and co-creator. Their organic menu items and playful names come from a love of food and culture, Lichter said.
Eggstatic is also the first South Florida food truck exclusively cooking organic breakfast, she said.
Jack Garabedian, who has operated Jefe’s Original Fish Tacos & Burgers food truck in South Florida for nearly three years, said there are about 130 active food trucks in the region. As far as he knows, Eggstatic is the only breakfast-only truck.
“I think it would be harder to sell,” he said of the early-morning concept. “People are eating in their cars on their way to work. To stop for breakfast has to be a luxury.”
Health-conscious consumers may still find their way to Eggstatic. For many, eating healthymatters.
“People are waking up. We are seeing a lot more interest in locally sourced food, organic food,” said Katherine Paul, spokeswoman for Organic Consumers Association. “People are realizing the corporate and industrial food systems are not producing healthy food.”
Eggstatic does pop-up appearances at local businesses and events, and on Saturdays stops by Marando Farms, south of Davie Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lichter said produce is hand-picked from Marando Farms and local farmer’s markets. And meats and eggs come from animals treated humanely, she said.
“Happy animals will give us happy tummies,” Lichter said. “What we eat helps us function, drives our energy level. Our mood is influenced by what we eat and the quality of food.”
mvalverde@tribune.com, 954-356-4526, Twitter @MiriamValverde
INFOBOX:
Some of the menu items available most mornings on the Eggstatic Food Truck, all below are priced $8:
“Your Sunny Side Up, I’m Fried”:Â open face turkey bacon, fried egg with tomato, spinach, topped with shaved parmesan on a homemade cheddar buttermilk biscuit
“That’s All Yolks”:Â falafel and fried egg on a torpita with hummus, feta, tomatoes, green peppers and sunflower seeds
“Chegg It Out”:Â buffalo chicken and bleu cheese dressing with a scrambled egg patty with chopped celery on a homemade cheddar buttermilk biscuit
“Great Eggspectations”:Â organic cinnamon-raisin French toast with maple agave caramelized apples topped with powdered sugar
Source: Eggstatic Food Truck
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-eggstatic-food-truck-20130704,0,2411101.story
