The Fat City food truck festival, a new effort to enliven Metairie's former nightlife district, won approval Wednesday from the Jefferson Parish Council. The event is scheduled April 15 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., organized in part by a restaurateur with deep misgivings about food trucks. With no discussion or dissent, the council exempted Fat City from strict...
The Fat City food truck festival, a new effort to enliven Metairie's former nightlife district, won approval Wednesday from the Jefferson Parish Council. The event is scheduled April 15 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., organized in part by a restaurateur with deep misgivings about food trucks.
With no discussion or dissent, the council exempted Fat City from strict rules on rolling restaurants, permitted Drago's Foundation to host the rally and let Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng erect temporary signs in her 5th Council District to promote the event.
It's the first government-organized attraction for Fat City since the non-profit Greater New Orleans Inc. brought a Times Square booster to town in November to brainstorm improvements for the area. At Lee-Sheng's urging, the council rezoned Fat City in 2010, establishing earlier closing hours for bars and running off "adult businesses." There has been little concrete action since then, however, and a task force is still working on a framework for the future.
"You've got to crawl before you walk before you run," said Tommy Cvitanovich, the Drago's restaurant proprietor who is helping put on the festival.
Cvitanovich balked at a previous Lee-Sheng effort to bring food trucks to Fat City. Afterward, he said Wednesday, he worked with the council member and Rachel Billow of the New Orleans food truck coalition to make it happen.
He said he remains skeptical of letting food trucks operate with little regulation but that he wanted to compromise with Lee-Sheng to improve the area and attract more people. "She has put her political reputation on the line for Fat City," he said. "I need to make an effort."
The festival will take place on a Monday in the parking lot in the southeast corner of the intersection of 18th Street and Edenborn Avenue. Cvitanovich owns the property, about a block west of his restaurant. The site is home to a small retail center that includes two bars and one restaurant, Kanno California Sushi Bar, which is closed Mondays.
The New Orleans food truck coalition expects to send 10 to 15 mobile meal vendors. Cvitanovich said he hopes to secure donations of beverages, the sales of which, along with rent paid by the food trucks, will be used for Fat City beautification.
If the event is successful, Lee-Sheng and Billow said, regular gatherings could be held once a month on Monday nights, possibly with live music.