• New banners at University Market

For Pastor Mark DeYmaz and the Mosaic Church, the food truck court on the corner of South University Avenue and Colonel Glenn Road was always more than just a gathering place for food vendors; it was always meant as a gathering place for a community. In the short time that the University Market at 4Corners has been open, developing that sense of community has been slow but steady with the addition of new trucks, the development of a loyal following on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and by good old-fashioned word of mouth from the people who work and go to school in the University District.

On May 1, the University Market took a large step in realizing the dream of becoming a place where people from the neighborhood could gather together to eat and fellowship when the city granted permission to install tables and chairs in the former K-Mart parking lot that has become home to many of Little Rock's food trucks. With this new development, the Market can transition from being a place where people merely pass through to get their food and leave for elsewhere to a place where people can enjoy a meal in the open air, fostering a sense of community through one of our oldest activities: sharing a meal. As sign of bigger and better things to come, the first banners advertising the Market were put up just this week, a symbolic gesture that signals Mosaic's commitment to urban renewal in South Little Rock.

Future plans for the University Market area include access to electricity for the trucks so that noise from the generators now being used for power can be eliminated, the creation of more green space in what is now a seemingly endless expanse of asphalt and a continued effort to turn the former K-Mart building into a home for both the Mosaic Church and office space for non-profit organizations. I've been inspired by the dedication and resilience of the folks behind the University Market, and if the grassroots urban renewal along South Main Street has taught us anything, it's that sometimes, all it takes is the dedication of people who live and work in a neighborhood to make a difference — and in the case of the Market, to get something good to eat while you're at it.

• Last Friday's food truck service winds down.

At least two restaurant owners downtown are ticked off at the Downtown Little Rock Partnership for its sponsorship of Food Truck Fridays, which they say will hurt their business on what are normally their busiest days.

Eric Tinner, who owns Sufficient Grounds locations along Capitol Avenue, and Matt Lile, owner of Lulav, are blaming the partnership for a big dip in business last Friday, the first Food Truck Friday at Capitol and Main. Lile said his business was down 31 percent from the previous Friday, and "I really believe [the food trucks] are directly responsible." Tinner said his business declined from the previous Friday at both his Sufficient Grounds locations (one at Union Plaza, close by the food trucks, and the other in the Metropolitan Bank building at 5th and Broadway) and that a survey he made of nearby restaurants showed a big drop in customers — U.S. Pizza by 30 percent and a Subway three blocks away down 23 percent.

"It's disappointing to see a group like the partnership ... support direct competition," Tinner said. "It’s hard for me to stomach the fact that my dues are going to this [project] that hurts my business."

Tinner said the food trucks "come in, cherry pick our business at the peak time of day and week and they leave ... what do they leave besides trash?" Unlike the mobile trucks, Lulav's Lile noted that he'd invested time and money in fixing up a dilapidated building on Sixth Street for his business, a move that has helped downtown.

Both business owners were irked that food trucks aren't regulated as strictly as restaurants, whose kitchens must submit to several inspections yearly by the state Health Department.

DLRP head Sharon Priest believes things will even out in the next two months as overflow customers, people who do not regularly dine out downtown, head to the brick and mortar restaurants. She said the DLRP has offered to print for restaurants fliers that tout discounts at the restaurants for distribution at the food truck site. But Lile said offering discounts to lure business away from the food trucks "frankly hurts us too."

Priest noted that there are "roughly" 10,000 people who work within a few blocks of the food truck area "who are looking for lunch at the same time." She said she considers the food truck project — which she said was designed to bring new people to Main Street — a trial. The DLRP has contracted with the Metropolitan Housing Alliance (Little Rock's Housing Authority) Fridays through June for use of the block where the three food trucks set up. Tomorrow's trucks include Royal Kabob, The Food Truck and an as-yet-undetermined third vendor; hours are 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

• Lindsey Millar
• Haute Wheels food truck

Haute Wheels is the latest addition to Little Rock's street food boom. When the pharmaceutical company Nancy Dyer represented downsized, she saw it as an opportunity to start her own company. She debuted Haute Wheels, a food truck equipped with a smoker, fryer and griddle, last week, at the first Food Truck Friday. At the moment, Haute Wheels features smoked meat sandwiches and salads.

Dyer is a veteran of the Little Rock restaurant scene, although she's spent virtually of her time at the front of the house. Waiting tables put her through a science program at University of Arkansas Little Rock, which was a substitution for what she really wanted to study — nutrition. She calls cooking a long-time passion. "I come from one of those weird families where my mom had a hot meal on the table every night, Monday through Thursday," she said.

She purchased a truck (formerly Mel's Mobile BBQ) and worked with the folks at Rock City Wraps on a design. "I wanted something inked up, tattoo-style, that would be eye catching and playful," she said, after sheepishly admitted that the name for Haute Wheels was inspired by the TV show Chelsea Lately and Chelsea's brother's Haute Mess Catering. Dyer's eleven year old niece suggested the name, which worked with the So-Cal, hot-rod design Dyer envisioned for the truck's exterior.

Coming up with the menu was a little tougher. Dyer plans to switch things around seasonally, although Haute Wheels is still so nebulous that there could be quicker changes in the short term. She plans to always have at least one veggie and one gluten-free option and build around a loose hot-and-cold theme — "hot (as in spicy) entrees, cool sides," she explained. "I'd like to keep things light in the summer, and add soups and heavy meals in the winter. I'd also like to use more local grillers and butchers and keep things very fresh. Basically, I just want to feed others the way I'd feed them in my own home." One side of the truck has "Like Water for Chocolate" painted on it, paying homage to a book Dyer has found inspirational as her relationship with cooking has deepened and expanded over the years.

Look for Haute Wheels at the food truck court at Asher and University and at West Little Rock's Arkansas Skatium. Hours and days will vary, so check facebook for updates and locations.

• Frommer

Sometimes, food truck vendors need to know more than how to make a Bobby Boo-Boo.* They need to know what laws exist that might put them out of business. Fortunately, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice is coming to the University of Central Arkansas to talk about just that: what food truck vendors need to know to fend off legal moves by restaurants who don't want the competition.

Robert Frommer's talk, "Food Trucks and the Law: Encouraging Entrepreneurship," is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the College of Business Auditorium. In a press release, Frommer is quoted as saying, “I hope people will come away with a new appreciation for the entrepreneurial spirit in food trucks, and a better understanding of the ways that traditional restaurants use the law to keep food trucks out.”

The release also says that Frommer is lead counsel in Miller v. City of Atlanta, which is challenging Atlanta’s grant of an exclusive franchise over all public-property vending to a single company, and in Wag More Dogs LLC v. Artman, a First Amendment case on government censorship of public art.

*Grilled ham, bacon, pepper jack cheese, lettuce and tomato at The Food Truck, University Market at Asher.

• Michael Roberts
• Joel Dunlap gets ready to cook up a cheesesteak

For Joel Dunlap, there was no question about expanding the successful business his parents Patrick and Kristine built at Rocky’s Pub in North Little Rock, but the prohibitive costs of opening a second brick-and-mortar location proved to be out of reach. After seeing the growing popularity of food trucks across the city, the Philadelphia native decided that the best way to bring his cooking south of the Arkansas River was to condense Rocky’s menu down to one item, an Italian-style Philly cheese steak, and serve it freshly made from the back of a small mobile cart. The result is Philly’s To Go, which made its debut last week at Southwest Little Rock’s University Market @ Four Corners.

“It reminds me of camping,” says Dunlap as he maneuvers around a cart no bigger than an average hot dog cart, “I just pack up the cooler early every morning and go.” The cart is equipped with several covered wells that are full of fresh, locally-sourced ingredients as well as a small flat-top grill that allows him prepare his cheese steaks to order. Each sandwich starts with a generous amount of tender, thin-sliced beef cooked fresh peppers, onions, or mushrooms. A generous helping of Swiss, provolone, or American cheese comes next, and I had a lot of fun watching Dunlap melt the cheese and work it into the meat mixture to create a savory, gooey filling that was almost too much for the crusty bread. Like the cheese steaks at Rocky’s, Dulap offers a side of tangy marinara sauce with each sandwich, a unique topping that won me over after the first bite.

Although only 24, Dunlap is a long-time veteran behind the grill, and he’s not above a little showmanship while he prepares the cheese steaks that he hopes are just the beginning of a growing business and more diverse menu. “I’d like to make anything on the cart just like we do at Rocky’s,” he says, including homemade meatball and sausage sandwiches, but for now he’s trying to gain fans by making the best cheese steak in Southwest Little Rock, and with his focus on fresh ingredients and generous portions, there aren’t many better sandwiches around. Dunlap plans on mainly parking at the University Market, but he’s scouting other locations as well. Follow Philly's to Go on Facebook and Twitter for updates on specials and location.

• Philly's To Go cheesesteak

• Brian Chilson
• Green Cuisine

After the success of the Main Street Food Truck Festival last year, the Downtown Little Rock Partnership is organizing a regular event, Main Street Food Truck Fridays, scheduled to kick off Friday, April 13. The DLRP hopes to have two to four trucks each week on the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue, with different trucks rotating into the space weekly. The weekly line-up will aim for diversity, DLRP executive director Sharon Priest said. Assuming the weekly event goes well, it will continue through the Main Street Food Truck Festival in October.

The DLRP has contacted all registered food trucks in the city, Priest said. So far four have agreed to participate: Haute Wheels, Green Cuisine, Christians Take-Out Too and Hot Dog Mike. Other trucks interested in participating can contact the DLRP at 375-0121.

Asked about pushback from downtown brick and mortar restaurants, Priest said so far she'd heard complaints from two, but said she thought the food trucks would bring everyone new customers. "I think [restaurants] will find a pick-up in foot traffic. There'll be people coming to an area they're not use to going to. Ultimately, it will bring them more business."

For the record: Angel Galloway, with the Rep, first suggested reinvigorating Main Street by allowing food trucks to park along it in the 2010 edition of our Big Ideas issue.

• HEADED TO COURT: One of the food trucks scheduled to participate in new food truck "court" at University and Col. Glenn.

UPDATE:

Here is a full listing of the charter members for University Market:

Hot Dog Mike
Homegrown
Taqueria Samantha
Haygood Bar-b-que
Red River Catering
The Food Truck
Christians Take Out Too
Peace Hog Mobile Cafe
Papa's Burgers and Dogs

University Market is a project initiated by Mosaic Church, which is in the process of purchasing the old K-Mart on the corner of University and Col. Glenn, according to Jennifer Harrison, a church member who is helping organize the food truck space. Hours, initially, won't be steady. Each vendor can use the parking lot whenever it chooses, according to Harrison. Some of the owners of the trucks have day jobs and will only park in evening hours. Others will do the opposite. By March, Harrison said she hoped more trucks would join the rotation and hours would become consistent.

Mosaic plans to turn the former Kmart into a community center open to all comers, according to Harrison. The University Market is an extension of that mission, she said. "We want to offer gourmet food at affordable prices and food that's multi-ethnic, like Mosaic."

Harrison said current city zoning laws don't allow large signage or outdoor seating for food trucks, but she is hoping to get an exception from the city.

Harrison's husband is Jon Harrison, the former Caterpillar executive who recently quit Caterpillar to volunteer full time for Mosaic.

EARLIER:

Who knew? When I was in San Francisco last week, one of the wish-we-had sights I saw was a plaza near the civic center with a regular lineup of food trucks that serve weekday lunch.

Guess what? Little Rock has a food truck fair in the works. A "food truck court" set to open this week at what's being styled the University Market at 4Corners. That's the intersection of University Avenue and Col. Glenn. According to the Facebook page map, it will set up on the southeast corner of the intersection (by the old Cinema 150). Subsequent posts on the Facebook page indicate the trucks will be on the former Kmart parking lot on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Hot Dog Mike says the "soft opening" is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday. Mike is one of nine vendors listed on the Facebook page. I'm pleased to note that one of them is Taqueria Samantha, my go-to burrito choice that's a staple on Geyer Springs Road.