This post was originally going to be all about the next SoMa Second Thursday Food Truck event on April 11, and there's certainly a lot of fun things going on there at the Bernice Garden. Returning favorites Clyde-n-Kiddos BBQ, Green Cuisine Vegetarian, Santa Lucia Pizzeria, and Sugar Shack Sweets will all be present to fill your stomachs, and Conway's Green Cuisine Deli will be making their first SoMa appearance alongside kBird Thai and the Le Pops ice lolly cart.
Something at the end of the press release changed the focus of this post however, as Chef Jeffrey Palsa of The Food Truck has announced that the event will be the last he will do with his faithful truck, Preston. While Palsa hopes to continue his culinary pursuits, he will be doing it from someplace other than the belly of his food truck. The restaurant business is a hard one, and the food truck business can be even more so, with the truck owner generally doing all the prep, cooking, serving, and business paperwork involved in running a food business.
On a personal note, I've gotten to know Jeffrey quite well over the past couple of years, and I've found him to be one of the kindest, most generous people I've ever met — a genuine good soul if ever there was one. Jeffrey has fed the hungry for free when he himself was struggling to pay the bills, he's donated his time and skills to any number of local events, and he's been a vocal advocate for our food trucks, local growers, and our ongoing attempts at revitalization in many of our older neighborhoods. His culinary skills are without question some of the most inventive and refined that I've ever had the pleasure to sample, and this summer won't be nearly as manageable without cup after cup of his sustaining gazpacho.
Jeffrey is one of the best friends I've made in Little Rock, in Arkansas, and in life. From all of us at Eat Arkansas, and from me personally: good luck, Chef, we love you and we wish you all the best.