A new food truck called La Lola Loca is updating the food options at the University of Memphis with a little Latin flare.
The truck, a Mexican cantina operated by the university’s Tiger Dining services, is parked in the Richardson Tower’s parking lot Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Richardson is the high-rise dorm behind the campus visitor’s center at the corner of Central and Patterson avenues.
“We’re trying to do something new for the students and keep Memphis as close to the trends as we can,” said Chuck Wigington, district manager for food services.
Lola Loca adds to the growing arsenal of trucks already operated by food supplier Aramark on other colleges, including the University of Alabama, the University of Florida and Florida State. To help get the truck running, the company flew in an executive chef from Los Angeles to train the truck’s staff in Mexican cooking.
The result is a simple but promising menu with a nice mix of fillings, including grilled chicken, fire roasted corn salsa, cilantro ranch slaw and chipotle BBQ pulled pork. Customers can mix and match tacos ($2.75), burritos ($6) quesadillas ($4.50) and burrito bowls ($6), a popular choice for the dozens of students standing in line opening day.
The menu also offers pineapple-orange aqua fresca ($2) and churro dippers served warm with Lola’s secret chocolate sauce.
I tried the Pulled Pork Cubano ($5.75) filled with barbecue pork, dill pickle slices, jalapenos, mustard and Swiss cheese. The sandwich was big on flavor but short on meat. Next time, I’ll try the tacos, which Amy Abbott, director of operations for Tiger Dining, recommends.
“I had a leftover beef taco,” Abbott said. “Even though it was cold, it was still very good.”
