With a new food truck festival drawing crowds, the scene in Monterey County is growing.

Sam Shokir is at the window, working the grill and checking the pantry, seemingly all at once.

The owner of Nuevo Cairo Mediterranean Street Food, a food trailer parked permanently beside a gas station in Monterey, is finishing a large order. The customer reminds him about garlic fries. Shokir pauses, apologizes and promises “two minutes.”

As that customer leaves the window, a mother and her two boys arrive, sending Shokir into a frenzy once again. A young couple follows, then another car pulls up.

“I would say it’s definitely a lot easier to purchase a food truck than it is to sign a lease,” says Orlando Osornio, the former owner of a mobile kitchen. “But it’s definitely not any less work.”

While Osornio gave up his food truck, Tortas al 100, three years ago – “I got elected as a city councilmember and had a daughter in the same year,” he explains – he remains enthusiastic about the platform. This spring he launched What’s Grubbin’ Salinas, a monthly food truck gathering at the Salinas train station that will run through October.

The first featured 18 trucks, including a hibachi grill, one serving barbecue, another dedicated to all things potato and more. Surprisingly, given his former vocation, Osornio invited only two vehicles preparing Mexican dishes.

“Salinas has a huge number of taco vendors,” he says. “We wanted people to think of it as a food truck festival.”

Along with mobile kitchens, Osornio assembled live music, a wine and beer garden, as well as a game zone on the grounds. The second festival, held at the beginning of May, drew interest from as far away as Anaheim.

“Obviously anytime an organizer can get that many food trucks together, it’s going to be a success,” he concludes.

FOOD TRUCKS HAVE GAINED IN POPULARITY OVER THE PAST TWO OR THREE DECADES in cities across the country, although the scene is more recent in Monterey County. While mobile kitchens predate the invention of motorized vehicles – chuckwagons traveled with cowboys along the cattle trails of the Old West, for example – and ice cream trucks were a hit in the Baby Boom era, the food trucks of the 1960s and ’70s were often last resorts.

Slinging tacos and burgers and other fast food fare, the first generation of food trucks were most often found at construction sites or other work zones. Few owners kept their kitchens up to sanitary standards – or at least that was the common suspicion. People referred to them as “roach coaches.”

Some link the current boom to the financial meltdown of 2007-2008, when young chefs unable to find backing for new restaurants turned to food trucks instead – a recurring scenario.

Derek Brown was an audio-visual technician and a grilling hobbyist until Covid struck. One evening, as life began its return to normal, Brown’s son came home and said the after-school program was hosting a fair and in need of food vendors.

Brown’s station sold out quickly. “I thought, ‘There must be a need for this,’” he recalls. The result is the now familiar Grillin’ and Chillin’ barbecue truck.

For Alejandro Tuesta, owner of Oli’s Cheesesteaks, putting money in a brick-and-mortar establishment wasn’t feasible in the wake of the pandemic. “At the time it was the least expensive option,” he explains. “And we still have a small mentality – a sandwich shouldn’t need a lot of room.”

But there were other factors. New graphic techniques, such as vehicle wraps, allow owners to present trucks in a way that appeals to customers. And chefs began to explore possibilities beyond burgers and tacos.

David Estrada of Sabor Latin Fusion goes beyond the expected. Kuki’s serves rice and noodle bowls. Brown’s Confectionery and Fuego Wood Fired Pizza are obvious. Mr. Falafel visits farmers markets in Marina, Seaside, Salinas and Pacific Grove. There are trucks selling coffee drinks. One showed up at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year offering lobster dishes. Many book catering gigs, like weddings.

But they are still trucks or trailers, with limited kitchen and storage space. Tuesta sees this as one of the benefits: Owners are forced to focus on a few dishes. “I love seeing other food trucks trying something different,” says the Oli’s owner. “Most have home-style recipes. That’s what I like; it’s not over-produced.”

Tuesta grew up in Peru and gained an appreciation for sandwiches and street fare. He first tried a cheesesteak at a stall in Miami.

“Oh, man – it was amazing,” he says.

The sandwich identified with Philadelphia became his go-to at home. Tuesta made them so often that his wife suggested he turn his sandwich passion into a small business. He has been at Post No Bills in Sand City every Friday since the beginning, and tries out other locations.

“I wish we had more of a steady schedule,” he notes. “We just try to move a lot.”

There are advantages to working from a fixed location. Wedo’s Tacos, for example, found a home at Monterey’s Dust Bowl Brewing Co. and Brewjee Coffee Co. built a loyal coffee following by setting up daily at Natividad, before opening a brick-and-mortar. It provides customers with a reliable schedule. Antojitos del Rancho serves Mexican dishes from a gravel lot alongside Highway 68 at York Road. They park at the location Monday through Friday.

It is barely 11:30am – the fringe of lunch rush on a Wednesday – but cars and work vehicles turn into the dusty space, one after another. A customer walks past the menu board without giving it a glance and places his order in Spanish.

“I prefer this [food truck],” he says. Roy gives only his first name, praising the food and the friendliness of the couple inside the vehicle. “I think there’s one up there,” he continues, gesturing toward the street. “I only ever come to this one.”

It’s a testament to the value of a known location. But it was mobility that drew a new generation to food trucks.

A roach coach riding in the 1960s would have to seek a crowd. But in the 2000s, the advent of social media allowed truck owners to reach out. Trucks can inform followers of that days’ parking spot. Savvy customers were in-the-know. Food trucks became cool – so much so that Food Network caught on, launching The Great Food Truck Race. Even some brick-and-mortar restaurants have added mobile options, like a Gusto food truck.

According to Osornio, a strong social media presence remains critical to the success of a food truck. As in stationary restaurants, customer service is critical, especially for developing a regular crowd. And it is important to provide for electronic payment (a rule that Antojito’s violates). Social media allows food trucks to communicate directly to customers.

“Here I am doing all kinds of events – Blues in the Park, Juneteenth,” says Chillin’ and Grillin’s Brown. “I guess we got something here.”

“Some weekends there are too many events. You have to pick one,” Tuesta says. “Maybe one day we’ll have a fleet” – this comment is followed by a laugh. “Just kidding. One trailer is enough.”

TUESTA ATTENDED THE FIRST WHAT’S GRUBBIN’ SALINAS AND WAS IMPRESSED. There were trucks from nearby counties he had never seen, and the turnout of festival-goers was strong. “It was huge,” he reports. “It’s cool to see the food-on-wheels community growing.”

Because menus are limited, a food truck in isolation will only appeal to some of the people who happen to pass by. A number of vehicles sharing an area, on the other hand, allows families or groups of friends to each find the truck of their choice.

But as Brown and others note, there is also an ambiance associated with food trucks. Through social media, through the younger generation drawn to mobile kitchens, through an affinity for entrepreneurs who think small and, yes, the popularity of street food, the scene is cool.

“I think if you look at Mexico, something common is the outdoor vendor vibe,” Osornio observes, adding that What’s Grubbin’ Salinas appears to have captured some of that spirit.

Osornio is not the first to explore the possibilities of a food truck gathering. They are features in other parts of the country, and a permanent park for mobile kitchens has been proposed in Sand City. He does, however, believe that the scene in Monterey County will continue to grow. The event’s location, by the train station, means that What’s Grubbin’ Salinas could attract people from the Bay Area.

For now, adds Brown, “We are just having fun doing what we’re doing.”