The owners of Petite Auberge Restaurant & Catering, brothers Michael and Anthony Gropp, are excited to announce that they have acquired the Scratch Cuisine Food Truck, formerly owned by Chef Matt Grigg. Currently, the truck is parked at 1298 Spring Street, on the northwest corner of 16th and Spring, every Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition, the Gropps plan to take the truck to festivals and community events throughout the metro Atlanta area, including the Grant Park Food-O-Rama, on April 16, and the Atlanta Food Truck and Music Festival at Stone Mountain, on June 11-12.
The acquisition happened when Chef Grigg decided to move out of town without taking his food truck. He approached the Gropps about the sale because he worked at Petite Auberge as an apprentice to the restaurant’s founder, original chef Wolfgang Gropp, while studying at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Atlanta. (Chef Grigg then went on to work under renowned local chefs like Paul Albrecht and Tom Colicchio while specializing in catering and then opened his own Scratch Cuisine Food Truck business.)
According to Michael, general manager at Petite Auberge, the Food Truck was a natural evolution for Petite Auberge restaurant which specializes in event catering and meal delivery. He says, “We had been interested in purchasing a food truck for a while, because we’d begun concentrating more and more on our catering business, and having a food truck is a fun, interesting and new way for us to bring our food to our customers. In addition, it’s the ideal way to serve craft services on movie sets, which is a side of our business that we are currently expanding.”
Currently, the Scratch Cuisine Food Truck menu features traditional food truck dishes such as Pork Carnitas Tacos with Arbol Sauce, Chicken Cheese Steaks, Philly Cheese Steaks, Pimento Cheese on French Baguettes, Chicken Tenders with French Fries and Cobb Salads, ranging in price from $7-$10. Future plans include the addition of a few of Petite Auberge’s classic continental and fine French food items to the menu.
According to Anthony, head chef at Petite Auberge, “The great thing about the food truck is that we are not pigeonholed by the type of food we can serve. We don’t have to stick to one type of cuisine. We can mix traditional food truck offerings with many of the dishes that put Petite Auberge on the map for the last 42 years.”
One thing that Petite Auberge brings to the “table” is the use of high quality ingredients from their restaurant, such as their freshly imported flavored and infused extra virgin olive oils. Rather than cooking all of their food items in the deep fryer, the Petite Auberge chefs can use these olive oils on the flat top or sautéed in a pan to bring the taste—and health benefits—of their food truck offerings up a notch. And, as an added bonus, food truck patrons will be able to do a mini tasting of the olive oils while waiting in line for their orders.
Regarding bringing mobile food to the masses, Michael says, “Our new food truck takes catering to the next level. We can cook items fresh on the spot and expose a whole new market to our classic Petite Auberge dishes.”
Petite Auberge will keep customers apprised of their new Scratch Cuisine menu items and service locations through their website at www.petiteauberge.com/events/, Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PetiteAubergeAtlanta/, and new Twitter account @PetiteAuberge74.