1 Last Chance To Enjoy Food Truck Friday This Summer In Fairfax

FAIRAX, VA — As the summer winds down and families prepare for the start of the new school year on Monday, the Providence Community Center will be hosting its final Food Truck Friday this week.

Fairfax County Supervisor Dalia Palchik, whose office is located in the center, launched the weekly food truck event last month to highlight and support local businesses and food vendors.

To help celebrate the end of Food Truck Fridays, Tobago Bay Calypso Band will be performing from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Visitors can also enjoy several family friendly games, as well as free ice pops, lemonade and cookies.

Palchik's office has also invited two vendors to park their trucks in the center's parking lot from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Friday. Empanadas de Mendoza, which specializes in Argentinian street food, and Hangry Panda

Chef Peter Tran described Hangry Panda's menu as a fusion between the different styles of food he learned how to make growing up.

His mother taught him how to cook Vietnamese food in their Woodbridge kitchen. When he got his first job as a hibachi chef in 2005, he learned all about Japanese cuisine.

"I always had a passion for cooking and I love to cook," Tran said. "Also, I have a desire to own my own business, be self employed, and work for myself. I have a lot of ideas. When I worked for somebody else, I can't really unleash and use those ideas to combine my tastes with food."

Owning and operating a food truck seemed like the perfect solution to satiate Tran's desires for sharing his cuisine with others and being a business owner.

"A truck allowed me to kind of be at different locations," he said. "Also, it allowed me to have a rotating menu and do different things. Trends are changing, people's tastes are changing and that's what really made me fall in love with a food truck over just normal brick and mortar."

Although the truck provided some freedom, it at also presented some big challenges, namely finding places to park.

"Before the pandemic, we able to go street vending in D.C., in Arlington, in downtown Alexandria," Tran said."But now, you can just pop up at a place, but nobody knows if you're out there on the street anymore."

The challenge now is to find events where Hangry Panda can set up. During the summer months, it's been easier. Tran was invited to park outside neighborhood gatherings, like he did in July at the Mantua Swim and Tennis Club in Fairfax.

"The best way for us to really get an event is if somebody reached out to us for like a birthday party, catering wedding or catering a bar mitzvah, some type of prepaid gig," he said.

Customers can book Hangry Panda on it website or Facebook page. They can also place a pre-order for Friday's event at the Providence Community Center on both trucks' websites.

"If somebody pre-ordered, it will allow us more time to prep everything properly and prepare the food properly for them so they don't have a long wait," Tran said.

Related:

Food Truck Fridays Comes To Fairfax's Providence Community Center