Food trucks add flavor to Restaurant Row

On a recent weekday lunch hour, there were no fewer than 50 food trucks lined up on one stretch of Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
While in Providence the numbers are proportional, they are no less impressive. Add in seasonal locations such as Narragansett Town Beach on a summer evening and they are even more so. The city and state food-truck scenes are vibrant. Any list of accolades of our culinary prowess includes a nod towards the local fleet of mobile eateries.
This is a sign of real change on Restaurant Row. This number approaches that of brick and mortar restaurants located in the neighborhood.
In terms of consumer acceptance, this phenomenon is remarkable. Food trucks offer variety and imaginative cuisine to rival that of full-service eateries. Many are owned and operated by restaurateurs who may be looking to flex their creative chops or extend their brand deeper into specialty cuisines. Here are two examples of successful Rhode Island food trucks.
The colorful Ooh Mommi truck made its debut on the streets of Providence in September. Since then it has become ubiquitous, pulling up amidst the flotilla of established vehicles on the streets of College Hill or downtown at Kennedy Plaza at lunchtime.
At the dinner hour, the truck appears curbside at some of the city’s trendy residential apartment and condo buildings. It is becoming a welcome dining landmark, which should come as no surprise, since unlike many trucks it is connected to a well-known restaurant.
The creator of Ooh Mommi is Phyllis Arffa, the chef and proprietor of Blaze on the East Side. Arffa is on a mission that comes from a personal journey. According to Ooh Mommi manager Tatianna Muniz, this truck has been in the planning stage for several years. Muniz, a recent graduate of Johnson & Wales University, found her way to Blaze East Side in 2011. Since then, Muniz has worked as a server, grill cook, and dining room manager. In the summer of 2013, she “went vegetarian.” Less than a year later, she turned into, as she described, “a joyful vegan.”
At the same time, Arffa was looking at restaurant trends as well as her personal life, as it related to being in the food-service industry for over 30 years. The physical aspects of restaurant work take a toll on the human body. As Emeril Lagasse told me in an interview many years ago, “Life in a restaurant kitchen is lived at a 45 degree angle.” Arffa came to the realization that there were health benefits to be had in choosing a plant-based diet. Her customers at Blaze were embracing not only a vegetarian diet but the vegan lifestyle. After Arffa switched her diet, she lost 40 pounds in a little over a year. She saw what the future could hold for her and her business. She wanted to reach a larger audience with the information that helped her. As she said one recent chilly afternoon outside the Ooh Mommi truck, “I wanted people to realize that vegan is not a bad word!”
She thought a food truck would be a great way to bring her food to a broader audience. The secret to her success has been to create what is referred to as “layers of flavor.” She brought this sensibility to the menu onboard her truck. “I treat vegan food the same way as I treat, well, regular food!” she laughed. Her menu reflects this.
On any given day, items such as Chickitan Noodle Soup will be featured. The play on words refers to a kind of secret ingredient – seitan. This is the vegetarian answer to meat. A kind of “filet of grain,” seitan is prepared daily. It fills the biological need we have for the hearty, satisfying sensation – the “umami” sense which is the genesis for Arffa’s truck’s name and her philosophy.
John Ashley has been a chef in Newport for decades, working at landmark restaurants on Thames Street and the waterfront. Finding himself at a career crossroads, he jumped on the food-truck bandwagon and launched his Castaway food truck. It can be found at lunchtime at Middletown’s Enterprise Center industrial park. Castaways’ food is mainstream, flavorful and creative. One recent afternoon he featured a take on a Reuben sandwich with baked ham and Swiss with crunchy, spicy cabbage slaw on griddled marble rye.
He is on a mission of his own. Ashley would like to see the food-truck movement come to Newport in a big way. This would require a sea change since by local ordinance, food trucks are not allowed on the streets of the city.
There are many other food trucks in the state. They all have stories as interesting as their menus. •

Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” talk radio show airs on 920 WHJJ-AM, 1540 WADK-AM and on mobile applications. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.