Before urban sprawl gobbled up rural St. Louis County during the last century, the county was dotted with truck farm gardens, especially in South St. Louis County.
In fact, I grew up on one of those truck farms, which the old German gardeners called gardens. Our truck farm garden, like many of them, were located in the Affton area, which operated with a single truck – explaining the name.
Each week, we would load the truck with bushel boxes filled with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and peppers, and head to the market. Back then, truck gardening was a good business. Brian Hardesty is betting his new truck garden, the 9 Mile Garden, opening July 3, will flourish, offering fresh food, good drinks and fun times. Hardesty had been developing the concept on his own when Seneca Commercial Real Estate approached him with the opportunity to partner and manage the project, which opens this week.
“I was approached by Seneca, who asked me what I thought about the property and if I would be interested in doing a food truck concept. It just so happened I had been working on the idea (a food truck concept) for the past few years,” said Hardesty, who by the way, is no stranger to the food service industry.
Hardesty’s food service credits include stints as a chef at Monarch, Harvest, Balaban’s and Winslow’s Home, before stepping out on his own to open Guerrilla Street Food, a brick-and-mortar shop with two locations and a food truck. Make that a hugely successful food truck that garnered kudos as winner of Andrew Zimmer’s Best Food Truck in America Munchies Award. That said, you can expect Guerrilla Street Food to roll into 9 Mile’s food truck row with the rest of the 2020 inaugural food truck fleet.
According to Hardesty, 9 Mile Garden is the first food truck garden in the state. And please, don’t call it a food truck park.
“Calling it a garden paints a more accurate picture of what we are. A food truck park makes me think of a parking lot. We’re not a parking lot and we’re not a park. It’s going to have the feel of a garden with all sorts of stuff going on,” he said. “We have 30 food truck members that will come to food truck row on a rotation. Each truck will be here two or three times a week. Just look at our list, and you’ll see we have a wide range of cuisines.”
After taking a peek at that list, 9 Mile Garden seems it can deliver on its claim of having something for everyone. Besides the expected barbecue, pizza, burgers and ice cream, look for the unusual such as Korean-Mexican fare from Seoul Taco, Jordanian cuisine from Zacchi, and artisan ice pops from Poptimism.
The fleet is comprised of food truck operators who buy a yearly membership for the right to roll in, park and dish their plates throughout 9 Mile Garden’s season, which runs March 1 through November. However, 9 Mile Garden’s Canteen will remain open year-round, featuring dozens of draft beers, which will share the taps with a couple of wines and small batch cocktails. For nondrinkers, there are Excel sodas and Blueprint cold-brewed coffee.
The food trucks will be located on the west side of the 3,500-square-foot garden space, which allows for current requirements for social distancing. As a result, the planned communal tables have been replaced with large picnic-style tables that are spaced out over an AstroTurf covered patio. Bordering the center field opposite the food truck row are landscaped grassy areas, including a multi-level terrace, creating a place to perch with your lawn chair or blanket while taking in the free entertainments – live music and free Saturday night movies.
Speaking of free; parking is also free. And just in case the 450-plus spaces on the surrounding lots are filled, Hardesty reported there’s a ton of public parking nearby.
The new 9 Mile Garden is located inside the wedge, which is formed by McKenzie, Weber and Gravois roads, just nine miles from the steps of the Old Courthouse downtown, thus, the 9 Mile name. This was the accepted measurement back in the day that travelers used to figure mileage when venturing out of the city.
The July 4th weekend is opening weekend for 9 Mile Garden, when the trucks will roll in for lunch and dinner, along with libations at The Canteen, which will operate Monday through Saturday.
Throughout the year, keep a lookout for special events and festivals. Hardesty’s goal is to bring beer and wine festivals to the venue along with community events. Best yet, for 2021, plans are in the works to bring a farmer’s market to the garden on Sundays. That’s good news for this old truck farm garden girl. And a fitting homage to those southside truck gardeners who once farmed around Gravois.
