Portland’s food truck ordinance passed late last summer. 2013 will be the first full season for trucks to hit the streets and there will be a handful of vendors in the freshmen class.
One that I’m especially looking forward to is being developed by Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy, a pair of of chefs who have some serious fine dining credits on their resume. Deuben has worked at Alinea in Chicago, Hugo’s and Miyake. Leavy’s resume includes time in the kitchen at Back Bay Grill, Hugo’s and Miyake. You may also recall that Karl was the guest chef for last October’s Pocket Brunch at Broadturn Farm.
They’re in the process of renovating a food truck for a mid-May launch. The truck will be located in East Bayside on Anderson Street, near Tandem Coffee and Bunker Brewing. This new venture will give them an opportunity to apply all the skills they’ve developed in their fine dining careers in a more casual setting and format.
The business name is SmallAxe but the name for the truck itself is still TBD. Karl and Bill are working with The Brand Company, Maine magazine’s consulting division of branding, logo, etc.
I remember Karl from Miyake and I think he is one of the best chefs around. Their locations is a bit too far me to walk there on my lunch break, so I wonder what their hours will be? I’d feel silly to drive just to visit a food truck, but never the less I’ll make sure I stop by at least once.
And perhaps they’ll try out other locations closer to down town. I know there was an Italian themed food truck on Spring street, just around the corner from TD Bank. Park around there, and I’d be visiting them every day.