enjoying the evening around Big Spring International Park. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@AL.com)
By Matt Wake  |  Al.com
enjoying the evening around Big Spring International Park. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@AL.com)
Cupcakes for breakfast? It’s part of the plan for Saturday’s Street Food Gathering, the twelfth edition of Downtown Huntsville Inc.’s smash-hit food truck events.
The previous gatherings have all been during dinner hours. DHI CEO Chad Emerson got the idea to try a breakfast version after a conversation with a prominent local restaurateur, who wished to remain anonymous. Emerson says, “(The restauranteur) made the comment ‘Wouldn’t it be great to start it with this but what if this grew into a Saturday morning market like Pepper Place (Farmers Market) in Birmingham.’
“We’re viewing the breakfast edition as really a test run to activating Saturday mornings in downtown Huntsville during the summer.”
The breakfast Street Food Gathering is being held 7-10 a.m. on North Side Square, which is being shut down for the event. The 12 food trucks and vendors include: Sugar Belle Cupcakes, HotBox; I Love Bacon; Kona Ice; Wild Bean Coffee Company; Washington Square Catering; Doctor BBQ; The Food Truck; Big Foot’s Little Doughnuts; Belly Food Trailer; Cottage Crepes; and Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea Co.
AL.com was unable to reach Sugar Belle before publishing of this article to determine exactly what sort of cupcake that food truck would be serving at the breakfast Street Food Gathering. However, Emerson says, “They will have a cupcake that’s decidedly breakfast oriented. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever had before from Sugar Belle.”
Examples of items confirmed to be available include: I Love Bacon’s “Justin Bieber” French toast breakfast sandwich with applewood smoked bacon, maple cream cheese $10; Hot Box’s Scatterbrowns ($2-$7), with ingredient options like eggs, cheese, chorizo, chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach; Bigfoot’s Little Donuts’ Cinnamon Roll donuts ($5 for 12); and Cottage Crepes’ Bacon Avocado & Egg crepe ($6.50).
Downtown Huntsville Inc. began hosting its Street Good Gatherings in 2013. The first full season, which runs April to October, took place last year.
Some food trucks were obvious fits for a breakfast edition – Bigfoot’s Little Donuts, Cottage Crepes and Wild Bean Coffee Company, for example. Emerson reached out to less breakfast-ready trucks to see if they’d come up with morning-relevant items. “And they all received it very well,” he says. “So we invited a limited number who really committed to a breakfast item. This is not getting lunch at breakfast.”
DHI also has breakfast food truck events scheduled on North Side Square for July 25 and Aug. 29, according to downtownhuntsville.org. Regular, evening editions are set for July 17, Aug. 21, Sept. 18 and Oct. 16.
The Street Food Gatherings are often held a couple blocks away on Church Street, with a festival feel and attendance in the thousands. Saturday’s breakfast edition is designed to be a little more intimate. “If you’re out for a run, out for a bicycle ride, walking your dog, whatever it is,” Emerson says,” we think there’s a different crowd that comes out in the morning downtown.”
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/downtown_huntsvilles_popular_f.html
