SAN MATEO, CA – As hard as it is to imagine, San Mateo’s food scene is getting even more diverse.

The city that already bubbles over with ethnic variety — with restaurants offering everything from gourmet ramen to Peruvian cuisine — is now the latest outpost of the food-truck craze that’s spreading throughout the Bay Area.

One food-truck festival has already arrived at the San Mateo County Event Center, and a second is poised for a soft launch on Monday and an official opening on July 18. Moveable Feast, formerly known as SJ Eats, held its inaugural event Friday at the event center, drawing more than 6,000 people for a night of food and music, according to organizer Ryan Sebastian.

“It was a lot busier than anyone expected,” said Sebastian, 32, who decided to expand north from San Jose after being contacted by event center officials. “The waits were getting out of control.”

Off the Grid, a food-truck phenomenon that began about a year ago in San Francisco and recently expanded to Berkeley, comes to the downtown Caltrain station on July 18. Organizer Matt Cohen called San Mateo “the next logical step.”

“A lot of our trucks are from the Peninsula, so we wanted to be in their hometown as well,” said Cohen, 32, who works with a rotation of about 40 trucks that he mixes and matches at different locations. The San Mateo event will feature eight trucks that rotate each week. “We are really excited about starting a night on the Peninsula.”

Several trucks with ties to San Mateo will participate in the new street fairs, Sebastian said, including Naked Chorizo, Hiyaaa! and Yumsilog. Tim Luym, consulting chef at Attic restaurant on B Street in San Mateo, is co-owner of The Wow truck, which is part of the Moveable Feast rotation and is applying to join Off the Grid.

The Wow specializes in silog, a Filipino street food that’s often served for breakfast. The Wow’s version features an egg on top of garlic rice with a choice of meat. “I like to describe it as a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast except with rice instead of hashbrowns,” said Luym, 32.

Luym said San Mateo is a natural choice for the expansions of Moveable Feast and Off the Grid given its location and existing variety of ethnic food. Being situated between San Francisco and the South Bay with a connection to the East Bay via the San Mateo Bridge makes the city the “epicenter of the Bay Area,” he said.

“I really think it’s going to help bring attention to the downtown San Mateo area in general,” he added.

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