Food trucks fill City Hall Plaza following Menino’s challenge

Tourists and Boston residents alike frequently flock downtown to take advantage of the many food options Quincy Market has to offer. But for those looking for new choices, City Hall Plaza is now home to several new food truck options just steps away.

Following the Mayor’s Food Truck Challenge, the competition’s three winners are now stationed by the Government Center T stop. The challenge was initiated by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who has been a “strong proponent of the food truck movement in Boston,” according to an April 6 Boston City Council press release.

“This is just the beginning of a process to foster an active food truck culture in Boston – to give opportunities to small businesses, enliven public spaces and promote access to fun, interesting, fresh food across the city,” Menino said in the press release.

The three food trucks began serving food in the City Hall Plaza the week of April 4. On April 6, the City Council voted in favor of an ordinance that would allow food trucks to have greater access throughout Boston.

According to the release, City Councilors Salvatore LaMattina, Michael Ross and Maureen Feeney worked with Menino to change the city code relating to food trucks. The main change is that the permitting process for food trucks will be faster, thereby allowing more trucks the opportunity to start up in Boston.

The winners of the Mayor’s challenge were Bon Me, Momogoose and Clover, all Boston-based companies. Each of the winners emphasized that their food not only tastes good, but is healthy as well.

“We’re putting a lot of effort into our food. We make as much stuff as we possibly can, including our own mayo and pate,” said Patrick Lynch, one of the co-owners of the Bon Me truck, in an email. “We’re going to feature local vegetables in our side dishes once the growing season starts here.”

According to Lynch, the name of the food truck came from the name of the Vietnamese sandwich that they feature, the banh mi.

“It also evokes a healthy lifestyle, which is very important to us,” Lynch said. “We offer well balanced meals and vegetable sides. No deep-fryer on our truck!”

Lynch said he got started with the food truck last summer with his wife Alison Fong, a professional chef.

“[The Food Truck Challenge] sounded exciting to me, though at the time I never really thought we’d do it,” he said. “We came up with the idea of a Vietnamese-sandwich truck and things developed from there.”

Lynch added that they have “already started asking about whether we can operate near BU in the evenings. We both know the area really well and would love to be able to serve dinner nearby.”

The Clover Food Truck also emphasized the mission of serving healthy food.

“The Clover Food Truck is going to be serving up a new type of fast food,” the owners said on their website. “This food is local, it’s just-cut, when we can it will be organic.”

They explained on the website that as students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they had “always loved the food trucks,” and decided as a result to start a truck of their own.

Momogoose differs from the other two in that they have a mission of charity as well as serving healthy food.

According to their website, the owners have a Meal for Meal pledge, meaning, “for every meal sold, Momogoose will donate a meal to charity.”

The owners work with the World Food Programme in order to help provide food to those in need, and said on their website that they “strongly believe in the power of education to transform individuals, families and communities. In the face of vast global needs, everyone can make a difference.”