If you drove past the parking lot Wednesday night and wondered what all the commotion was about -it was the debut of Street Eats.
Presented by the and East Bay food truck events company Food Truck Mafia, Street Eats is a gourmet food truck event that will be taking place every Wednesday night in the Serra Center parking lot near Big Lots.
Phill Woodman and Patrick Clarke, owners of Grill Stars - Food Truck Mafia, worked with the Chamber of Commerce to get Street Eats up and running. Planning Commission rules state there can be no more than 10 food trucks at each event, though 16 trucks wanted to participate in Wednesday night's debut.
"The trucks will be [included in the weekly event] on a rotating basis," Woodman explained. "The trucks pay a fee to participate and also give 10 percent of their earnings to the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce."
Most trucks accept cash only, though a few do accept credit cards.
Street Eats will be a weekly event, occurring each Wednesday evening, rain or shine, from 4:30-9 p.m. Plans are for it to occur year-round.
Nine gourmet food trucks were on hand opening night. They were Grill Stars (BBQ), BIGG SHRIMP'N (shrimp and Vietnamese), Soulnese (Asian soul food), Rice Rockit (Taiwa-Viet-Pino), Curry Up Now (Indian), Forbitten City (Chinese), Treat Bot (ice cream), Twister Truck (Mexican), and The Wow Truck (Filipino silog).
BIGG SHRIMP'N and Soulnese are both owned by Milpitas residents. Viet Nguyen has been operating BIGG SHRIMP'N since Aug. 1. Khari Crowder shares ownership of Soulnese with three others. They have been up and running for almost four months.
Food trucks have a large following here in the Bay Area. They keep in touch with their followers via Twitter and Facebook, posting where they will be serving food on a daily basis. Because of this, residents of San Jose and the surrounding areas were also on hand for the debut of Street Eats.
Judging by all the smiling faces, it appears the event was a success.
If you missed Street Eats Wednesday night, be sure to check it out next week - and tell them Milpitas Patch sent you!
