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Cart A La Carte: Food Carts Feed Your Hunger

Tribune photo by FRED BELLET

Angie Ybarra and her husband, Lupe, serve up huge portions with reasonable prices in their Dade City food stand.

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By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2008

You notice them while you're driving like a bat out of hell or when you're stuck in traffic. You make a mental note: Must stop there to eat next time I pass by.

Sometimes you remember. Most times you keep driving.

Next time, pull over. You might be surprised by what you find on the menu and by the warmth of the people serving your food at these roadside food carts.

DOG ON IT

10017 U.S. 19 , Port Richey

(727) 457-1709

Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day

The handwritten notes on traffic-cone-orange paper that cover the windows of Patricia Quintanilla's food trailer announce the specials. "Onion Rings, Hot Dog & Drink $4.75," one reads. "Chili & Cheese Fries $4.00 - A meal by itself," boasts another.

As you would expect from its location - next to the entrance of a Home Depot - Quintanilla's Dog On It draws construction workers, repairmen, maintenance workers and home improvement novices. But she gets doctors and lawyers, too. Her best days for sales are Saturday, Monday and Thursday.

"I get a lot of senior citizens," she says through a tiny pass-through window. Next to it, a small stereo plays an oldies radio station.

"The older couples like to come like they're on a date. They'll get two hot dogs and a soda for $4.75. You'll see them share the soda with two straws."

With the shaky economy, Quintanilla is selling more affordable combination meals these days. (Law enforcement workers and firefighters get a 25-cent discount, she says.) The Junkyard Dog, a Sabrett hot dog with onions, cheese, chili and loads of jalapeno peppers, is a big seller. Her deep-fried flounder is as exotic as she gets.

Most of all, she sells service. In the four years she's owned and operated the stand, Quintanilla, a former caterer, says she's learned that customers like to know she remembers them. They want to feel acknowledged.

"Also, people like portable food," she says. "It appeals to their inner child."

ALICIA'S PLACE

5236 Commercial Way (U.S. 19), Spring Hill

(352) 573-9354

Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday - Saturday

Back a few years ago, when she lived in New Jersey, Argentinean-born Alicia Reale would take orders from factory workers for her delicious empanadas on Mondays, then deliver them by the hundreds on Fridays.

When the 60-year-old grandmother moved to Florida about a year ago to be near her children and grandchildren in Spring Hill, she decided to open a food stand along U.S. 19 in Winchester Plaza, a stone's throw from where daughter Erica and son Eddie operate an electrical contracting company.

The kitchen in the trailer is tiny but efficient, with a refrigerator, grill, prep station, fry well and warming box for her pastries. Outside, there are plenty of warm decorating touches. A drawing from granddaughter Alexis is taped to one window. A small teddy bear greets customers at the ordering counter. It was a gift from a customer who needed a bottle of water but was a couple of coins short.

The turnoverlike empanadas she makes - filled with her homemade beef, chicken and tuna - are cooked to order and served with a special hot sauce she concocted.

In addition to the empanadas, she also offers a range of food that spans Cuban sandwiches, sweet potato fries, deviled crab rolls and enchiladas. She's constantly changing her menu to meet customer requests. Recently, when a Puerto Rican customer asked if she had papa rellenos (stuffed potato balls), Reale said she didn't but that she would have it on the menu the next day. That explains the mixture of Dominican, Mexican, Cuban, Argentine and American cuisine.

"The people teach me how they want me to sell," she says. "This has always been my dream, to cook for people."

BILL-E-C'S BAR-B-QUE

22932 State Road 54, Lutz

(813) 948-2809

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6:30 Thursday - Saturday

In case motorists miss the 35-foot-long, custom-built trailer with the flaming graphics along the side, Bill Cox can always rely on the mixture of hickory and oak smoke trailing from his massive cooker to lure in new customers.

"There's something about that aroma that says, 'That oughta be good,'" he says.

Cox has been selling barbecue ribs, brisket, chicken, pulled pork and sausage on the roadside perimeter of a Chevron gas station for four years. He retired as a Teamster from Consolidated Freightways in 2002. His wife, Carmen, makes the coleslaw, red potato salad and baked beans "that everyone is crazy about," he says.

Cox has been cooking "since I was tall enough to reach Momma and Daddy's stove." He started making barbecue at home in the mid-1970s and found he had a knack for it. He set up a makeshift food stand - a glorified tent and box smoker - between the Chevron and State Road 54 and watched as customers flocked to the only barbecue place for miles.

He started selling only on Saturdays until a manager at Chevron told him he needed to be open Fridays, too, to take advantage of hungry construction workers who are widening State Road 54 in front of Willow Bend Towne Center.

"One guy took it back to the job site," he says. "Everyone else asked, 'Where did you get that?' Next thing, I had eight guys at my window."

Business boomed. So much so, Cox opens on Thursdays, too. It hasn't hurt the Chevron, either. Cox has a deal where he sends customers inside the gas station's store for their beverages in exchange for reduced rent for parking outside.

Three months ago, he bought the trailer, which he tows behind his truck every day. Inside, he has two fry wells, a six-burner oven and stove, two steam wells, a freezer, microwave, that giant smoker and a smaller "Fast Eddy" for smaller items. On weekends, he fries up catfish, flounder and shrimp. He also has started catering events. He'll be working the Land O' Lakes Flapjack Festival in November.

What's the appeal of eating at a barbecue stand? "You can see what the food looks like when it's made," Cox says. "You identify with the person making it as opposed to a restaurant, where it's made behind a door."

ANGIE'S TEX MEX

36030 State Road 52 W., Dade City

(352) 523-2219

Hours: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday

Ed Gochenour eats at Angie's Tex Mex every day the food stand is open. He's been doing so for the six years that Angie Ybarra and her husband, Lupe, have been serving from their tiny roadside trailer. An attendant at nearby John Burks Park, Gochenour loves the food and loves the Ybarras just as much. He calls Angie "Mama" when he says goodbye.

"She doesn't let anybody go hungry," Gochenour says. "They've helped a lot of people, including me."

About eight years ago, the couple decided to go into business selling food. After starting out at the flea market in Webster, they moved to a convenience store in Dade City. In 2002, they decided to work from a 30-year-old trailer customized with a freezer, food warmer, stove and sink.

The tiny confines of their kitchen would test any marriage, but Angie and Lupe have been married since 1964, when she was 13 and he was 15. They met as kids in Texas, where their parents were employed as farmworkers.

"How long have I been married? All my life," Angie says.

The portions they serve are gigantic by design. Give customers more and they'll come back, their theory goes. The Texas burger ($4.25) is Texas-sized. The wet burrito ($4.75), served in a foam clamshell with beans and rice, is big enough to drown a grown man. Angie keeps the recipe for her spicy green salsa a secret.

The couple drive an hour from their home in Bartow each morning to serve breakfast. It sometimes takes two hours to negotiate the traffic home in the afternoon. They would operate closer to home, but food carts are restricted there.

Still, the customers- some of whom drive from as far away as Brandon, Clearwater and Orlando - make the commute worth the hassle. Especially customers like Gochenour.

"Some people, like him, call me 'Mama.' Some people call me 'Angie,'" she says with a giggle.

"Some people call me 'Beautiful.'"

Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324.

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