This Urban Life: Trucking Along

How one ambitious young couple—Birk Stefan Grudem and Christina Nguyen—survive day after day in a food truck.

Image credit: Marshall Franklin Long

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By: Megan McCarty |   August 2011   |  From the print edition

When I meet Birk Stefan Grudem and Christina Nguyen at Café Maude, they seem rested and relaxed. They banter with the bartenders. They gripe about the weather. And while Christina sweetly slips expletives into the conversation, Birk is all gentleman. You’d never know they’ve been on their feet since sunrise running their new Latin food truck, Hola Arepa.

In order to focus full-time on Hola Arepa, both Birk and Christina are in the process of leaving their jobs. Birk has put in his two-week notice at Bradstreet Craftshouse, and Christina is in the process of selling Design Collective, her Uptown clothing boutique featuring more than 120 local designers.

Birk, a freshly minted 26, and Christina, 27, aren’t just business partners, though; they’re one really cute couple. The pair met four years ago when he walked into Design Collective, presenting Christina with his own T-shirt design for her to carry in-store. She did. She also gained a catch of a boyfriend: Birk stands up to greet new arrivals, waits until everyone is served to take the first sip of his martini and slips his credit card to the bartender before I can offer to pay.

Slightly less romantic? Their long days in the food truck, especially when maneuvering between fans, a buzzing generator and one other employee. Each day they wake at 6 a.m. to prepare for that day’s lunch, starting with their cornmeal arepa buns. Then it’s a drag race to beat other trucks to prime downtown parking spots, where they serve the crowd fresh arepas—often with a side of cucumber lemonade. Then it’s back to their kitchen station at Midtown Global Market to get a head start on the next day’s prep.

That’s how their weekdays work, at least. Monday through Friday you can find Birk, Christina and their bright turquoise truck (you can’t miss it) parked on Marquette Avenue near the IDS Center. Then on Sundays they feed the masses—in the form of long lines hungry for a bite of Hola Arepa’s local meats and organic vegetables—at the Uptown Market.

So that gives Birk and Christina Saturdays to enjoy the Cities, right? Not quite. Instead they stock up on cornmeal, use their limited Spanish skills to ask butchers for guinea pig (it’s an Ecuadorian delicacy) and let their Netflix account go to waste.

“There’s no foreseeable free time until the snow hits,” Christina says.

That’s especially true considering all the tasks stacked on their to-do list. With Birk’s bartending background, there are plans to add ginger beer and homemade sodas to the Hola Arepa menu. (This in addition to the bacon-washed cold press Birk’s been experimenting brewing.) Then there’s talk of moving the truck to warmer climates for the winter. And long-term, they mull on the idea of opening a New York-style intimate eatery. “Is Minneapolis ready for another cocktail bar? I would hope so, but would I bet several hundred grand on it?” Birk shrugs.

Until then, one arepa and a cucumber lemonade, please.

Where Birk and Christina eat, meet and greet:

Minnehaha Falls: “We don’t have much time to go to the park for the day,” Birk admits. But if they did, they’d venture to the Falls, just blocks from Birk’s childhood house. 4801 S. Minnehaha Ave., Mpls.

Walker Art Center Gift Shop: This gem inside the Walker Art Center sells it all: books, jewelry, housewares and more. 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; 612.375.7633

Bangkok Thai Deli: Though they serve Latin arepas during the day, Birk and Christina are suckers for a good Thai dinner. 315 University Ave. W., St. Paul; 651.224.4300

Grand Café: “If we have a free minute at all, we go out to eat,” says Christina. For brunch, that means two orders of the Grand Café’s Kobe Brisket Corned Beef Hash—a combination of mustard, poached eggs and peas. 3804 Grand Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.822.8260

Café Maude: Whether for a drink or dinner, south Minneapolis’s Café Maude acts as “a nice neighborhood spot,” as Christina puts it. 5411 Penn Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.822.5411

Bradstreet Craftshouse: Birk may be a bit biased toward his former workplace, but for good reason: Bradstreet excels in the art of the perfectly crafted cocktail. 601 First Ave. N., Mpls.; 612.312.1821