For Grace Aguilar-Domonter, naming her food truck Five O Four was a no-brainer. It's both the area code for her hometown of New Orleans and the country code for her family's homeland of Honduras. Combining the two cultures at her new venture on East Cesar Chavez only made sense.
"Honduran culture is a lot like Louisiana culture," Aguilar-Domonter says. "We're big on family, community, and hard work. It's heartwarming and heartfelt."
Her menu spotlights classic comfort foods from both cultures, including gumbo and baleadas — a common Honduran street food similar to a taco. "Just like gumbo is a staple to Louisiana, baleadas are staples for Honduras," she explains. Her version features frijol de seda (red silk beans), crema, curtido, and roast pork, with a sweet potato vegetarian option she admits she likes even better than the meat version.
Five O Four also serves Honduran fish enchiladas — fried corn tortillas topped like tostadas rather than rolled — using seasoned snapper and shrimp étouffée to bring Louisiana seafood flair. "My favorite thing in the whole world is seafood!" she exclaims.
Aguilar-Domonter credits a grant from the Texas Food & Wine Alliance and her time working at acclaimed Caribbean restaurant Canje under chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph as major influences. "Canje was a big inspiration for me," she shares. "I felt like, 'If he can do Caribbean flair, I can do this too!'"
She bought her food truck from Ali Clem, owner of la Barbecue, and refined her menu through pop-ups around town. "Right now, Louisiana food is like my mixtape EP," she says. "I gotta get people hooked with something familiar, and then my album is going to be where I really push people out of their comfort zone."
Aguilar-Domonter plans to bring more specials like crawfish pupusas and hopes to host block party vibes for events like Fat Tuesday. "When you think of Louisiana, you think of summertime with everybody coming outside with a frozen daiquiri, eating crawfish while listening to good music. Austin helped give me a different perspective, but New Orleans created the foundation for who I am."