The writing on the side reads Restaurant Salvadoreño Food Truck, but the vehicle is clearly a bus. The misnomer is intentional, Jose Limus explained, since “not many people [have heard] of a food bus.”
It’s why he bought one, to stand out among the city’s food truck scene, especially after a similar set up caught his attention during a trip to New York City.
The 40-year-old proprietor of Restaurant Salvadoreño and the grocery store it’s parked outside of, La Virgen de Guadalupe at 1137 Spring Garden, purchased the bus early last year. Having worked in kitchens across the city after emigrating from El Salvador, including a 12-year run at the former Tampopo on 21st street, he told Billy Penn he wanted to see what running his own restaurant would be like.
The plan had originally been for a new bus, Limus said, before he came across an online posting for a school bus in New Jersey with its seats conveniently removed and an acceptable mileage.
A deal was quickly made, unlike the protracted process of converting the interior. Eight months after purchase, and at a total cost of $120,000, the bus was ready for service, retrofitted with stainless steel surfaces and the necessary kitchen appliances and fixtures, plus a few flourishes like a photoshopped window display of Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele beaming over a plate of pupusas.
They’re one of the menu’s highlights, said Limus, along with the tacos al pastor, shrimp and rice platters, and baleadas, traditional Honduran egg-cheese-and-bean filled tortillas. There’s also a variety of burritos, tortas and quesadillas. Most items are $12, whether a single burrito or a trio of tacos or pupusas; some — mostly seafood dishes — cost $3 more. Available but not yet listed on the posted menus (printed ones are still being made) is American food, Limus said, “burgers and cheesesteaks.”
It’s all managed by a crew of five, Limus stepping in as cook when needed, but otherwise supervising and acting as cashier. For kitchen duties he’s recruited longtime co-worker Esteban Garcia, and Lisette Rada, who also runs her own seasonal food stand at FDR Park where she and Limus first met.
There are still some kinks to iron out, like determining a delivery radius, getting the business to show up on Google and Apple maps, and making menu corrections. Despite what one of the newly posted boards on the side of the bus reads, Restaurant Salvadoreño does not serve curry udon or stone bowls of spicy squid.
“Este menu es mal,” Limus sighed, going down the list.
They’re all issues he hopes to have resolved long before the spring, when he plans to take the restaurant down to FDR Park on Sundays — he’s already hired a licensed bus driver for the weekly trip, as well as any catering events. Beyond that, the bus is open for business seven days a week on the corner of 12th and Spring Garden.
So far, things have been going well, Limus said, admitting that, for a while, he hadn’t allowed his expectations to get too high. Now, with the business mostly up and running, “I’m excited for more people to come and try.”
1137(ish) Spring Garden | 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily | 445-260-6165
