We recently reported about a couple of Boston-area food trucks deciding to open brick-and-mortar restaurants, and now we have learned that yet another truck will soon have a permanent spot as well.

According to a post on its Facebook page, the people behind the Pennypackers Food Truck will be opening a brick-and-mortar eatery in Somerville, with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals approving their plans to open a restaurant in the Magoun Square section of the city. The post indicates that the new spot could be open sometime this summer.

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Mei Mei are also going to be opening permanent dining spots, with Roxy’s being in Allston and Mei Mei’s being in the Audubon Circle section of Boston.

Pennypackers, which debuted its truck in the summer of 2011, offers soups, salads, and sandwiches, and the owners now have two trucks–one stationed by the Marine Industrial Park in South Boston, and the other by Boston University. Their website can be found at http://www.pennypackersfoodtruck.com/

http://bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/2013/05/pennypackers-food-truck-to-open-brick.html

Boston Calling is almost here!

With the inaugural Boston Calling Festival rapidly approaching, festival organizers have revealed plans for the array of food options that will be available at the highly anticipated event. Scheduled for Saturday, May 25 and Sunday May 26 with 18 bands performing, food trucks will play the headliner on the dining lineup with Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, The Shuckin’ Truck and Kickass Cupcakes making their way to the festival for the weekend.

Other vendor highlights include Chipotle, serving Carnitas and Sofritos tacos, American Flatbread Pizza Kitchen and their all natural pizzas made from their wood-fired earthen oven, Fenway favorite The Sausage Guy, Halal experts The Chicken & Rice Guys, and the world’s first and only pickle cart, Grillo’s Pickle Cart. Menu highlights can be found below. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are available at many vendor booths.

Boston Calling will construct two beer gardens within the festival grounds for fans to kick back in, with brews curated by Boston’s Beer Summit. Breweries pouring on-site include Boston’s very own Harpoon Brewery, Woodchuck Hard Cider from Vermont and one of the world’s leading imports from Denmark, Carlsberg. Select wines from Wicked Good Wines will also be available within the beer gardens. Water, sodas, fresh squeezed lemonade and Spindrift, bottled sparkling seltzer made with fresh squeezed juice, will be available for purchase throughout the festival site.

As previously reported, The National and fun. will headline the two-day festival. Curated by Aaron Dessner of The National, the linuep also includes The Shins, Of Monsters and Men, Matt and Kim, Young the Giant, Andrew Bird, Marina and the Diamonds, Matt and Kim, The Walkmen, Youth Lagoon, Portugal. The Man, Cults, Caspian and Bad Rabbits.

General Admission tickets for Boston Calling are sold out, but a limited number of VIP single day and weekend tickets are still available through the festival’s website.

Boston Calling Festival – Food Lineup

Food Trucks:

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese (Saturday only) – Grilled cheese (3-4 variations), Handcut Truffle Fries

Mei Mei Street Kitchen (Sunday only) – Kale, feta and egg salad, Dumplings (tofu or beef) with fried rice, Eggplant and tofu over fried rice, Beef stew over fried rice, Pork spring rolls, Ginger scallion veggie noodles

The Shuckin’ Truck – Lobster and scallop rolls, Fish tacos, Fish bomb, Tuna bomb, Shuckin Shalad (lobster, scallop, fish or tuna), Clam chowder

Kickass Cupcakes – Assorted cupcakes, Cupcake ice cream sundaes, Coffee

Food Vendors:

Chipotle – Carnitas tacos, Sofritos tacos (made from organic tofu, currently only available in California)

American Flatbread Pizza Kitchen – Wood-fired Flatbread pizza (vegetarian, nitrate free meat, Jays heart cheese), Organic salads

The Chicken & Rice Guys – Halal chicken, Lamb gyro/ combo/tofu rice plate or wrap, Tofu quinoa salad, Pita platter, Tabbouleh salad

The Sausage Guy – Pulled pork and steak tip sandwiches, Burritos, Hamburgers

Grillo’s Pickle Cart – Fresh Hand Selected Pickles

http://www.bostonmusicspotlight.com/news-boston-calling-festival-reveals-plans-for-dining-options-may-2013/

The Sausage Guy will be one of the many vendors at Boston Calling.

Mark your calendars for Boston Calling, a two-day music festival to take place on City Hall Plaza on May 25 and 26. With a lineup of 18 live performances, the place will be jamming.

In addition to the music, food trucks and restaurants will be offering a smorgasbord of more than 75 dishes and lots of brews to go with. Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, The Shuckin’ Truck and Kickass Cupcakes, along with American Flatbread Pizza Kitchen and the famous Fenway-favorite, The Sausage Guy, are all part of the lineup. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are available at many vendor booths, and two beer gardens will be part of the festivities.

You’ll be able to chow down to the beats of Fun. The National, Of Monsters and Men, and The Shins among many more. With general admission tickets sold out, there are VIP single-day and weekend tickets available. A portion of all proceeds from Boston Calling will go to the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, which helps patients cope during their hospitalization by bringing the joy of music to their bedsides. Some proceeds will also go to support One Fund Boston ($185 for single-day and $350 for the weekend; click here for details on the full lineup and tickets).

http://blog.zagat.com/2013/05/boston-calling-music-fest-boasts-tasty.html

CLOVER’S TRUCK AT SOWA OPEN MARKET. PHOTO VIA SOWA FACEBOOK PAGE

These days, there’s a food truck on every street corner in Boston. And while the trucks are definitely a cool way to get your lunch, it must be said that some of the offerings aren’t always the healthiest. (Grilled cheese and cupcakes, anyone?) But don’t despair yet—so that you may hold onto your food-on-the-go habit, we found five of the healthiest food trucks in the city.

Clover Food Lab

This company is obsessed with keeping your food as fresh as possible. The menus change daily, and according to Clover’s website, they don’t own a single freezer (seriously), source as much as possible locally and organically, and make everything but barbeque sauce, mayonnaise, and ketchup fresh daily. If you’re as intrigued as we are, track down one of the Clover food trucks, which can be found all over the city throughout the course of the week.

Prices range from $2 to $7, hours vary by location. 

Compliments

Compliments, which was started last year and rotates among a variety of locations, uses fresh, in-season produce from local farms to craft its made-to-order foods. Most of the options are sandwiches, though there are also mouthwatering (and often gluten-free) sides, like tempura veggies and sweet potato fries, and fruit-based desserts.

Prices range from $2 to $7, open for lunch and dinner.

Momogoose

Founded by two MIT alums, this truck serves up authentic southeast Asian fare (think ramen and pho), while making it a point to keep fat and calories down. And you can feel good about your food since Momogoose invests its profits in charities like the UN’s World Food Programme. Last but not least, with two trucks circulating, you’re bound to find it when you need it.

$6 for an entree or $10 for a combo, open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 or 3:30 p.m.

Lefty’s Silver Cart

Lefty’s specializes in vegetarian sandwiches, with tasty-sounding options like a portabella mushroom “burger” and a fig and goat cheese sandwich. They also sometimes come out with soup or salad specials and serve all sandwiches with a veggie side. You can find the truck at SoWa Open Market on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or at Union Square Plaza on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Prices range from $5 to $8, see hours above.

Mother Juice

Mother Juice combines two food trends: fresh juice and smoothies. The truck can be found at SoWa and other area farmers’ markets with a menu that changes weekly and features produce from Massachusetts farms. Plus, the pulp that isn’t used in intriugingly-named juices like Liquid Sunshine and Boston on My Mind is recycled into treats like ice pops, fruit leather, baked goods, and more.

Locations and hours vary.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/blog/2013/05/08/healthy-food-trucks-boston/

Derek Dawson (left) and owner James DiSabatino in a Roxy’s Grilled Cheese truck at Dewey Square. Roxy’s plans to open a restaurant in Allston in September.

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese trucks have logged many miles and melted a lot of cheese over the past couple of years, making them two of most popular mobile restaurants in Boston. Now, owner James DiSabatino wants to expand the business by staying put; he is planning to open a brick-and-mortar version of Roxy’s in September, following the lead of some other local food truck companies.

“It’ll be so great to have something that doesn’t break down on you,” DiSabatino said. “Something where you can put the key in the door, unlock it, and open.”

The new Roxy’s will be located at 485 Cambridge St. in Allston’s Union Square, an area that is already home to restaurants such as Lone Star, Deep Ellum, and Grasshopper. DiSabatino, 25, said he plans to double Roxy’s staff by adding about 20 employees.

“The whole purpose is for this place to act as our truck commissary and our brick-and-mortar spot at the same time,” he said. “The two will run out of the same space.”

DiSabatino said he expects the restaurant’s menu offerings to be “in the same vein” as what’s offered on his food trucks, including Green Muenster Melt: muenster cheese, homemade guacamole, and applewood bacon.

“This [restaurant] literally gives us more room to be creative, more fun, and more consistent all at the same time,” he said. “It will also be a bit more predictable, and I could really use that right now.”

Roxy’s will become the latest in a growing line of nomadic restaurants in the Boston area that have opened — or plan to open — permanent locations.

Clover Food Lab started as a single truck at MIT in 2008 and has grown to seven trucks in Boston, Cambridge, and Burlington.

Last year, it added two restaurants, both in Cambridge, and expects to open three or four more this year, including two in the next month — in Burlington and Brookline Village.

“The original idea behind the truck was to use it as a test ground to prototype a menu for a brick-and-mortar restaurant,” said Lucia Jazayeri, communications director for Clover, which features fresh, simply prepared foods.

In the beginning, Jazayeri said, Clover expected to operate out of a truck for only six weeks before moving to a permanent location. But when the truck stopped running, customers clamored for it to return.

“We never thought the trucks would be the thing,” she said. “We were always focused on restaurants and really still are, but trucks are a good way to test a menu because you have the chance to get to know customers and experiment, without the large overhead of a restaurant.”

Bon Me, a Vietnamese food truck, also opened a restaurant of the same name in Cambridge’s Kendall Square earlier this year, and the Chinese-American truck Mei Mei Street Kitchen plans to open a restaurant in late June near Boston University.

“Food trucks are the perfect incubator for food-service professionals to move their business along,” said Ron Sarni, the president and founder of Boston Food Truck Alliance, a trade organization.

“The restaurant industry is very high risk. Most don’t make it, and this is a solid way for people to have proof-of-concept and figure out what they need to do in a brick-and-mortar.”

Sarni said food trucks are also a good way for restaurants to increase brand recognition, which is why other local establishments such as Area Four in Cambridge or Paris Creperie in Brookline have launched food trucks based on their well-established restaurants.

“It’s more beneficial for a brick-and-mortar to launch a food truck than vice versa, just because it’s such a great bang for your buck in branding,” he said.

“This is not a trend; this is the evolution of the restaurant business.”

DiSabatino said he realizes part of Roxy’s attraction is the way the food is served, from a vehicle parked on a street. Taking that out of the equation, he said, is a risk.

“It’ll be a challenge to take the brand and experience and convert it to brick-and-mortar experience,” he said. “But we haven’t reached our potential brandwise or aesthetically yet, and I think it could finally come into its own here. I have a good feeling about it.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/05/06/food-truck-fare-finding-home/sEvxNnN5tKCLqGPydL7EwL/story.html

Food trucks line up at the SOWA Open Market. Credit Chris Masci

The 2013 SoWa Open Market will feature its usual open market, vintage market and farmer’s market, and this year, will include an expanded lineup of food trucks, featuring more than 35 different food vendors and restaurants on wheels. The market opens for the 2013 season on Sunday, May 5th.

The open market, which will be celebrating its ten year annivesary this year, is open every Sunday from May through October from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with several different locations up and down Harrison Avenue in the South End’s SoWa district.

The food trucks will be parked at the Trolly Building at 540 Harrison Ave. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Food Truck Lineup:

• Area Four Food Truck
• Away Cafe
• Baja Taco Company
• Benny’s Crepe Cafe
• Big Moe’s M & M Ribs
• Biryani Park
• Bon Me
• Boston Italian Ice
• Boston Shuckin Truck
• Boston Super Dog
• Boston’s Baddest Burger
• Clover Fast Food
• Del’s Lemonade
• Frozen Hoagies
• Fugu Truck
• Go Fish
• LOBSTA LOVE
• Mei Mei Street Kitchen
• Momogoose
• Mother Juice
• Culinary Cruisers
• Paris Creperie
• Roxy’s Grilled Cheese
• South End Chef
• Swirled – Gourmet Soft Serve Truck
• Taco Party
• Tenoch Mexican
• The Bacon Truck
• The Chicken and Rice Guys
• The Chubby Chickpea
• The Coffee Trike
• The Cookie Monstah
• The Dining Car
• The Froyo Truck
• The Taco Truck Boston
• The Whoo(pie) Wagon
• Trolley Dogs
• VESTA Moblie Wood-Fired Pizza

http://southend.patch.com/articles/food-truck-lineup-at-sowa-for-2013-season

REMATCH: New York food trucks are rolling into Boston to clash again with Hub mobile eateries, including Avi Shemtov’s Chubby Chickpea, above, in Saturday’s Food Truck Throwdown.
Photo: Mark Garfinkel

The Boston-New York rivalry isn’t ending any time soon as the cities’ food trucks gear up for a culinary throwdown rematch.

Kickass Cupcakes owner and bostonherald.com Fork Lift blogger Sara Ross is bringing her wildly successful food truck competition back to the Greenway tomorrow, this time with two more blocks and four more trucks. Nearly 25,000 people turned out for the October inaugural event.

“We learned a bit about crowd control and crowd management, which is why we decided to have it in a bigger space, and there are a lot more places for people to enjoy their food,” Ross said of their new spot between State and India streets.

They also simplified the judging process: To find the overall champ, a “best of Boston” and a “best of New York” dish will go head-to-head after the judges determine each dish’s score using a uniform point system. There also will be a People’s Choice award and a special category in which chefs create dishes with Maker’s Mark bourbon. (Judges include Jamie Bissonnette, chef and owner of Coppa; Richard Chuddy, food blogger and co-owner of The Skinny Beet; Jon Albanese of WEEI; and Bostontweet creator Tom O’Keefe.)

Trucks that participated in October’s event — which Boston won, FYI — were eager to come back for more.

REMATCH: New York food trucks are rolling into Boston to clash again with Hub mobile eateries.
Photo: Mark Garfinkel

“The last Food Truck Throwdown was such as success, and it helped elevate the general knowledge of trucks in Boston and popularize the scene,” said Mei Li, co-founder of Mei Mei’s Street Kitchen, which is participating for a second time. “(This time) we developed a streamlined menu, planning ahead to serve thousands of people. We’ve picked some favorites that we can serve quickly and in large numbers.”

And in New York, the positive word-of-mouth inspired mobile eateries to make the four-hour drive with their kitchens in tow.

“We know quite a few people who were here last year — we chatted with them to see how they liked it, and everyone had such a great time. We thought, ‘This is really something we have to be a part of,’ ” said Ann Yu, co-founder of Itizy’s Ice Cream truck in NYC.

New York’s Munchie Mobile is repeating its road trip to Boston, as co-founder Jon Gneezy hails from Lexington (and another of his co-creators is from Cambridge). “It’s a dream come true to bring the truck home.”

The Food Truck Throwdown, hosted by Jenny Johnson of NECN and “TV Diner,” is free to attend (plus cost of food) from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. For more info, go to foodtruck throwdown.com.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/05/boston_nyc_food_truck_rivalry_returns_to_greenway

Image courtesy of the SoWa Market Facebook page.

Next Sunday marks the re-opening of SoWa Open Air Market, Boston’s summertime shopping and dining mecca for vintage wear, craft, and food truck enthusiasts. The seasonal marketplace will remain open to the public every Sunday through October.

SoWa takes its name from Boston’s South of Washington district, often referred to by locals as “SoWa”.  The district spans east-to-west from Massachusetts Avenue to East Berkley Street, and north-to-south from Washington to Albany Street. In the 1900’s, the area was a manufacturing hub for (among other things) shoes, pianos, and canned goods, but remained largely nondescript once these industries left the Boston area. Only in the early 2000’s did SoWa begin its dramatic gentrification. Now, previously abandoned brick-and-beam factories are filled with art studios, galleries, and upscale restaurants, and the area has become one of the most desirable neighborhoods for developers, creative businesses, and families alike.

SoWa Open Air Market is perfectly emblematic of the area’s new character. Beginning in 2003, the summertime ”SoWa Sundays” have attracted thousands of the cities hippest shoppers with the promise of unique craft finds and gourmet foods to be discovered at the market’s dozens of vender stalls. Shoppers can also spend hours wandering through the indoor Vintage Market, rifling through piles of vintage clothing and local crafts, fueled by the possibility of a vintage MiuMiu Pump or genuine mother-of-pearl cigarette case.

After uncovering such treasures, shoppers can break for lunch at one of the many food trucks that set up in a parking lot adjacent to the markets. Here, mobile chefs combine often locally grown ingredients to produce delicious international flavors bound to satisfy even the most adventurous appetites. Some of the more intriguing-sounding of the food truck line-up this year include Fugu Truck, Area Four, ShuckinTruck (a rawbar to go!), and Culinary Cruiser.

And, for those who feel compelled to bring some of the local flavor home with them, SoWa Open Air Market also features a full-scale farmer’s market.  For the environmentally conscious cook, this is the perfect place to pick up fresh ingredients with a minimal carbon footprint. Stands include a wide array of produce and baked goods, as well as preserves, herbs, candy, chocolate, and flowers. This year, the market will feature non-GMO milk and meat products, seafood, and wine. Additionally, the SoWa farmer’s market hosts several food-related events throughout the season, including a tart bake-off and a plant swap.

So, if you’re sticking around Boston for the summer, make sure you get yourself over to the SoWa Open Air and Vintage Markets at some point. It’s a great way to spend a beautiful day, support local artists and farmers, eat delicious food, and buy awesome stuff!

http://buquad.com/2013/04/29/its-finally-sowa-season/

Last year’s Food Truck Throwdown champs

Boston had such a great time last year that it’s happening again: The Food Truck Throwdown. Some of our city’s top food trucks will go wheel-to-wheel with some of New York City’s most delicious mobile munchies this Saturday, May 4 on the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Boston contenders include Pennypacker’s, Kickass Cupcakes, Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, Bon Me, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, Cookie Monstah, Paris Creperie, Chubby Chickpea and Captain Marden’s. The New York camp includes Nuchas, Mike & Willie’s, Big D’s Grub, Munchie Mobile, Momos and Buns, Uncle Gussy’s and Comme Ci Comme Ca, among others.

While the event itself is free and open to the public, bring cash to buy the tasty bites. Celebrity judges, who include Jamie Bissonnette from Coppa andTV Diner’s Jenny Johnson, will be there to give us their two-cents. You can also be a VIP: skip the lines and sample five different trucks, and meet the chefs (11 AM-9 PM; click here for more details and VIP tickets).

http://blog.zagat.com/2013/04/boston-vs-nyc-food-truck-throwdown-set.html

credit: Instagram

Due to continued economic prosperity, one of Boston’s well-known food trucks, Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese, will open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Allston for the next academic year.

James DiSabatino, owner of Roxy’s, said he had been looking for a space for about a year and found the perfect one at 785 Cambridge St. in Allston near Lone Star Taco Bar and Model Café.

“A lot of places seemed forced or awkward,” DiSabatino said. “We didn’t want to have to make any sort of sacrifice. This ended up being the perfect space for us because we have a lot of friends that live in the area and will have a lot of support.”

The restaurant is scheduled to open in the fall when students will be returning to Boston for school, he said.

DiSabatino said opening a restaurant has always been his goal, but food trucks were a good way to get started.

“Trucks were coming in as something cool to do and easier to start with,” he said. “It was a great way to test out whether or not our concept would work and we are really glad we did it.”

He said customers could rest assured the trucks will continue to operate once the restaurant is open.

“We might add more trucks, but the primary goal is the restaurant and making sure we keep the brand value,” he said. “We’re definitely going to expand the menu a little bit but keep it in the same vein of what we’re good at.”

The restaurant will stick to the same theme as the trucks, DiSabatino said.

“We will definitely pull elements of the truck into the restaurant,” he said. “We’re not going to make it look like the Ritz Carlton in there. We live our lives a specific way and that comes out in our business. We will be preserving our aesthetic in the restaurant.”

DiSabatino said he is excited about the predictability of owning a restaurant.

“Having a place to open up our doors without having to worry about the truck breaking down or generators,” he said. “[It will be] a place that is consistent, predictable, and not dependent on the weather.

A number of residents said they are excited about their favorite food truck expanding beyond the streets.

Becca Speicher, 26, of Allston, said she found out about the Roxy’s truck on television.

“I saw them on the food network and their grilled cheese is really good,” she said. “My favorite is the Green Muenster.”

Speicher said Roxy’s is one of her favorite food trucks in the area.

“I’m excited because I’ve lived in this area for years and really like their grilled cheese,” she said.

Jen Shuman, 26, senior research assistance at Brown University, said she visits her friends in Allston frequently and is looking forward to checking out the restaurant when she visits.

“I’m honestly most excited about the décor,” Shuman said. “It will be really cool to see this theme translated into a restaurant, the whole rockabilly girl feel is awesome.”

http://dailyfreepress.com/2013/04/28/roxys-food-truck-to-expand-from-the-streets/