Salsa Truck invites guest Chicago food trucks to The Garage

July 17, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- The Salsa Truck, one of the city's first food trucks to be able to cook on board, opens a lunch spot in their garage, aptly named The Garage in the West Loop.

While The Salsa Truck's menu is Mexican, The Garage's menu is worldly.

The Salsa Truck has been cooking and serving from their mobile kitchen-on-wheels since the winter, and fans could find the location via Twitter of Facebook. But the owners realized they needed some space to prep each day- and a place to park the food truck.

"And we were looking around the city for a place to park it - a commissary - at night. We had noticed they're few and far between in Chicago and they're very expensive," said co-owner Dan Salls.

They found a non-descript garage in the West Loop.

"We started building it out and we put a commercial kitchen in and we figured well, as long as we're putting in a kitchen to support our truck, we might as well throw a counter in there and serve some of our food and then the food of some of our food truck friends," he said.

The garage they were using had a decent layout, so they expanded the business, creating The Garage.

There are always tacos for sale at The Garage - ranging from porky al pastor, topped with pineapple, onions and cilantro to carne asada. All of their homemade salsas are available for ramping up flavors - or to purchase - and there's always at least one guest. On the day ABC7 visited, it happened to be a pitmaster colleague, which meant tender chicken thighs bathed in barbecue sauce, or fork-tender brisket, piled onto buns and topped with pickled red onions.

"Today we're doing barbecue, yesterday we did Jewish deli, last week we did a Wisconsin day; we change it up every day. Keeps us on our toes and keeps people coming back and keeping them happy," said Salls.

On Tuesdays, the menu is all Salsa Truck, which means all Mexican, but they do post their monthly guest chefs on their website, so you can plan your lunch accordingly. By the way, when they sell out, they close for the day.

The Garage
116 N. Aberdeen
Weekdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
312.344.1784

The Salsa Truck
thesalsatruck.com

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