Comfort Food on Wheels!

Who says gourmet restaurants have to stay stuck in one place? Fressa, the newest traveling food-truck to hit the streets of Dayton, pleasantly proves that home-cooked entrees, fresh sides and tantalizing desserts needn’t be located in a sit-down restaurant in order to be delicious. “Fressa” by definition means, “to chow down” or “stuff oneself”, which, the owners Matt and Lisa Halpin encourage lunch-breakers to partake in during every Fressa-filled meal.

I spoke with Matt Halpin about his intriguing “comfort-food” truck and he explained,  “Comfort food means a lot of different things to different people… It’s about what you had growing up and what reminds you of that. We want people to experience new things and see that comfort food can mean more than what they think it does.”

But… comfort food, on wheels? Matt and Lisa explained that having a restaurant-truck instead of a stagnant, unmoving restaurant allows Fressa to “take that great tasting, gourmet food to the streets.” The mobility of Fressa also allows the restaurant to offer lunchtime deliveries to businesses, catering to all kinds of events and easier accessibility to more locations around Dayton. Matt elaborated, “There is a lot of potential for Dayton to be a real foodie town and since Dayton is looking to attract more people and businesses downtown, trends like food trucks are a great thing.”

Let’s talk about the food: Fressa stands out from the likes of greasy lunch-break options, instead housing a menu bursting with local ingredients, seasonal offerings and of course, hot-from-the-kitchen comfort food. The menu spotlights on the kind of food that reminds you of home, warms the soul, and just flat-out makes you feel happy. Matt explained, “The idea of modern, gourmet comfort food lets us have a lot of freedom when it comes to what we serve. But no matter what, it has to make people feel good.”

Where can you find the bright orange Fressa truck? Matt says, “We are at the Sugarcreek Farmer’s Market and we also do lunches for local businesses. Facebook and Twitter let our followers know that we’re there.” Fressa wants to be able to gain more parking locations to spread the Fressa-love throughout the city, but because the city of Dayton is still working out regulations for food trucks and parking rules, they’ve had a few set-backs. Hopefully by May, Fressa will be perfectly parked at the Courthouse Square for lunchtime.

Matt said, “At this point we are trying to be the best food truck that we can be. It’s hard to picture Fressa being a sit down restaurant but I will admit I would like to have a brick and mortar restaurant of my own some day… Who knows, we could always have both.”

Well, what should you order? Comfort food of course! Matt and Lisa recommend the Apple Bacon Grilled Cheese and Chocolate-Covered Homemade Potato Chips, topped off with a Pumpkin Crème Brule for dessert.

So keep an eye out for this bright orange restaurant-on-wheels, Fressa has pulled into Dayton!