By Tina Peng
Special to DNAinfo
LOWER EAST SIDE — The Dessert Truck has moved off the streets and parked in a storefront of its own.
The Dessert Truck originally hit New York’s streets in 2007 and quickly gained a foodie following and won several awards. The new store, DT Works, run by two former Le Cirque chefs, opened its doors at 6 Clinton St. on Friday.
“Trucks have become a phenomenon now, but it’s sort of a gimmick, too,” said one of the owners, Susana Garcia, 34. "For us, it’s not about the truck. It’s about the food.”
DT Works’ menu items include the Dessert Truck favorites of warm chocolate bread pudding with vanilla or bacon custard sauce, and a molten chocolate cake with olive oil ganache and hazelnuts. The chefs plan to roll out a line of mini whoopee pies and eventually expand the store’s 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. hours to breakfast.
A permitting snafu forced the truck off the streets and, before the store's opening, Garcia and her partner were forced to serve just private events.
It’s not the city’s first truck-to-storefront transition — the popular Calexico Truck opened a restaurant in Brooklyn’s this summer. The Dessert Truck partners, though, don’t plan on hitting the road again, one of the partners, Jerome Chang, said.
It costs about as much to run the store as it did to run the truck, he said. And then there’s the hassle of extra paperwork and a continual dependence on the weather.
“It’s not a very efficient forum for us,” Chang said.
Although the truck allowed the chefs to connect with their customers in a way they hadn’t seen in other establishments, Garcia said the new brick-and-mortar setting won’t detract from the experience.
Dessert Truck loyals have already started pouring into DT Works, prompted by Twitter and blog posts. More than 250 customers came through the day the store opened, Chang said.
Fash Zadan, a 39-year-old East Village accountant, said he used to stop by the truck every other week, and was happy to hear of the store’s opening.
Zadan, who ordered the chocolate bread pudding with bacon sauce to go, said the store is now on his way home.
Will he stop by more often?
“I’ve got to watch my waistline,” he said. “But probably.”
