There are only five established sites in the City of St. Joseph where mobile food vendors can seek seasonal licenses to sell their wares on a daily basis throughout the spring and summer seasons. Two have been traditions for a number of years including The Hot Dog Kart at the northeast corner of Broad & State Streets downtown, and The Twisted Dawg in Lake Bluff Park at the intersection of Broad Street & Lake Boulevard near the war cannon. A third was added a couple of weeks ago in the form of the new Sammy Arepas Venezuelan food truck at Lookout Park.
Two slots are left at local beaches. One at Tiscornia Beach, which remains unspoken for, and the other is at Lions Park Beach where Scott Gane will seek to establish a regular slot for his Baja Gringo Taco truck. All mobile food vendors in the five city slots must, by rule, remove their stand each night when business is complete.
Scott, who started Baja Gringo Tacos a couple of summers ago has made appearances at the Blossomtime Grand Floral Parade, the Krasl Art Fair, the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, the Benton Harbor Farmers Market, and many other sites, but has decided to lock down a define position at Lions Park Beach to provide more certainty for his loyal customers to avoid the game of "Where's Waldo" each day trying to track his movements.
St. Joseph City Commissioners tonight will take up his application request, and both the City Clerk and the Deputy Director of Public Safety have reviewed the documents and are recommending approval by the commission. His 1987 GMC step van is a self-contained unit that has become quite popular with locals and visitors who have discovered his menu as well.
Gane and his crew specialize in naturally gluten-free authentic and gourmet tacos with a fresh, west coast flair. The 100-percent corn taco shells are double stacked and the 100-percent corn chips are fried daily. They are manufactured in Michigan by El Milagro from corn grown in Mexico. All vegetables in Baja Gringo's hand-diced salsas including salsa fresca and pico de gallo are locally sourced whenever possible, and when avocados are nice & ripe and fresh guacamole is available, they mash them, squeeze in fresh lime juice, chopped fresh cilantro and onions. When fish is available, it is wild, not farm-raised, and they use hormone-free, preservative free, and antibiotic-free, all natural meats.
The exact location of the Baja Gringo Taco Truck in the park will be determined by St. Joe City staff members working with Gane if the application garners approval from the city commission tonight. Look for the truck's arrival in the near future if they are given the green light tonight.
The photo of the food truck is from when it made its debut a couple of years ago, but if approved the truck will be anchored at Lions Park Beach, not at Tiscornia Beach which is shown in the photo.
