Columbus Commons' Food Truck Food Court offers a trip around the world for the tastebuds
It's 10:30 a.m. Hums of lawn mowers and food truck generators fill the empty stage of John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons. A security guard does a test run of the ornately painted carousel, while "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland blares out of the Paddy Wagon food truck.
This is a typical Thursday morning at Columbus Commons in the summertime. Every Thursday May through October from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Food Truck Food Court presented by Fifth Third Bank pops up for a lunch time oasis.
Eight diverse food trucks offer a variety of cuisines from Nigerian to Thai and fried chicken! Every month, two food trucks swap out for two new ones. Customers can look at food truck location schedules and order ahead on the Street Food Finder app.
Burger-mania: Columbus Burger Week 2022 is serving up a variety of tasty options as well as a new app
August Sessley, 26, originally from Inglewood, California, has worked with the Pitabilities food truck for four years. The truck has been around for 12 years and got its start in front of the Statehouse. The business eventually grew from one food truck to two and then four.
Pitabilities serves pitas, salads and loaded fries with a customizable assortment of toppings. They also offer vegan and vegetarian options.
"Every Thursday, we come back here for the environment," Sessley said. "There is a loyal following here."
Though the eight food trucks are inherently competing for sales, Sessley said that none of that matters, as they are all sharing the space to showcase their talents.
"We all come out here to do the same thing," Sessley said. "Facilitate these people on their lunch breaks and to do our jobs."
Sessley recommends getting the gyros, chicken shawarma or the loaded fries.
Damian Ettish, owner of Fetty's Street Food, is from South Africa and moved to Columbus seven years ago. His food truck journey began in South Africa and a year later, he moved to Columbus to marry his now-wife and set up shop in the area.
His truck serves Thai, Indian and South African food, however the menu is never the same every week. Ettish pulls from his experiences living in South Africa and traveling throughout India and Thailand.
"I take inspiration from journals from my time over there," Ettish said. "Then I will slowly but surely see if I can make enough portions of an order to dish."
Time is of the essence in this type of food service. The operators have to prepare a lot of dishes before opening because they don't have 10 minutes in the middle of a lunch rush to replenish.
Columbus' No. 1 wing man: Austin Yochus documents his favorite wing restaurants, specials
Due to the success of Ettish's food truck, he is in the early stages of buying his own brick-and-mortar restaurant. He is excited to see how he can pursue his South African cuisine outside of the truck.
"I'll be able to do some other stuff that I can't do on the truck … I'm limited to what I have here," Ettish said. "I want to elevate street food beyond the truck. I try that but I got to be quick as well. (At a restaurant,) they don't mind waiting 15 minutes for me to make it look pretty."
Ettish recommends getting the crispy chicken panang, which is a take on a dish in Thailand that is usually made with fried fish. It is fried chicken with an authentic Thai curry sauce poured over it.
"I'm not going to discriminate against anything I do," Ettish said. "I focus on flavor. It's the most important thing."
Ettish returns for the Downtown community of people who come to support the food trucks.
"I've got regulars that come to me every single week," Ettish said. "And there are others who go to other trucks then every fifth week, I see them. I've gotten to know their names. I know them well. Some of them, enough to grab beers with."
Laura Lamping, 55, has lived in Columbus since 1987 and comes to Columbus Commons every Thursday for Cupzilla. Her go-to order is the C-Cup, which is Korean BBQ chicken with rice, noodles and vegetables.
"I went around Dublin tracking them down during the pandemic," Lamping said.
Meghan McDevitt, 39, and Madison Hookfin, 24, both work at the Columbus Symphony and come to Columbus Commons to make it to the Food Truck Food Court as often as they can on Thursdays.
"We always check on Street Food Finder to see what is around," McDevitt said. The two also make it to their other food truck days at the Commons: Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays and on Wednesdays, they have breakfast food trucks.
Make a splash: Where to go in Columbus to beat the hot Ohio weather and cool off
"You can get whatever food you want outside," Hookfin said. "It's great to see the amount of people outside and it gets me through the rest of the week."
For more information, visit their website at https://bit.ly/3yUC350.
David Kwiatkowski is a features intern for The Columbus Dispatch. You can reach him on Twitter @kwiatkdm or his email [email protected].
Thursday Food Truck Food Court lineup
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Commons Food Truck Food Court a weekly lunch destination
