Houston Food Park to open Saturday

Coreanos food truck review Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Coreanos food truck review Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: Cody Duty, Staff Photo: Cody Duty, Staff Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Houston Food Park to open Saturday 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The Bayou City is finally getting a food-truck park.

Houston Food Park, 1504 St. Emmanuel, will mark its grand opening Saturday. Festival hours will be 3-8 p.m. and approximately nine food trucks are expected to participate. Among them will be Yummyz Kitchen, Coreanos, POCKet to Me and Betton's Comfort Food.

The park will be open daily for lunch beginning Monday.

Food park partners Jack Gillett, Ponce Tirzo and Miguel Villegas were spreading their message and reaching out to Houston's food-truck community this week via Facebook and Twitter. The trio are passionate about Houston and its vibrant food scene.

"Why does Houston have to play catch up to smaller cities like Austin?" Tirzo asked, referencing Austin's long-established food-truck parks. "We want to change that."

Houston Food Park will be on the site of the former Meridian Club in EaDo. Tirzo says the space, as is, can handle eight to nine food trucks at any one time.

The team is hoping to utilize a nearby parking lot once a month to accommodate as many as 20 food trucks. The expanded space will be a part of plans to make Houston Food Park a venue for special events.

"We want to bring an urban festival scene to the city," Tirzo said. "We want to celebrate arts, food and music in a setting that reflects Houston as the melting pot it is."

To that end, several events already are in the works, including Retro Festival and Beyond the Blacktop. Tirzo and his team want to promote nonprofit events that give back to the city.

Also in the works, a lounge and concert venue that will complement the food trucks.

Find the latest news on Houston Food Park at facebook.com/HoustonFoodPark?fref=ts and twitter.com/Houfood park.