UPDATE NOV 23, 2020
A new food truck will launch December 1st in Saline County. MySaline told you in September that the Krikorian family, who owns Dinner’s Ready and Vibrant Occasions catering companies had purchased a food truck for use at their catering events, but also available to the public.
They have been working for a couple of months on getting their setup the way they need it and now they will be open to the public for lunch on December 1, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. until 2 p.m. Come experience their food and service with this socially distanced event. See more about the event on the Facebook event and scroll down for more story and food photos.
Serge Krikorian in the new food truck, “Our Mobile Kitchen.”
ORIGINAL SEP 3, 2020
There’s a new food truck coming to town. But it’s not a food truck – but it is – for now.
Serge and Mary Krikorian own and operate Dinner’s Ready and Vibrant Occasions in Benton, so you may have come across their food at a wedding or at a large event like Savor the Flavor or Taste of Bryant. They are a catering company that offers many styles of foods, but they also branch out into different ways to serve customers. One issue they wanted to address is the request to put certain foods on a wedding or corporate event menu that would be easy to deliver, except not in a manner that would live up to Chef Serge’s standard of quality.
“You can’t grill steaks or shrimp and pack them up to be served at another location two hours later,” said Serge. “It’s not any good.”
The solution came in the form of a truck with a kitchen in it. Mary said, “This truck has everything our commercial kitchen has – it’s just smaller.”
Before I lose some of you who were reading because you saw the phrase “food truck,” it will be that as well.
“People book their weddings and other big events six months or a year in advance,” said Mary. “We wanted to get used to this kitchen and develop our routine for it in the beginning, as well as have a way to pay for it, until we begin booking events for it.”
And so you will soon see a “food truck” parked in front of Dinner’s Ready/Vibrant Occasions at 1305 Hot Springs Highway in Benton. It’s coming from Louisiana and the construction schedule was a little delayed by the effects of Hurricane Laura, but Krikorians hope to have it in their possession at the end of September.
It’s chef-prepared fusion cuisine made with fresh ingredients. There will be cheesesteak sandwiches, Korean BBQ street tacos, curried chicken tacos, cheesy bacon fries, Mexican street corn and more. Have a look at the full menu at ourmobilekitchen.com.
Serge has been a chef for decades and he draws from his heritage of being Armenian, Lebanese and French. He said he wanted to bring different kinds of foods with bold flavor to the area, so people aren’t limited to the same old thing. The trailer even has a 6-foot porch, so they can bring along their flame grill or smoker or pizza oven. Pizza oven? Yes, Serge used to own Sergio’s Pizza in Benton years ago, and people still ask for it to be served at their event.
Once they get used to the new kitchen on wheels, they’ll plan events like wine and food pairings at Rusty Tractor. Watch for updates on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OurMobileKitchen, and if you can remember, find a one of their posts and comment that you learned about them from MySaline!
