The dark days are over: Bay Area food-truck market operator Off the Grid is setting up shop in Palo Alto this month, helping to fill a mobile-eats void left by the popular Edgewood Eats market in 2013.
Off the Grid Palo Alto will be a Monday-night affair at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on El Camino Real, with the first market scheduled for Feb. 16 from 5 to 9 p.m. Expect to see a range of cuisine from trucks like An the Go, Hula Truck, Kabob Job, We Sushi, Soulnese, Lobsta Truck, Los Tolucas, Rocko’s Ice Cream Tacos ( created by a Stanford University graduate and now East Palo Alto resident), Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile and T. epiphany.
Hosted in partnership with the Crowne Plaza, this market will have something many Off the Grids don’t: a pop-up bar with beer and wine.
Another Bay Area food-truck operator, Moveable Feast, also recently launched a dinner-time market at the Crowne Plaza on Thursday nights. Moveable Feast also runs a lunch-hour market with fewer trucks on Tuesdays at Palo Alto Square.
Local foodies have bemoaned the loss of food trucks in Palo Alto since 2013 when weekly market Edgewood Eats (at the Edgewood Plaza) was shut down in 2013 and was unable to find a new space to operate.
Off the Grid oversees 35 weekly markets throughout the Bay Area, including a year-old one in Menlo Park. The Palo Alto event is the company’s first new market in 2015.
“Off the Grid markets are founded on the idea of bringing new and old communities together through a shared mobile food experience,” a press release reads. “Since 2010, Off the Grid has activated 39 unique spaces, creating outdoor lunch and dinner markets throughout the Bay Area.”
Check Off the Grid’s website, Facebook and Twitter (or even the app) for updates on what trucks will show up each week in Palo Alto.
IF YOU’RE GOING…
What: Off the Grid Palo Alto
Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (in the northeast corner of the parking lot)
When: Monday, Feb. 16 (and every subsequent Monday), 5 to 9 p.m.
I think Edgewood makes sense since there are lots of homes (customers) and few restaurants in that part of town. El Camino makes a lot less sense since there are fewer homes within walking distance and already a lot of restaurants (in all price ranges) up and down the street. Can’t a church or school or other parking lot that is in a residential area and lightly used on week nights open up to this service? Is there some kind of business licencing problem?
I love the food lineup, one thing is missing though, my favorite new food truck that I always go to at the SOMA Streatfood Park, The Steamin’ Burger. Literally the best burgers anywhere. Off the Grid please bring them to this market.
@bad location – complaining neighbors killed Edgewood Eats’ attempt to use a nearby church. Any event like this in a residential neighborhood is DOA in Palo Alto. I miss Edgewood Eats, and hope Off the Grid does well.
I’m excited to check it out tonight. It’s a fun addition to the neighborhood. Bring it on!
No reviews since Elena’s original article above?