In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, KING 5’s Christie Johnson visited Seattle’s first grilled cheese food truck.

With everything from classic cheddar cheese to housemade spicy lamb sausage with Manchego sheep’s milk cheese, gruyere, caramelized onions and crispy potato chips, The Grilled Cheese Experience has six unique sandwiches to please a variety of palates. It also makes soup, and, for those in for something new, grilled Mac and Cheese.

The truck was parked in South Lake Union off Boren Avenue for lunch Friday, but it can be found in different Seattle-area neighborhoods Wednesday through Sunday.

For those who missed it, the truck will be at the Domanico Winery in Ballard from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday serving dinner. You can also catch it at Chuck’s Hop Shop in Seattle from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and at NW Life Church in Renton from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

http://www.king5.com/food/Christie-goes-aboard-Seattles-first-grilled-cheese-food-truck-202779071.html

All photos by Ryan Hueter
Owner Scott McGinnis in the bar area.

Ever since he was raised in Southern California, Scott McGinnis has been a fan of Mexican food. Now, he is turning that love for the food and a passion for cooking into his first full-service restaurant.

McGinnis started the El Camion family of taco trucks with the North Seattle truck about six years ago, followed by one in Sodo, and three years ago, the truck in Ballard. Now, he is trying to bring the same model of serving their customers that has been successful with their trucks to their inside location. After all, El Camion translates to simply “the truck.”

McGinnis has applied for a liquor license and hopes to open a bar in this area. The posters on the wall are authentic posters from Mexican movies.

Spinning off El Camion’s popular line of taco trucks throughout the city, owner McGinnis opened up a sit-down likeness of El Camion restaurant in north Ballard on Feb. 8 after four months of remodeling.

The building – just across from Ballard High School at the corner of 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 65th Street – is formerly the site of RoRo’s, and before that, Zesto’s, for over 60 years.

Though some expressed skepticism when seeing the beloved old Zesto’s being remodeled, McGinnis said the response from the community since opening has been positive.

“They’re excited to have the truck experience, but not have to potentially wait outside in the rain to get their food,” McGinnis said.

Main seating area in the restaurant.

If you’ve enjoyed a fish taco or a torta at one of El Camion’s three mobile locations, don’t worry. Just because the restaurant is opening its first brick-and-mortar location in Ballard doesn’t mean the look and feel –- and perhaps more importantly, the taste –- will change.

“We were known for our trucks, and I don’t want that to change,” McGinnis said. “That’s why we’re going to operate very similar to that. I’m not looking to open something completely different.”

McGinnis said the plan for the restaurant menu is to expand on the offerings of tacos, burritos, and tamales available at their food truck locations to include plates, such as arroz con pollo and plato mole – a chicken and rice dish in a chili and chocolate sauce.

McGinnis plans to have outdoor seating in the summer.

The new restaurant has been met with a good reaction from the community.

Ballard resident Dan Niah estimates he eats at El Camion two to three times per week.

“I’m stoked that it’s here, because this is way to closer to my house [than the. It’s just nice to be able to sit inside and have a good burrito,” said Niah, as he waited for a carne asada burrito and a fish taco on Thursday.

Ken Taylor, who works in Ballard, had been to El Camion’s taco trucks many times, but Thursday was his first trip to the sit-down restaurant.

“It’s an advantage not having to eat in your truck, and the food’s good, real good,” Taylor said as he chowed down on chicken pollo with rice and beans.

McGinnis has hired six new full-time staff members to help open the new eatery.

After McGinnis bought the building in October, he went about updating the interior to reflect the earthy, inviting atmosphere he wanted to cultivate. The walls are lined with hand-carved Mexican wood masks and authentic Mexican film posters.

“We wanted to bring some authenticity,” McGinnis said. “I was just trying to clean it up and have it feel very authentic and Mexican.”

Mexican masks that a friend of McGinnis’ brought back from Mexico City for him.

A business graduate of the University of Southern California, McGinnis grew up eating Mexican food and sampling local food trucks. But McGinnis also enjoys getting in the kitchen when he can.

“When things are moving along, and I’m able to get back in the kitchen, I love it,” McGinnis said.

El Camion’s locations right across the street from Ballard High School provides a ready-made client base and may open up what McGinnis hopes will be a sustained relationship with the school. Like Zesto’s before him, McGinnis hopes to be a part of the community for a long time to come.

“The long-term vision is really to be just an anchor here in Ballard,” McGinnis said.

El Camion
Location: 6416 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA, 98107
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.

El Camion from Ballard High School looking across 65th; the old rotating RoRo BBQ sign has been draped over with a new El Camion sign.

http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2013/02/26/features/el-camion-food-truck-restaurant

Veraci at Olympic Sculpture Park

Veraci Pizza, the Seattle mobile brick oven pizzeria that got its start at the Ballard Market, made its international TV debut last week on The Cooking Channel in Canada. Featured in The Cooking Channel’s Eat St., the episode will air in the U.S. on June 14.

“It’s pretty cool to get international exposure,” co-owner Errin Byrd said, adding that since it aired in Canada last week, they’ve already been receiving franchise inquiries.

“I’m a little bit nervous because we’re already so busy but it’s very humbling,” Byrd said.

Co-owners Errin Byrd and Marshall Jet were first contacted for the promo of the Eat St. series, which has been a year and a half in the making.

Hosted by comedian James Cunningham, Eat St. is a celebration of North America’s tastiest, messiest and most irresistible street food.

The segment featuring Veraci was filmed last August.

“It took a long time and we didn’t know if we would get chosen,” Byrd said.

Veraci is the only Ballard vendor that made the cut and one of three Seattle vendors that are featured.

According to the creators of Eat St, Veraci serves “the very best pizza in all of North America”.

Started as “something fun”, Veraci pizza is considered one of the first pioneers of street food in Seattle, Byrd said.

“Noone had ever seen a mobile oven before,” she added.

Towing a 3000-pound clay oven on a trailer to the market to offer authentic, wood-fire Neapolitan pizza, Veraci quickly became a big hit.

Byrd and Jet have since expanded their business to a pizzeria in Ballard that offers catering, a presence at seven Farmers markets, and two franchises in Spokane and Bend, Oregon.

Not only did Jet and Byrd pioneer curb-side food in Seattle, they also introduced Seattlites to pizza that can be good for you.

“Just because it’s pizza, it doesn’t have to be unhealthy,” said Byrd, adding that their thin crust pizza is made with fresh, organic, locally sourced produce.

The pizza spends less than 90 seconds in the 1000-degree brick oven to give the pizza a “rich, savory taste that puts other gourmet pizzas to shame,” according to the Eat St. episode.

Byrd said the Eat St. segment is fun and avant-garde and warns that it will make viewers crave for a slice of pizza.

“It shows lots of delicious food and will make people hungry,” Byrd said.

Veraci is featured in the ninth episode of Eat St. which will debut for U.S. audiences on June 14.

For more information visit The Cooking Channel’s website or visit Veraci’s website at veracipizza.com.

http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2011/06/08/news/ballards-veraci-makes-international-tv-debut-cook