St. Paul favorite El Norte Kitchen to stop food truck service after this fall

Jared Kaufman, Pioneer Press
·1 min read

Southwest-influenced food truck El Norte Kitchen announced that this fall marks their last season on the streets of St. Paul.

In a post on their Instagram page, El Norte Kitchen said:

There is no easy way to do this so we’re going to dive right in. We’ve made the decision that this will be our last season operating as a food truck. Our family recently grew and this new chapter has made us reassess our focus and priorities. For right now, it’s best that our family-run business take a pause so we can decide what’s next for ENK and focus on our family.

To be honest, it’s been emotional, exhausting, hard to talk about, hard to plan for and hard to even articulate how we feel. We could tell you all the reasons why operating a food truck is hard as hell right now but we’d prefer to tell y’all how much we love you while we have your attention.

We couldn’t be more grateful for our ENK family, you’ve made these past couple years worth the grind. Truly! With our whole hearts, THANK YOU!

The truck has two dates remaining: On Oct. 28, they’ll be at Summit Brewing with their burrito and fry menu. Then, they’ll finish out on Oct. 31 at Halloween Street, an event taking over Michigan Street between Cliff Road and Ann Street with music, food, lights, and other spooky entertainment. The menu for that date is yet to be determined.

After months of pop-ups, chef Ben Allen and his wife, Tricia, and brother, Elijah, launched El Norte Kitchen as a food truck in 2020. In addition to their Arizona-style burritos and other Southwestern street food, El Norte Kitchen offered a secondary menu consisting of smash burgers that generated a devoted fan base.

“That stuff is what dreams are made of,” burger guru Mik German of 328 Grill wrote in the Pioneer Press, about the truck’s house-made pepper jack cheese.

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