Lunch break! Where should you head… to the Spenard Food Truck Carnival. With cuisine from around the world, you won’t go hungry. We asked a variety of food truck owners three questions, check them out below! The carnival is held at the Chilkoot Charlie’s parking lot every Thursday from 11am to 2pm.
Russian Eats
What type of cuisine do you serve?
At Russian Eats we serve comfort Siberian Russian cuisine.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our most popular items are the Beef & Spicy Beef Piroshki. The Beef Pelmeni (dumplings) Chicken Piroshki and Borscht (a root vegetarian soup) are gaining popularity as they are sampled by brave people. Our menu items are not well known so the need to experiment comes into play! We have gaining many repeat customers.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
Oh Boy, where to begin on COVID 2020??? Needless to say, we as a food truck owner/operator have had a very topsy turvy 2020. All of the fairs and festivals we would usually go to were ALL CANCELED. Due to this alarming turn of events, we have come up with alternative forms of venues. This is the first year we have been involved in the Spenard Food Truck Carnival and I believe because of the restaurant closure mandates it’s become a very popular place for everyone to pick up food. We are there on Tuesdays from 5pm-8pm Thursday’s from 11-2 Saturday’s from 5pm-8pm.
We have parked in the parking lot of Alaska Cycle Center and served people by taking orders via Facebook and Text so that we could serve our customers without people milling about. Also, the Alaska State Fairgrounds has held some interesting events this summer for small businesses like us. One was the Food Truck Fair which was held on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the other more recent event which was the Jamboree hosted by Golden Wheel Events. I feel and have had many people tell us that people were coming out of their way to support small businesses like ours which is so heartwarming and truly appreciated! It certainly continues to make the difference each day we are out there doing our best for our customers. We always give them a deep-felt thank you for stopping by Russian Eats.
Papaya Tree
What type of cuisine do you serve?
We serve Lao, Vietnamese and Thai food.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our most popular menu item is our delicious Pad Thai.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
Covid-19 has reduced the number of people that go through the markets and events that we participate in, but we are otherwise unaffected.
A Slice of Heaven
What type of cuisine do you serve?
The truck is set up as a Bakery, but we serve savory foods as well. Some of the savory foods include Beef or Chicken Tacos, Pulled Pork Nachos, and Sandwiches. We also serve a variety of baked goods, such as Whoopie Pies and an assortment of Cheesecakes.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our biggest seller is the Cheesecakes!!
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
The largest impact COVID has had on the Food Truck Industry is that all of the large events have been canceled! We are used to doing Solstice downtown, the Women’s Triathlon, Alaska Run for Women, etc and they have all been canceled. The big events are a huge portion of our yearly income.
One thing I have noticed since this pandemic started…is that no one seems to be on a diet anymore!
Yeti Dogs
What type of cuisine do you serve?
Our cuisine is gourmet sausages. Our main menu items are local, but we like to mix things up with exotic meats when we can. We’ve served everything from alligator sausage to yak sausage.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our top seller is the Alaskan reindeer sausage. However, my regulars usually get the buffalo jalapeno cheese sausage. Most request exotic meats are the elk jalapeno cheese sausage and the pheasant with rattlesnake sausage.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
Luckily we already had strict cleaning and sanitizing policies in place before Covid-19. We did replace our shareable condiment bottles with single-use condiment packets, and no longer allow self serve. Our schedule has been affected the most. With canceled events and lost locations, we will lose out on income this year. However, our customers have been extremely supportive and we are so grateful to serve the Anchorage community!
BruceSkis
What type of cuisine do you serve?
BruceSkis Turkish Cuisine is a food trailer bringing a myriad of dishes popular throughout Turkey & the Mediterranean straight to the heart of Alaska.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our Adana Kebab Beef & Lamb is our most popular dish. We use a mix of Organic Ground Beef & Lamb (Seasoned with Turkish spice), wrapped in a warm pita with lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber and topped with our house-made garlic tahini sauce.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
This is BruceSkis first summer running full time. Due to our newness, we weren’t getting into many festivals and we began seeking out other venues early on. Thanks to King St Brewing, Girdwood Brewing & Spenard Food Truck Carnival we were able to lock in 4 solid days. Those 4 days quickly turned into 6-7 days a week throughout the summer. I think our newness & ability to adapt sheltered us from the loss of revenue COVID has brought. We were able to maintain a busy summer, that has better prepared us for next year when (hopefully) things return to normal. Our complete weekly schedule can be found at www.bruceskisak.com
Salmon Hook-Up Truck
What type of cuisine do you serve?
We sell fresh caught wild Alaska salmon!
What is your most popular menu item?
Our most popular menu item is our fish & chips with homemade tartar sauce.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
We haven’t been able to do some of our normal festival gigs. We miss that! But we have been able to adequately social distance from other trucks and also provide individual condiments, etc to decrease contact between customers. We are so thankful to be able to still serve Alaskans fresh-caught salmon.
Migrating Ptarmigan
What type of cuisine do you serve?
We serve brick oven pizzas. The food trailer even has a brick oven inside of it. Our Fat Ptarmigan restaurant has a larger menu variety that includes macaroni and cheese, salads, and soups.
What is your most popular menu item?
Our most popular pizza is probably the margherita pizza.
How is your food truck being effected by COVID?
We had planned on getting this food trailer before COVID happened. With everything going on it’s a nice change. We are trying to utilize it as much as possible, while still working full time at the restaurant.
