The team behind Bar Marco and Livermore has launched a new venture: Swing Truck, a food truck specializing in Puerto Rican cuisine. Headed by chef Jamilka Borges, a Puerto Rico native, the truck, located next to Bar Marco in the Strip District, opened at the end of May. Current specialties include beef and pork empanadillas (the pork variety are made with onions, pineapple and cilantro), ceviche (chopped fish) and mallorca (a sweet bread).
"Puerto Rico has a lot of African influence and that comes through in the food," says Borges. "To me, it's comfort food at its best. It's fun and the flavors are bold."
The menu also includes tripleta, in which steak, chicken, pork and garlic are layered between two slices of slightly sweet soft bread.
"Tripleta is one of those things, where if you go to Puerto Rico, they're selling them out of carts," says Borges. "It's like the Primanti's sandwich of Puerto Rico."
In keeping with the Bar Marco/Livermore team's affinity for using fresh, seasonal ingredients, the changing menu will feature foods inspired by Puerto Rico, and not always the country's traditional dishes. "Everything on the menu is authentic, but as the season changes, we want to use ingredients that are grown here," says Borges.
And come winter, Borges and co-owner Bobby Fry plan to take Swing Truck on a tour through the South, with the hope of setting up similar trucks in cities across the country.
