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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
For over a year now, foodies Nicole Parker and Aaron Dingman have been living their dream, serving and selling food from their very own food trailer Vie de Fleur around Fort Worth. Loosely translated, Vie de Fleur means the Flower of Life in French, a language spoken in and around New Orleans, where Parker honed her culinary skills.
Originally a restaurant concept run out of a ghost kitchen in a gas station in Cresson, Vie de Fleur is a culinary concept that felt like it might be better in a mobile setting, at least the way Parker tells it.
“I absolutely love this. We can do it when we want, how we want and go all over the city,” she says. “We've gone as far south as Austin, but we love staying around here, especially doing local stuff, like being part of the community and giving back to the schools and that kind of stuff.”
Parker also verifies, if Vie De Fleur has any food left over after a catering gig or an event, it all goes to local first responders. This was a concept; Parker says she’s seen in action after catering food to the Superdome as part of an emergency response team post Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
After traveling the country and trying out several culinary concepts over the years, this duo found themselves in a business decision crossroads last May. They could go all in on a food trailer or wait and see what other options they had.
“I took the plunge,” Dingman says. “I decided it was time to go all in and I ordered the trailer and then I told Nicole about it. I’m so glad I did, because now we are free to roam.”
According to this culinary team, being able to park and serve food where crowds of people are, makes more sense to them, than staying in one spot waiting for people to discover you. This, in essence, makes the food trailer itself a roaming calling card for event attendees and organizers.
As for the menu, Vie de Fleur has a delicious pulled pork sandwich made with slow smoked pork, sliced onions, pickles and house made barbecue sauce. There are also two gumbo options, a jambalaya, and a black bean veggie wrap. Told you the menu was diverse. If you’re having a craving for something new try Vie de Fleur’s Blueberry Moonshine Meatballs appetizer, or their bourbon glazed bacon wrapped little smokies. Vie de Fleur also has one of the most sugar-laden drink options ever with a concoction labeled the “Crazy Drink” created with a sprite base made with sour candy and whipped cream.
Another must-try are Vie de Fleur’s fruit nachos. The chips are made out of churros, drizzled with cinnamon and sugar then stacked with fruit and whipped cream. This is definitely a shareable plate.
“He loves to barbecue; he does really well at it,” Parker says in regards to Dingman's cooking experience. “I have always loved cooking and I wanted to bring in the Cajun influence as well, because that's where I got started. So, we’re like, well, let's just throw it all together. I do a lot of the sweets and keep all the sweets in there because that was how I did it for almost 20 years.”
Parker verifies that all of the orders and food on the truck are homemade like Vie de Fleur’s brisket and mac and cheese.
“We take pride in how we do it. We don't take the easy way out or whatever you want to say. And that's just something we've always prided ourselves in, is making sure it's diverse and we can try to accommodate pretty much everybody,” she says.
