Food Truckin'
U P T O B U F F A L O
BY MATTHEW BIDDLE
E
very Tuesday evening from May through October, more than two dozen food
trucks descend upon Larkin Square, a colorful public space in one of Buffalo's
fastest growing neighborhoods. Hungry revelers, clutching glasses of wine and
craft brews, meander through the square, reading menus and weighing their options:
Will they try the fajita mac and cheese with roasted chicken, jalapenos and sharp ched-
dar? What about a lentil-berry sandwich, or lamb and sweet pea arancini? Or perhaps a
lobster slider with a side of handcrafted pierogi and baklava for dessert—purchased from
three different businesses.
It's a scene that wouldn't have been possible in Buffalo before 2010 when child-
hood friends Chris Dorsaneo '03 and Peter Cimino opened the city's first food truck,
Lloyd Taco Truck. Since then, Lloyd has expanded into a fleet of three.
B B Autumn 2014
"In 2005, during culinary school in Hawaii, I
would take trips to the North Shore to eat at Giovanni's
Shrimp Truck. The unique social atmosphere, the one
that only occurs outside of a food truck, coupled with
the smell of fresh scampi, told me this was something
special," Dorsaneo recalls. "It made me feel connected to
food in a way I'd never experienced, and I knew this new
way of food service was going to change the culinary
scene."
Photos: Tom Wolf