Matti Merrell and Rodney Perry first parked their Green Seed food truck on a Third Ward street in 2011. Within a year Food & Wine named it the No. 9 vegan and vegetarian restaurant in the U.S.
Last year, the pair opened on Almeda, just around the corner in the neighborhood south of Midtown. They keep the truck parked outside, but don’t use it. They run a standalone version of Green Seed instead.
Standing over a stove in a truck parked in front of a bar may not sound like a stylish life for a chef. But for some talented young entrepreneurs, a food truck is a stepping stone to having their own restaurant.
Other local food truck chefs who have made, or will soon make, the leap to brick and mortar include Fusion Taco, Good Dog, Bernie’s Burger Bus and Eatsie Boys.
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The city’s myriad ethnic groups make the local food truck culture interesting, [Paul Galvani, an adjunct marketing professor at the University of Houston] said. The hundreds of taco trucks, for example, offer items from many Latin American regions.
“Any vibrant city has a very strong street food culture,” he said. “Houston is not quite there yet,” he said, but he sees a lot of excitement building around food trucks.
Many food truck chefs came out of culinary school during the recession and had trouble finding a job they liked, Galvani said.
I don’t really have a point to make, I just read the story to see if there were any updates on the MFU Houston movement. Judging from the lack of updates on that page, and the brief mention in this related story about Fusion Tacos opening a brick-and-mortar location downtown, I’d say the answer is “not a whole lot”. Still, the idea remains on Mayor Parker’s to do list, and if you’ve been listening to my interviews you know I’ve been asking all the Council candidates about it. But other than that, right now there’s not much to report.