Mobile food trucks rolling into the Mat-Su

MAT-SU — It’s not delivery. It’s mobile.

If you thought food trucks were a thing for state fairs and big cities, think again.

In recent months, several of these moving vans full of munchies have begun rolling around the Matanuska Valley — and they’re not just passing through. Rather, food aficionados have been capitalizing on a growing trend that both boosts business and stuffs customers’ stomachs.

However, it’s not all about the eats. Each truck driver has a unique story that adds a different flavor to the food truck culture.

Fee, fi, pho fun

Noy Phetphommasouk and his daughter, Noralee, for example, can often be found serving Pad Thai and Thai iced tea — in addition to other traditional Asian cuisine — out of their powder-blue truck in Palmer.

Originally from Laos, Noy was working as an asbestos abatement supervisor in Pennsylvania when his cousin called from Alaska with an offer to come work at his Parks Highway restaurant, Mekong Thai Cuisine.

Noy was skeptical to say the least.

“I never thought I’d get into the restaurant industry,” he said. “I was always the IT guy.”

As for Alaska, well, that was downright ridiculous, he thought.

“My impression was nothing but snow and Eskimos and igloos and sub-zero,” Noy said. “I said, ‘No, no thank you.’”

But after much coaxing from his cousin — including a free plane ticket — Noy grudgingly agreed to visit one summer.

To his great delight, Noy noticed Alaska was not freezing year-round, and that the sun seemed to be up all the time. It was like “nowhere else on earth,” Noy thought.

“I fell in love,” he said.

Starry-eyed, Noy moved to Wasilla in 2002, and worked at Mekong with his cousin’s family for several years. He saw he had a natural talent for cooking traditional Lao and Thai fare.

“Some people have to go to school but all I have to do is just eat,” he said.

In 2013, Noy branched out and started his own restaurant, Pho Vatsana, on Bogard Road.

Business was good, but there was one problem. The majority of his customers were driving from Palmer, and wondering when they would be able to savor his spicy cuisine in their hometown.

After months of hearing this, Noy looked at expansion options. Rather than try and open a second restaurant, he decided to take his stoves on the road and bought a trailer fit for the cause. In January, he left his girlfriend in charge of Pho Vatsana and introduced Palmer to the Pho Nora food truck.

Not only does Noy now have more freedom to bring food to the people (rather than the other way around), he can also be within walking distance of Noralee’s school, Palmer Junior Middle, in the afternoon.

“You never know what is possible,” he said.

Booming barbecue

Tyler Smith, who runs Rick’s BBQ and Grill next to the Safe and Sound auto parts store in Wasilla, said he, like Noy, didn’t really plan to have a seat in the food truck business.

As a kid, Smith’s career plans ranged from journalism to physical training, but barbecue was practically in his blood. His great uncle was big into barbecue in California, where he used recipes he’d spent 40 years perfecting. Those recipes were then passed down to Smith’s father, Rick, who went into business in Alaska, and eventually asked Smith to come up from Oregon and help.

Growing up among foodies, Smith had developed a critical palate that he soon found useful in the restaurant industry. So when he made the move to Anchorage and got a job as a dishwasher at F Street Station, he moved quickly through the ranks, achieving full-time status as a cook after just two years.

This year, it finally came time for Smith to do what he came to Alaska to do and take the reins for his father’s food truck, which he drove out to the Valley just a month and a half ago.

Though he misses having the extra storage space and room for more than three people to move around, one of the perks of the truck is guaranteed freshness.

“When we take our brisket out, we take it out for the day,” Smith said.

While that can lead to excessive or unnecessary waste “if you don’t play your cards right,” he said, there’s still something special about getting food from a truck on the edge of the Parks Highway.

“There’s a lot more excitement, it seems like, when (people) see it,” Smith said.

Wholesome cheesiness

For Sheryl Whitmer and Betty Lewis, the excitement surrounding food trucks is right in the name.

The sisters own and operate “Oh My Goodness! Sammies and Pies,” a bright yellow vintage bus often seen parked at Bearpaw River Brewing Company next to HeatSource in Wasilla. Though the menu varies daily, there’s one thing they always have on the menu: grilled cheese.

“Everybody’s always loved grilled cheese sandwiches,” Whitmer said. “It is good, and wholesome, and it brings back childhood memories.”

The name of the business, she said, is a nod to what anyone eating delicious comfort food, like grilled cheese, is bound to say: “Oh my goodness.”

Whitmer said she didn’t have a history in commercial cooking before Lewis pitched her the idea of running a food truck, but needed something to do. She moved to Alaska in 2012 to help her sister care for their mother.

“It was time for me to either go back to work or do something,” Whitmer said.

Starting a business, though, was a whole new something.

“We didn’t realize how much hard work it was, but it’s been fun,” Whitmer said.

“Oh My Goodness!” has about a year under its belt now, Whitmer said, and is doing especially well with the onset of sunny springtime weather. She said she enjoys the creative process of developing different kinds of sandwiches and desserts, as well as interacting with people — including staff at Goose Creek Correctional Center, where “Oh My Goodness!” occasionally serves food.

Lewis is still working another job full-time in Anchorage, but plans to retire and join her sister on the road in the next year or so, Whitmer said.

Rallying together

Each of the aforementioned businesses, along with six other food trucks, will be in one spot on Saturday, May 21 from noon to 8 p.m. for Wasilla’s first-ever Food Truck Rally, hosted by The Perfect Start espresso chain owner Christina Sena. The trucks will be parked in the gravel lot behind the coffee stand across the highway from Spenard Builder’s Supply.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated the Oh My Goodness! occasionally serves inmates when it stops at Goose Creek prison. The truck serves staff there. The original story also misstated the reason for Whitmer's arrival in Alaska and her previous restaurant experience.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.