Lower Greenville reclaims its rep with foodies with Trader Joe’s, Truck Yard
BISHOP ARTS NORTH OF THE TRINITY | Lower Greenville is in a renaissance with the opening next month of Trader Joe’s, above, and a new food truck park from Jason Boso, right with mixologist Emily Perkins. (Arnold Wayne Jones/Dallas Voice)
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Life+Style Editor
Food truck culture has been a hard sell to North Texas — in part because there isn’t one culture. Over in Fort Worth, food trucks set up
exclusively in centralized parks: everyone knows where to go. But here in Dallas, the wheels keep a-turnin’, with trucks tweeting their location and moving around every day. It can get confusing.
Jason Boso, the owner of Twisted Root Burger Co., thinks Dallas is ready for its own food truck park to add to the renaissance currently being enjoyed over on Lower Greenville Avenue. In addition to the planned Aug. 9 opening of the first Dallas location of the California grocery chain Trader Joe’s (he of Three Buck Chuck wine), the recent opening of Walmart Market in the old Whole Foods space and Green Grocer up the street, Boso’s Truck Yard is helping evolve the neighborhood known for its bars and restaurants into something more diverse and foodie-centric. (The owners of the popular Goodfriends are also working on a new concept in the area, The Blind Butcher.)
“I’m trying to turn Lower Greenville into a bit of Austin,” Boso says. “We want this to be the new Bishop Arts District. I’m happy to be at the cusp of the change down here.” (He’s pioneered such renovations before, being one of the first new businesses to open in Deep Ellum nearly a decade ago.)
Consistent with his aesthetic, Boso wants to create a funky, friendly environment along the lines of the popular Katy Trail Ice House, with repurposed items like tires and industrial spools as furniture: hip, super-casual and foodie-friendly.
In addition to a rotating series of food trucks on-site (there’s room for up to three at a time), Boso will serve cocktails from mixologist Emily Perkins (including a bar built in an actual treehouse), and will maintain his own resto, Steak Me Home Tonight, which will serve signature cocktails as well as vegan fare (kidding — it’s a carnivore’s palace of Philly-style cheesesteak sandwiches). And there’ll even be an in-house ice cream shop.
Boso is looking for an August opening — “Augish” is the word they use on the construction site — just in time for the influx of Trader Joe’s fans across the street. But Boso admits he’s a little intimidated by the whole food truck concept.
“I’ve never worked with food trucks before,” he says. “It’s a little terrifying.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition July 19, 2013.