Treats in the Heat: DFW Food Truck Festival at Sigel’s Fine Wine on Greenville

Three Men And A Truck food truck surrounded by hot, hungry men, women, and children. (photography by Victor Jiang)

The first of what will probably be many more DFW Food Truck Festivals took place Saturday outside Sigel’s Fine Wine and Great Spirits on Greenville Avenue. I’m not sure if the next one will take place in August. At 7PM, it was about 108 degrees. There were also, by my best guesstimate, approximately 2,000 people waiting and eating. Parking was reasonably well-organized with security marshaling people through the Sigel’s parking lot.  Most people either took DART or parked in the retail lots across the street.  Many of the customers headed indoors where Sigel’s offered craft beer and wine tastings. The entire event was orchestrated by Jasper Russo, Sigel’s wine marketing director.

The savage heat and long lines didn't keep folks from waiting to sample Dallas' new food truck scene.

I arrived early, about 5pm, so I could watch the orchestration of the setup. Three trucks of the participating nine trucks were already there. The rest pulled in by 5:30pm. Each of the trucks appeared to have added extra staff, but they all could have used more. The workers piled out and set up umbrellas, canopies, ice, and generators. I could tell they were nervous. For some, their performance at this festival could define their image and bottom line.  At the end of the night, many of the trucks, if not all, probably saw more customers in this one day than the total number of people they have served since being licensed.  Most of the owner/operators have giddily reported record sales.

Saturday night’s festival featured nine trucks: Gandolfo’s NY Deli, Jack’s Chowhound, Nammi Cruisin’ Vietnamese Fusion, Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe, 3 Men and a Taco, Enticed Shaved Ice, The Bomb Fried Pies, Trailercakes, and Mr. Cool Ice Cream.

Jump for two new first takes and pictures. (more…)