Murrieta resident Andrew Acosta get his sweet treats from the Cupcake Place food truck, one of the dozen or so food trucks at the Murrieta Food Truck Fest fundraiser at Town Square Park on Saturday. DON BOOMER | dboomer@nctimes.com

Food trucks typically conjure up images of hot dogs and Good Humor ice cream bars; not gooey and oh-so fragrant butter-poached lobster grilled cheese sandwiches and velvety, fancy cupcakes with flavors like “Snow-Conut” and chocolate Heath crunch.

But that’s what greeted the more than 1,000 people at Murrieta’s first-ever Food Truck Fest on Saturday, home to crepes, gourmet burgers, and flavors experimental and, from the looks of the lines, delicious.

A fundraiser to help pay for the city’s youth center, the event drew a parade of parked food trucks with catchy names like “WTF Pizza”and “New York on Rye” along the driveway of the city’s town square park.

It also brought in the salivating crowds, with about 500 tickets sold online before the event and 500 at the gate, said city special events coordinator Laura Frasso.

“You can tell food trucks are big right now,” said Frasso. The Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race show has helped fan the flames, and so have, apparently, the aromas of spicy Thai food, grilled pastrami and Swiss on rye.

Natalee Castillo, of Wildomar, said she’s been to food truck festivals in Los Angeles, and that the allure is in the variety.

“It’s a great opportunity to try things you wouldn’t get to try anywhere else,” she said, waiting for a buffalo chicken sandwich —- hot, spicy chicken, piled with blue cheese —- from the “Devilicious” food truck, a San Diego-based operation that features the words “saucy,” “spicy,” “vivacious,” “racy,” and “divine” on its truck.

The co-owner, Bob Danko, said it’s all about finding the comforts in food.

“We take what is comfort food and we go to the next level,” he said. “It’s good, fast, and different.”

At the Cool Haus truck parked a few vehicles down from Devilicious, Mike Scocozza was building individual ice cream-cookie sandwiches with ingredients such as sweet potatoes, potato chips, marshmallows, and balsamic fig.

“Nothing’s weird,” said Scocozza. “They sound kind of out there, but then you try it and it makes sense.”

Michelle Ardalan, of Temecula, was a first-timer at the food truck festival. She said she was surprised by the variety and the ingenuity.

“There’s really something for everybody,” she said, standing in line to order a Cuban sandwich.

The fundraiser will support the youth center, according to Cathy Bearse, a community service commissioner.

“We had enough money to build the center, but not enough to put anything in it,” she said. “With this, the entire $8 ticket price goes towards the youth center, so it’ll be huge for the city’s kids.”

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