Having launched just five months ago, the popular food truck Lu Taqueria is already beginning renovations on its first brick-and-mortar storefront, located at 559 Main St in downtown Bethlehem, with hopes to open by year’s end, however, that timeline is contingent upon the amount of work that needs to be done according to owner Elisa Batista, who operates the company with partners Andre Meza and Rogelio Romero.
“I am so excited that I don’t have words,” Batista tells What Now Philadelphia. “I was in the hospitality industry for more than nine years, I was in the kitchen, and now I’m doing the books, I’m doing my own stuff with the restaurant, so it’s like, I never thought we were going to grow so – it’s only been five months since we’ve had the truck – so I don’t even know how I feel. I do feel very excited, but it’s like, I can’t even express the joy that I feel inside.”
Some might think that escalating from a food truck to a physical restaurant in such a short amount of time is risky, however, for Batista, it’s as much timing as it is the unprecedented support the company has received from the community.
“It’s very hard to operate a food truck in the snow and the cold weather. Even though we have the equipment and it gets hot, it’s not ideal,” explains Batista. “So when I said okay, I’m going to close and just come back next year, we were doing so good with the sales…we got to a point that I was like, I think we already made a name for ourselves, and if I take that step to open a location, we already have a brand out there…we have a lot of people that follow us…I think this is the best time for us to just jump into a place.”
As for the menu, fans of Lu Taqueria will be able to find all their favorites in Bethlehem, such as the gringas and tacos versions of pollo asado, carnitas, and al pastor, along with some new additions including a fish taco made possible by a more extensive frying system, as well as some rotating seasonal options and a dessert.
“We don’t want to do anything big, no big menu,” says Batista. “We want to keep everything fresh, we make all the marinades for the meat, so I want to make sure that we can utilize what we have, and not have a big menu with a lot of prep and stuff like that.”
Come Oct 31, Lu Taqueria will be wrapping up its residency at the Saucon Valley Auto Spa so that the team can focus on the new location. However, folks will still be able to find the truck at city events and private events.
