Before Lucas Gonzales launched his Salsa Bites food truck, he worked as a case manager in behavioral health. The former Kearny-area resident made the transition to food truck owner because he enjoyed cooking family recipes with his mother and grandmother. “I never thought cooking was something I could do for a living until I got the food truck,” he says. Using his family’s recipes, Gonzales has built a successful business steeped in tradition and authenticity. Check it out during Dish Fest this Sunday, March 9.
What will you be serving at this year’s Dish Fest?
I’m serving beef tallow tortillas with barbacoa, Mexican shrimp cocktail and chorizo stuffed mushrooms with my grandma’s recipe for house-made chorizo. I like doing Dish Fest because it gives me a platform to showcase food that would be hard to showcase on the food truck.
How has your business changed throughout the years?
When I first started out, I didn’t advertise myself as a cook or a chef. It was all about family recipes, with my mom and sister helping. Within the past year or two, the concept has changed a little bit. I still have my mom and sister help out sometimes, but as far as menu planning and cooking, it’s primarily me. This year, catering has really taken off and it’s given me a chance to grow within myself to be a better chef and business owner.
Why is it important to use family recipes?
I’m a fourth generation Mexican American. A lot of the people that live in the town where I grew up still live there, and the way of cooking and our food and culture still exists in that area. The reason it means so much to me is because I don’t want to lose our style of cooking and those flavors. We are still using my grandma’s recipes two generations later.
What was your first restaurant job?
At Maple & Ash in Scottsdale. I’m 48 now and that was a couple of summers ago. I met with the chef and he took a chance on me. I told him I was a hard worker and that I owned a food truck. It was tough the first couple of weeks, but toward the end of the summer I was setting up the station by myself. I went from barely hanging on to being counted on.
What’s your favorite dish to cook?
Any time I get to do fresh tortillas off the truck – our hatch green chile beef, barbacoa or red chile con carne. Anything that I can put in a tortilla.
