Erik Jacobs, former co-owner of the shuttered Babalu’s in the Central West End, has a dream, one that involves bringing creative street food from around the world to STL. First up: Neapolitan-style pizza. This summer, Jacobs aims to use a vintage 22-foot Airstream trailer – dubbed Wanderlust to reflect his love of travel – fitted with a wood-fired oven to dish out his creatively topped thin-crust pies all over town. Jacobs is no stranger to baking; he currently provides foccacia to Salume Beddu‘s storefront location on Saturdays.
But Jacobs’ dream doesn’t stop with pizza; his long-range plan involves multiple trailers offering differing cuisines, with the unifying theme being street food from around the world – think Vietnamese, regional Mexican and barbecue, among others.
How will you know where to find Wanderlust? As with food trucks on the coasts, Jacobs will use “Twitter and Facebook … to let people know where I am on any certain day, and what the special pizzas/plates of the day will be,” he said, promising to share those addresses with us as soon as they’re up and running. Wanderlust is slated to roll by mid-summer; watch this space for updates.
– Dee Ryan
This article appears in Jun 1-30, 2010.