Week 128: Butcher Paper Food Truck

Week 128: June 8th-14th, 2025

Once again, living in Mission Valley has proven to have its perks because this week, my apartment complex started having a food truck on the property every other Thursday. I think this is a great way to offer convenience to residents while also supporting local food truck businesses.

As I was leaving the apartment's gym, I noticed a large blue truck by the leasing office. It was called the "Butcher Paper Food Truck," so I made a mental note to check the menu online after I got home and showered.

The big blue Butcher Paper Food truck outside of the leasing office

According to their website, Butcher Paper Food Truck was created as a tribute to the founder's father, a skilled butcher and catering truck owner. I scoured the website for a menu with prices, but all I was able to find were photos of varying quality, and a couple different menu flyers with photos of food. While I was showering after the gym, the leasing office even sent out an email with a menu to remind residents of the food truck on the property, but there were still no prices visible anywhere. On their main menu, there was barely legible black font on the photos of their food that, if you squinted enough, you could see said, "comes with seasoned fries and dill pickle."

I headed out on the two minute walk to the leasing office to check Butcher Paper Food Truck out. There were a couple people in line, and I was surprised to see one menu item already covered up. It was the sirloin steak sando. I assume this means they either sold out of the item for the day already, or just weren't serving that day.

When it was my turn to order, I stepped onto the little piece of turf they laid out like a red carpet for their patrons, and a very friendly man with a big smile helped me out. The truck counter is pretty high, so I felt quite short with the ketchup dispenser almost above my head.

I ordered the butcher burger for $16 because the bacon and pesto combination intrigued me. The food came out pretty quickly, but not before I had the chance to witness an uncomfortable interaction when another customer picked up her order from the window. As the very smiley man handed her the second tray in her order, a side of fries, the woman fully palmed the fries with her bare hands and loudly pronounced, "THESE WERE SITTING OUT, WEREN'T THEY? THEY'RE COLD. DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME. Take them back."

The smiley man's smile disappeared for a split second, but returned quickly when he recovered and said, "Trust me ma'am, the fries just came out of the fryer, but I can get you another tray. Since you've touched the fries, why don't you keep that tray and I'll get you another."

I was impressed. It was just the right amount of polite customer service while also including a hint of "Why the f*** did you just manhandle these fries and yell in my face? Now we're all uncomfortable!"

Once again I was reminded of the absolute impossible job of being patient with unprovoked rudeness that most food service workers have. Thankfully, the angry fries woman left before anyone else got more uncomfortable. The other people waiting to order or standing around for their name to be called also seemed to relax when she left.

When my name was called and my burger was ready, I made a knowing face toward the smiley man to try to lift his spirits and thanked him profusely. I told him the fries looked great, and the temperature was perfect. He smiled bigger.

My burger was a great mid-week treat that allowed me to forget about the constant struggle of adulthood: figuring out what to eat for dinner and then making dinner. Every single night. I really liked my food, especially because someone else made it. Plus, the mustard aioli on the burger was a nice touch to cut through the greasiness from the bacon and pesto.

While their in-person customer service was great, I think the Butcher Paper Food Truck could use some help on their digital presence. The user-friendliness of their marketing materials like their website and their menu definitely needs work. I'd suggest some grammatical and spelling fixes as well as design changes for a more legible font. While I'm not basing my reviews of a restaurant off of their branding and ability to spell "calendar" (see "calander" on their site), I do have the slightly annoying habit of noticing these things whether I want to or not. Thankfully, ability to create marketing material or spell has nothing to do with one's ability to make good food, or deal with difficult customers..

Honestly, the prices of things lately no longer surprise me. A burger and fries for $16 is pretty comparable to most brick and mortar restaurants, and I'm happy to support local businesses. If you'd like to check out the Butcher Paper Food Truck Yelp Page, I've linked it here. 

As a reminder, please be nice to service workers. Whether its your barista, your server, your waiter, your host, your driver, your whatever... it is always better to lead with kindness than rudeness. And don't grab fries with your bare hands and expect them to be returnable.

See you next week.