Story and photos by Julie Carasone
Evan and Ryan Bender and college friend Nick Melchiora loved food trucks so much and saw how super popular it was in major cities, so they decided to open their own food truck “Over the Border”, featuring Mexican food.
Joined by Tom Turnbull, President of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce and family, Evan, Ryan and Nick officially cut the ribbon at their grand opening today.
“There are plenty of food trucks in Rochester and Buffalo, and why make people travel to go out there, lets bring it to Batavia. We have received great support from Batavia in the 1-2 weeks we have been open,” says Ryan
The Benders, graduates of Notre Dame High School, wanted to bring a different food truck to Genesee County.
“We have Center Street and Red Osier and we wanted to bring another one to Batavia and who doesn’t like Mexican Food,” says Evan.
It took about three months to bring their idea together and making sure that the ingredients tasted good together. Developing recipes in the test kitchen, they used trial and error to decide what they liked and didn’t like. They make everything fresh daily, and it includes their mango salsa, pico de gallo and guacamole.
“The best thing that sets us apart, is what we stand for with the environment for the community. Every single container that we use and serve is made from 100% compost made from plants. We love this community and we want to see it thrive and not littered with garbage,” says Evan.
The menu consists of a Taco Trio, Burrito or Burrito Bowl. There is an option to choose your meat, and toppings and for desert churro bites, where you can add Nutella.
The truck will go to various places in the city and they are hoping to expand out to other counties in the near future. They are also hoping to bring their food truck to Batavia Downs, during their “Rocking the Downs” summer concert series. Currently, they are open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Friday nights they will be at Jackson Square for concert goers to enjoy their food. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out where they will be the next day.