A total of eight food trucks will be working Berkeley’s inaugural Off The Grid street-food event tomorrow night in the Gourmet Ghetto, and four of them are East Bay based vendors.
Joining the four who signed up early — Cupkates, Liba Falafel, Hapa SF and The Taco Guys — will be Skylite Snowballs, 510 Burger, Fins on the Hoof and Brass Knuckle.
Berkeley’s Skylite Snowballs launched in September last year, the brainchild of Katie Baum who pined for the Baltimore-style snowballs of her childhood. Her powder-blue truck can often be seen around the East Bay, including in front of Star Grocery on Claremont Avenue.
As its name implies, Oakland-based 510 Burger turns out artisan burgers and sandwiches, and, like most Off The Grid vendors, favors locally sourced ingredients.
The menu at Fins on the Hoof, which made its debut last week at Off The Grid San Francisco, might include fried oyster B.L.T., Chimay-braised short rib sandwich, or smoked haddock chowder.
Meanwhile Shellie, owner of Brass Knuckle, describes her offerings as “high-end sandwiches and comfort food”.
Despite the weather forecast for Wednesday night — which signals umbrellas might be in order — Off The Grid organizer Matt Cohen is optimistic the Berkeley debut will go well. “Rain is part of the territory,” he said. “Come out and have fun.”
Cohen describes tomorrow’s event as a soft launch — the Off The Grid food truck will be there, for example, but unlikely to be in use. The plan for future weeks is for a local bricks-and-mortar chef to to use the truck to whip up some street eats of his or her own.
Every week will see a rotation of trucks, with an emphasis on East Bay vendors and gourmet fare. Off The Grid will take place every Wednesday, 5-9pm, in the Farmers Market space on Shattuck and Rose.
Related:
Off The Grid to launch weekly street-food event in Berkeley [05.17.11]
Why does the street food scene bypass Berkeley? [10.18.10]
New street food: Berkeley does Baltimore, on ice [09.06.10]
Those craving Cupkates, take note [11.19.09]
