Burgerville coming to town, but not in the way we'd hoped

When former News Tribune business columnist Dan Voelpel wrote in February that the Vancouver-based burger chain Burgerville had its eyes on Tacoma for a location, burgervores rejoiced. The small chain has outposts in Washington, but none north of Centralia. The chain known for locally sourcing ingredients has a cult following (this food writer included).

Well, it's October and still no word on when/where Burgerville might have its first Tacoma location. So I emailed a company spokeswoman Megan Alpers to ask. Here's what she had to say....

Thanks for your note. While Burgerville doesn’t have any upcoming announcements regarding a restaurant in Tacoma, the local residents will soon be able to enjoy the Burgerville experience with our new mobile kitchen: the Burgerville Nomad. Our commitment to serve guests fresh, high-quality products shines through in the Nomad’s menu design. The Nomad offers many favorites from the regular menu, including beef and vegetarian burgers, fries and seasonal milkshakes. It also features a new, all-beef, totally delicious hot dog. We will be in touch as soon as the Burgerville Nomad is on the road headed your way! Kind regards, Megan

The Burgerville Nomad is part of a growing food cart/food truck trend in Portland where chefs and food producers have taken their food production mobile with hundreds (yes, hundreds) of food carts and trucks located throughout the city. Last month, I spent a few days researching food carts in Portland and I'll have a story about it in November. For street eats, it's an interesting and fascinating culinary advancement. Here is a website I really like that delves into the food cart phenom in Portland.

I've been following the Burgerville Nomad on Twitter for weeks and I see that it's making its way around Portland, but there's no news that they're coming to Tacoma soon. When and if they do, I'll be sure to report back to you.

This story was originally published October 26, 2009 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Burgerville coming to town, but not in the way we'd hoped."