Mobile bar, replete with draft beer, microbrews, tops off Rochester food truck bash

Harrison Thorp 10:40 a.m.


Mobile bar, replete with draft beer, microbrews, tops off Rochester food truck bash

Julian Kilmas of Berwick, Maine, left, and Michael Seavey of Rochester ordering up an adult beverage on Sunday during the Rochester Food Truck & Street Fest at the Lilac Mall. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - For Burrito Betty's and owner Gary Tassinary, the big seller on Sunday was his braised beef burrito.

For Curb Appeal Meals and Kerry Fay, it was her avocado fries.

And for Dueling Chefs Smoke-n-Grille and owners Bill and Theresa Brooks, it was their cornbread waffle cone stuffed with pulled pork, cole slaw and mac 'n cheese.

Crescent City Kitchen chef Chris Kozlowski grabs some pie at The Pizza Man food truck.

In fact there was something to tickle everyone's taste buds at Sunday's first-of-the-season Rochester Food Truck & Street Fest at the Lilac Mall.

Event organizer Chris Kozlowski, who owns Crescent City Kitchen, said while the early crowd was kept down due to rain and threatening clouds around noon, by the end of the day some 1,500 or so had come to the Lilac Mall parking lot to enjoy cuisine from about a dozen food trucks, shop 20 or so street vendors, listen to a live band and sip on a cocktail, beer or wine from Kozlowski's own mobile bar, the KozBar.

"Business was booming around 1:30-3 p.m. The beer garden was full; I even ran out of two microbrews," Kozlowski said.

Around 4 p.m. as the crowd began to thin and vendors could relax, we found Koz up at the The Pizza Man truck out of Lyndonville, Vt., enjoying a couple of slices of pepperoni pie.

"Hey, we all eat each other's food," he joked. "We're all a big brotherhood."
Standing by and taking it all in was Thomas Lavigne, general manager of the Lilac Mall, who said events like the Food Truck bash keep the mall on the map and in the public's eye, an important factor as he continues to market the mall, which suffered a setback with the loss of its Kmart anchor last year.

A second food truck festival is slated at the mall on Aug. 11.