By Sarika Jagtiani | Delaware Online
There’s a chance that as you pull up to the next concert, festival or even museum, you’ll be parking next to your dinner.
While the largest group of traveling eateries is probably at the Delaware State Fair, now in its second and final weekend, food trucks have been rolling into increasingly more local events.
The popularity of food trucks has been picking up steam over the past five to 10 years, with fans lining up at eateries that once were relegated to hot dogs, pretzels and bagged potato chips – in other words, the bottom of the fine-dining food chain.
But with more trucks offering inventive foods and fresh ingredients, the mobile restaurants are no longer a last resort, but a destination.
At last month’s Firefly Music Festival in Dover, a cluster of food trucks was stationed next to the Monster Mile in The Hub, which featured food, emergency supplies and showers for campers.
Festivalgoers could grab a smoothie or espresso, try a taco or start their days with fresh eggs whisked by Leigh Ann Tona, owner of I Don’t Give a Fork, a Newark truck usually parked at the Delaware Tire Center (616 S. College Ave.).
Tona and company’s focus is on fresh food fast – not “fast food.”
That focus has garnered her a following, with foodies finding her up and down the state. Within the past week alone she’s been at Fordham Brewing Co. in Dover and the Movie Under the Stars, Rooftop Movie Series at ShopRite in Wilmington.
She was asked to participate in Firefly last year, but it was too soon for the fledgling truck.
“I hadn’t served one sandwich yet and the thought of serving 40,000 people was mind-boggling,” she said.
This year, though, working Firefly gave her tons of exposure (the line for her truck was rivaled only by the coffee truck on Saturday morning of the festival). Being stationed at the Old Fashioned Ice Cream Festival in Rockwood Park, though, got her more local customers.
Those newcomers can be important, especially while Newark is a “ghost town” in the summer, she said.
The best part about her business? She doesn’t have to stay in one place.
“Our business comes to you, so people are seeing them now at parties, sporting events, music festivals, etc., which lends itself to the popularity because of sheer exposure,” she said in an email.
The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (200 S. Madison St., Wilmington) has been hosting roving restaurants for about a year. Koi on the Go, which specializes in Thai food, is outside the museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The dumpling cart usually stationed at University of Delaware is at the museum on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will head back to the school in mid-August, but the Thai truck should stay put, according to Ashlee Lukoff, director of special events.
The Delaware Shakespeare Festival, which is now in its final weekend at Rockwood Park (4651 Washington St. Ext., Wilmington), has gotten into the act, too, with the Midnight Munchies Food Truck offering burgers, fries and other treats at weekend performances.
Visitors to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (6 Cannery Village Blvd., Milton) will also find a food truck waiting for them – which might come in handy after one too many brews.
Bunyan’s Lunchbox was unveiled on May 31, and serves foods infused with its beers.
Think chowder and brats in varieties like spicy espresso and Greek feta.
With all those options, it might be wise to skip the drive-through and go for an eatery with wheels of its own.
