New Guatemalan food truck coming to Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A new food truck will soon be rolling into Salt Lake City, and bringing with it a taste of Guatemala.

The grand opening for the food truck will be this Saturday — and it’ll be hard to miss, as the truck for Antojitos La Chapina is bright red, and will be surrounded by celebratory signs and decorations for the special day. You can find the food truck in the Smith’s Pharmacy parking lot at 4065 S Redwood Rd, where food will be served from noon-6 p.m.

Jorge Jimenez and his family will be making and selling food for Antojitos La Chapina, a dream long in the making. Jimenez and his wife, Silvana De La Cruz, have both spent many years in the restaurant industry — Jimenez often on the service side and De La Cruz in the kitchen — so they thought why not combine their knowledge and experience?

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“With her cooking, it’s always been happy in this family,” he said.

Even more, the goal of Antojitos La Chapina is to share the food of their homeland, Guatemala, with others.

Jimenez said that the family’s business started with De La Cruz cooking for some friends, and grew from there, receiving a lot of support with people asking when they would open their own restaurant.

“I talked to her and said I think it’s time because there’s not an official place from Guatemala here Utah, there’s just places that have a little bit of it, but not an official restaurant from Guatemala … Obviously, this is a big adventure, because I knew that opening a food truck a lot of hoops, a lot of permits you have to go through.”

In December, Jimenez and De La Cruz brought their food to a holiday event — and all of it sold out within three hours.

“It was like a tryout for us and everything went well. Then, we knew were able to do it,” Jimenez said.

Now, just days before the opening of the food truck, Jimenez explained they’re both nervous and excited.

“Feelings right now are all mixed in the air because it’s all excitement about the opening. At the same time, you cannot sleep because you’re thinking about the details,” he said. “But … at the moment that we decided to start with this adventure, I’m like, you know what? It’s time to push forward … there’s no going back. … We kind of are like those kind of people where we need something, we have to go get it. And we will keep pushing forward because sometimes one of the things is you don’t even know what you are capable of until you have it in front of you.”

Jimenez said they focus on keeping everything fresh. On the menu, you’ll find many staple foods from Guatemala, including shuco, otherwise known as a Guatemalan hot dog often sold as street food in the country.

Jimenez explained that they’ll be serving their shuco with cabbage, guacamol, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, and a mild green sauce on the side.

Another item they’re planning are enchiladas filled with ground beef, cabbage mixed with beets, pieces of boiled eggs and onions.

They’ll also have garnachas, which Jimenez described as fried tortillas with meat and cabbage.

Jimenez said this weekend’s opening is like a trial for them, and depending how it goes, they might add more items to the menu, including rolled taquitos or yuca with chicharrón.

He also said they’re planning on having specials every weekend, introducing a different item each weekend.

Antojitos La Chapina will be open at the Smiths Parking Lot on Saturdays and Sundays from noon-6 p.m.

For updates, you can follow Antojitos La Chapina on Facebook and Instagram.

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