Just as spring buds are beginning to sprout, food carts are cropping up downtown for outdoor dining season. A new cart set up outside the courthouse Tuesday.
Bernardo Ortiz isn’t new to the food business. He’s been selling homemade goods from his Mexican bakery, Panaderia Ortiz, for four years. He also worked in several restaurants before he moved to Peoria. But Ortiz says, he prefers being outside.
“It’s nice, you know, we feel free over here," Ortiz said. "And it's windy."
But if you don’t want a side of wind with your tamale, Ortiz says he’s hoping the cart will bring new customers to brick-and-mortar shop on Monroe Street.
“We just want to show people to the bakery, and show the people what we do," Ortiz said. "'Cause a lot of people don’t know we are over there.”
He’s off to a good start. At around 12 o’clock, Ortiz was tending to a line of hungry lunch-goers.