By Vic Kolenc | ElPasoTimes.com
Opening day for a new Downtown food truck court was deemed a success by the food sellers.
“It was better than we expected,” proclaimed Octavio Gomez Monday afternoon as he helped serve food from Crave Kitchen & Bar’s food trailer dubbed, “Crave to Go.”
People were lined up at Crave’s trailer and two food trucks at the court, named Foodville, around noon, said Gomez, Crave’s co-owner and one of the organizers of the court along with El Paso businessman Lane Gaddy. Gaddy and his partners own the parking lot on the 200 block of Mills, where Foodville is located.
Patricia Iñiguez, who with husband Jesus Iñiguez, operate MoshiBox, a new food truck serving sushi, and Steven Hernandez, owner of Create Gourmet Eats, a 2-year-old food truck serving gourmet burgers, agreed the food court’s first day was a hit.
“We had a line 15-(people) deep” for a time, said Hernandez later in the afternoon when the crowd had dwindled. “I’ve been wanting this (Downtown food court) for a long time.”
Brenda Astorga, a 22-year-old UTEP student and hospital pharmacy technician, said she and friend Jazmine Arnal, 23, drove from the Lower Valley just to buy some Create burgers.
“I think this is exciting for El Paso,” Astorga said. She said she also made the special trip Downtown because she wants to support the food court so it will be successful.
Arnal said she’s spent a lot of time in Austin, where food truck parks are common.
Tacoholics, which serves gourmet tacos, will not be part of the Downtown park as originally planned, Gomez said. The plan now is to have Crave and Create Gourmet Eats as Foodville regulars, and have a different third truck rotated into the park each week.
The organizers also are studying whether it might be possible to fit a fourth food truck into the tiny lot, where wood tables and benches are set out for people to eat their lunches.
The food court, across the street from the Downtown post office, is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/business/ci_22029110/diners-welcome-downtown-foodville?source=most_viewed
