HARLINGEN — The Moon Rock is preparing for liftoff.
In an industrial area along Harlingen’s northern edge, the countdown is on for the launch of the city’s first food truck park.
After more than a year of planning, Christian Zanca has set Feb. 18 as the date the Moon Rock Food Truck Park and Bar opens, featuring nine smoking food trucks firing up a smorgasbord of gourmet modern-day chuck wagon cuisine, indoor and outdoor bars and live music.
“It’ll be like an indoor-outdoor vibe,” Zanca, co-owner of Brownsville’s popular Broken Sprocket Bar and Food Truck Park, said.
Across the 2.5-acre park at 1811 W. Jefferson Ave., Zanca is featuring a basketball court, two sand volleyball courts and even a quarter-acre dog park.
“We’re trying to give everybody in Harlingen something they’ll like about the place,” he said. “I’m trying to make it a melting pot. We’re trying to draw families. I’m trying to draw in everybody.”
Long bar, courtyard
Inside, Zanca is boasting one of the Rio Grande Valley’s longest bars.
“We’re going to have a full bar featuring everything,” he said. “The bar is really cool. I don’t know if it’s actually the biggest bar in the Valley, but it’s one of them. We can sit 60 people.”
Outside, he’s planning a sprawling courtyard featuring the park’s main stage fronting canopy-covered tables under strings of lights.
“It’ll be pretty big. We’re trying to give it a modern-rustic look,” he said. “I want to give people a few options in seating. We’re bringing in patio furniture, picnic tables — mixing it up. We’ll be adding shade — natural shade. I’m bringing in palm trees, string lights.”
Live music
Thursdays through Sundays, the park is featuring live music spotlighting the area’s top bands.
“There are some really good bands,” Zanca said. “We’ll have acoustic music acts in the bar early and the main acts on the stage at night. We’ll have cover bands, rock ’n’ roll bands, country bands — everything. I’m trying to mix it up as much as I can.”
Food truck specialties
Along the park, a stable of fancy food trucks showcasing culinary artists from as far as California will be dishing up wide arrays of tantalizing creations fueling a growing $2.7 billion U.S. industry.
“It’s people who follow their culinary interests,” Zanca said.
From hot-stuffed pizza to fat gourmet burgers, each food truck will be cooking up distinct menus, featuring culinarians dishing out favorites like Tejano tacos while pitmasters fire up original Central Texas barbecue delights.
For more worldly palates, chefs will be crafting Chinese and Hawaiian-style grub along with black brew coffee treats.
Down the rows of brightly detailed mobile commercial kitchens, appetizers will range from honey sriracha wings, wonton nachos and pork tostadas.
Along the big trucks, boldly painted menus will hawk titillating entrees like brisket smashburgers, cheddar jalapeno sausage wraps, shrimp burgers and bacon patty melts.
The Melt
Among the newfangled chuck wagons, there’ll be Zanca’s red truck hailed The Melt, specializing in “gourmet grilled cheeses” and “other melty goodness,” including entrees like his chicken strip melt and bacon brie, his tomato basil broccoli cheese soup and appetizers like The Melt Queso.
“It’s all about the food,” he said.
