Food Truck Friday returns to GR, featuring new truck with El Salvador roots

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Food Truck Fridays will return to Riverside Park in Grand Rapids this week and will feature a new option: Casa De Los Abuelos.

When Cesar Ayala-Orellana’s grandparents moved to the U.S. from El Salvador, they wanted a better life for their family. Ayala-Orellana was three years old at the time, with a five-year-old brother.

“My grandpa was working anything in the kitchen, that’s kind of what got my mom into cooking a lot more. My grandma was doing things like house cleaning, and slowly but surely, we built up to the life we have now,” Ayala-Orellana explained.

He and his mother, Delmy Orellana, now work together in a business he believes his grandparents would be proud of. They named their food truck “Casa De Los Abuelos,” which translates as “House of the Grandparents.”

The story behind it helps explain why the menu includes pupusas, a Salvadoran food staple that sells out quickly. They started talking about the idea for the business on Mother’s Day, two years ago.

“I always wanted to be my own boss. My mom always wanted her own restaurant. I just wanted to get her out of that typical 40-plus hour work week and push that narrative that the next generation should look into brick and mortar but found the food truck route more cost-effective,” he said.

Ayala-Orellana is putting his degree from Grand Valley State University to use in this new business, an accomplishment he is incredibly proud of.

“I’m a first-generation student at Grand Valley State University, got my bachelor’s degree. I ended up working in education during my time in undergrad, and something I really wanted to instill on those kids was, if I could do it, they could too,” he said.

Delmy Orellana makes her pupusas from a dough with corn starch, pork, cheese and beans, fries them up and serves them with a special kind of salsa that’s very mild, and a type of coleslas with pickled vegetables.

The Casa De Los Abuelos Food Truck will make its Food Truck Friday debut at Riverside Park on May 17 but is at Horrock’s in Grand Rapids every Saturday during the warmer months.

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