Ingrid Hoffmann's Latin Burger Food Truck Rolls All Over Miami

by Jacquelynn D. Powers, Posted Mar 9th 2010 @ 12:00PM

Courtesy of Ingrid Hoffman

While food trucks are a dime a dozen in cities like Los Angeles and New York, the trend is relatively new to Miami. Food Network personality and cookbook author Ingrid Hoffmann saw the void in the marketplace and recently debuted her Latin Burger mobile kitchen in Miami.

Since Hoffmann of Simply Delicioso fame is known for her Latina-style cooking, her food truck has a decidedly ethnic flair to it. The hot-pink-and-black customized truck serves up gourmet tacos (pulled pork, chicken mole and chicken tomatillo) and a signature burger with a chorizo and sirloin filling. This marquee patty also features Oaxaca cheese, caramelized onions, jalapenos and red-pepper mayo. "It's street food," she acknowledges, "but it's quality street food. We use Latin influences in a modern way." All of the ingredients used on board the renovated UPS truck are fresh and never canned.

The impetus for Latin Burger came out of Hoffmann's desire to never open a restaurant again. (In the '90s, she had an eatery in Coconut Grove called Rocca.) However, the fiery toque was turning down numerous offers to run her own place. The solution: to roll out a food truck, where she could feed Miamians cheaply and provide jobs for aspiring student-chefs. "I was frustrated that I didn't have a place to put the students from Johnson & Wales," she notes. "And, due to the economy, experienced line cooks in Miami were losing their jobs and their homes."

The overnight success of Latin Burger means that Ingrid is back in the hospitality business, albeit on a more manageable scale. It's also an opportunity for her to test-market her burgeoning food empire, which currently includes cookbooks and cookware. Latin Burger's customers are able to give feedback on condiments like Guachup (homemade guava ketchup) and Avocadolicious sauce (which is made with Chilean Haas avocados). She's also previewing an organic, MSG-free adobo seasoning, which is sprinkled on the fries.

Prices are inexpensive (everything is under $7) and healthful types can order the chicken tomatillo taco with a spelt tortilla for a low-fat meal. Six days a week, Latin Burger trolls all over Miami, stopping near crowded offices and car washes. (Fans can follow Latin Burger's whereabouts via Twitter and Facebook.) They've even been hired to cater weddings and often appear outside Bardot, a popular Miami nightclub, to hawk late-night munchies. More impressively, Ingrid's truck was the site of a culinary throwdown during the recent South Beach Wine & Food Festival, where Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto cooked in her mobile unit for a fundraiser for Haiti.

"Food trucks are here to stay," Ingrid emphasizes. "With the economy, many businesses are going mobile, including hardware stores. There's a lower overhead and you are able to move to the masses. It's a great thing if you do it properly." Next up for Hoffmann? Two more cookbooks, her spice and condiment line and more TV appearances. Oh, and she's flirting with the idea of adding a veggie burger to Latin Burger.

Filed Under: Business, Chefs
Tags: food network, food truck, Ingrid Hoffmann, ingrid hoffmanns latin burger, Latin Burger, latin burger and taco

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-10-2010 @7:40AM downema1160 said... I really enjoy Ingrid's style, and love that she's taken truck food up a notch. When I lived in LA, we had a truck that served fresh Mexican food along with more traditional American fare. Jesse and his wife never missed a day on La Cienega. As for taking it to the masses, until the birth of main street and the shopping mall, that's how business was transacted for centuries. Ever wonder why they call a journeyman worker a journeyman?? Have a tasty day!!
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3-10-2010 @3:42PM OU812IC? said... Leave it to a YENTA to cash in on something like this...But give her credit, selling locks and bagels there wouldn' cut it. All her clients for the bagels would want family discounts...

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3-10-2010 @9:34AM MARY said... Sounds like a good idea. When I lived in the Miami area, there were lots of small trucks all over that sold ice cream, Cuban snacks, Haitian meals, and lots of fresh fish (so they said).

Do any of you older posters remember the roach coach? You'd find them at construction sites, small industrial areas, etc. Supposedly they got up early to make coffee and sandwiches, and have all types of pre-packaged things called "meals and salads and sandwiches". They were handy and reasonable, but you never knew what was REALLY BETWEEN THE BREAD!!!!!!!
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3-10-2010 @9:57AM megan said... I was born & raised in Miami. I remember the roach coaches all over the city. We even had them on the college campuses.

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3-10-2010 @10:19AM Ella said... I don't go out to eat very much.. it is a special treat and those burgers look great!.. I tend to like to cook for myself because I know exactly what goes into my food.... I have learned to control my calorie intake by doing it.. I got this great cook-book.. I can't tell you the name though.. it will definitely pi$$ some of you off.. but if you have a good sense of humor and aren't easily offended.. google "Whipped & Beaten Culinary Works" to see what I am talking about!... but seriously.. if you can't take a joke.. DONT GO TO THE SITE!

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3-10-2010 @12:28PM Frank said... I remember Roach Coaches . I work construction in Florida and they have almost all disappeared because of our hiring of illegals . They would gather in a big group at one and while one or two would ditract the driver the others would steal all the food they could carry . The drivers would have to make up the cost out of their pockets . This is why you dont see many around here any more . Nowdays most of the ones you do see are operated by latinos who dont care much about food sfety because they know most will be stolen anyhow .

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3-10-2010 @2:54PM maxiesmom067 said... Don't tell me Long Island is the last place on earth for the roach coach! We still have them and they haven't changed in 30 years!

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4-09-2010 @4:33PM E. Genes said... Great idea! I only wish Ingrid Hoffman would extend her "Latin Burger" business to the Boca Raton/Delray Beach area! We need more tasty food here, too!
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3-10-2010 @10:14AM Angiebaby said... I've always thought those taco trucks in CA that make fresh, fast, yummy, affordable Mexican food would do well in many areas. Of course, the fillings for tacos and such would need to be tailored to the area. In Miami, there is a huge Cuban population and they may eat more things like eyeballs and brain tacos. But in, say, Memphis, I would get permits for a couple of taco trucks in the downtown area, one during the business day in the downtown business district, and one at night near Beale Street. I would keep the meats fresh and definitely Mexican, but I wouldn't necessarily expect to sell many bowls of menudo or tripe tacos. I've always thought this would work and I'm amazed the taco trucks haven't caught on all over the place. Hell, it's street food, and everybody loves good street food!
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3-10-2010 @10:01AM Giovanny Gutierrez said... What sucks is they never have fish options for non meat eaters. I always ask and they keep telling me they will be adding them "next week" to which they never do next time I go.

So I get their fries instead which are damn good and well seasoned so here's to hoping :)
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3-10-2010 @10:07AM ANG said... JUST WHAT MIAMI NEEDS IS MORE RICE AND BEANS AND PEOPLE FARTING ALL OVER
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3-10-2010 @10:16AM Herb said... Miami is the third most dangerous city in America because of all the CUBANS, JAMAICANS AND HAITIANS THAT SLITHERED INTO IT. They have turned miami into a nasty slum city.
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3-10-2010 @11:20AM Karinna said... Miami is an exciting cosmopolitan city. You slobs just don't fit in--sorrrrry!

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3-10-2010 @1:14PM Kevin said... That sounds like a nice new idea, I don't live in Miami but I can something like that working down there. I hope it works out well for her ... good luck with that Ingrid.
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3-10-2010 @2:52PM mare said... Lived many years in and around Miami- vibrant, beautiful Miami. Roach coaches, hot dog carts, street vendors from all over selling all kinds of stuff-
I miss the aromas.
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4-06-2010 @4:41AM elylebora said... As i had lesion that Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (January 24, 1776 – June 25, 1822), better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann), was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. He is the subject and hero of Jacques Offenbach's famous but fictional opera The Tales of Hoffmann, and the author of the novelette The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based. The ballet Coppelia is based on two other stories that Hoffmann wrote.
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