On Food Truck Friday, Tastes From Different Cultures
On November 2, I headed over to downtown Phoenix’s Civic Space Park for the weekly Food Truck Friday event. The trucks serve customers a variety of foods from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. That Friday, options included South American food, Cambodian food, barbecue and Belgian waffles.
The Lemongrass Shack was selling Cambodian food, which customers thought was unique. Arizona State University freshman Gabrielle Ducharme was attending her first Food Truck Friday and was also looking forward to trying Cambodian food for the first time. She first heard about Food Truck Friday from a friend of hers and she couldn’t help wandering over when she stepped out of the Post Office and saw the food trucks lined up. “I think it’s fun and it’s cute,” she said.
Thomas, who was taking orders at The Lemongrass Shack, told me about the food truck’s story. It started as a small business when his dad wanted to make some extra money on the side. Eventually, Thomas was asked if he wanted to join the business and he agreed. He has been working for The Lemongrass Shack for a little under two months now and was serving downtown customers for the first time. Besides downtown Phoenix, the truck sells food at other locations in the Valley like Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Queen Creek.
There were new and returning customers attending Food Truck Friday. Many agree that there are certain foods that make them keep coming back, such as grilled cheese. Overall, it seems like Food Truck Friday has had success in the downtown area. It originally started in 2010 but temporarily ended in 2016. Kat Moore, the chief executive officer of Best In Show, the management company that has put on Food Truck Friday, decided they had outgrown the space. “It was just too much,” she told The Arizona Republic in early 2018 when the event made its return. Since then, its been attracting downtown workers and ASU students.
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