Story and photos by Blake Herzog
Three friends who met in Portland, Oregon, the home of numerous food truck parks, have brought the concept to Casa Grande to create a place where foodies and families from all walks of life can gather.
The trio restored a century-old home on the National Register of Historic Places at 323 W. 8th St. (at the corner of Pinal Avenue and just north of Florence Boulevard) into Casa Collective, a tap house and wine bar with space to park food trucks and tables inside and outside where patrons can sit — sometimes all day.
“It’s kind of their hangout spot, which is what our hope was, that we would have a place which felt like the community’s spot where they could congregate, make friends or just relax and enjoy some cold beer, good food and just hang,” co-owner Britt Adams says. “It’s very chill.”
Customers also are free to take their meals home.
Sitting under a tall, refurbished sign, Casa Collective is open 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
A fleet of more than a dozen local food trucks rotates through up to six available spaces, some staying for days at a time and others popping in once a week or month. Cuisines run the gamut between Thai and Indian to Jamaican, Mexican and American, as well as ice cream and dessert trucks. Truck owners who want to join in can apply through the website, www.casacollectiveaz.com.
Oye Bash is the owner and chief cook of Thomm Yumm Thai, a truck based in the Casa Grande Mall parking lot before she moved it to Casa Collective when it opened Feb. 1. She prepares pad thai, pad see ew, curries and other staples of her homeland’s cuisine, along with iced teas with or without boba.
The new location is working well for her: “We see our old customers, we have new customers, and they have variety here.”
The drink menu inside the historic house is always evolving, with craft beers mainly from the Southwest on tap, as well as glasses of white and red wines, ciders and plenty of nonalcoholic options.
“Literally, a family could come here and there’s something for everyone,” Adams says.
For updates on its selection of food trucks, drinks and activities follow CasaCollectiveAZ on Facebook or casa_collective_az on Instagram.
