A fenced lot on the corner of Beech Street and Oregon Way is now home to a food truck hub and the first mobile eatery opened this summer.
Owners of new or expanded Lower Columbia businesses discuss their ventures with The Daily News staff in this long-running feature that prints …
Angela Guerrero of Vancouver started a franchise of Bobablastic food truck in Longview after working for the company in Vancouver and Portland for two years.
An order of chicken fries and a mangonada drink sit on a picnic table in front of the Bobablastic food truck on Aug. 22 in Longview. A mangonada is a sweet and spicy frozen drink that includes mangos, spicy chamoy sauce and a chili lime seasoning called Tajin. The chicken fries cost $14 and the drink is $8 plus tax.
Hayley Day
The 16- by 8-foot food truck offers food from across the globe — from American chili cheese dogs to Mexican churros to crispy Asian spring rolls.
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Guerrero said she daily serves around 50 customers who opt for popular items like french fries topped with peppers and chicken and rice bowls topped with orange or sweet and sour chicken. Tofu options for vegetarians also are available among the truck’s roughly 26 food items.
“We have a little bit of everything,” she said.
Guerrero said each individual Bobablastic food truck offers a slightly unique food menu, while the drink menu is more uniform across the company.
Boba is slang for bubble tea — a Taiwanese drink that includes chewy tapioca balls at the bottom of glasses and extra-wide straws to suck them up.
At Bobablastic, customers can choose from dozens of options — from creamy teas in flavors like coconut and matcha to a black or green tea base with such flavors as mango and lychee. Toppings for 75 cents each range from honey boba to mango jelly. Hot teas are available too.
Red Bull can be added to any drink at the Longview food truck, as well as a unique Bobablastic offering called a mangonada, which is a sweet and spicy frozen drink that includes mangos, a fruit and chile sauce called chamoy and Tajin, a chili lime seasoning.
Guerrero said the area’s limited options for bubble tea drove her to open a business in Longview, as opposed to Vancouver where the market is more saturated.
On Aug. 22, Quin Lau of Seattle sat at one of two plastic picnic tables with umbrellas to eat orange chicken during his drive through town.
Andrea Totten of Longview stopped by for lunch with her co-workers after her niece and fellow co-worker suggested the spot.
“We always like to try new places in our town,” Totten said.
A blended mango and popping strawberry bubble tea sits on the Bobablastic counter on Aug. 22 in Longview. The drink costs $7.50 plus tax.
Hayley Day
More tables are located under a wooden shelter with open sides, and cornhole is set up in a corner.
Guerrero said her food truck is the only currently operating business in the space, although two other trailers are parked at the site. A small building, which will be a breakfast and coffee shop according to its menu, also is located at the space and includes restrooms.
Off-street parking for the area is located on Beech Street, while on-street parking is available on Oregon Way in front of the Oregon Way Hotel.
Talking Business is a series featuring local new or expanded businesses and prints every Tuesday.
Contact Daily News City Editor Hayley Day at 360-577-2541 or [email protected] for possible inclusion in the series.