photos/words/captions_devin cordero
February 7, 2012
By now, most of us have seen UM’s very own food truck camped out somewhere on the Coral Gables campus. “Uragano” (Italian for ‘hurricane’) was first conceived when the Sbarro pizza franchise location in the University Center closed back in April to be replaced a few weeks later with the new Rathskeller location. The closure of the restaurant left a void on campus for pizza outside of the dining halls, and in the fall, UM’s Student Government requested for administrators to find a new way to serve pizza on campus. The result was Uragano, a Chartwells-administered venture aiming to bring pizza creations like the ‘U-bomb’ to the masses, all from inside the window of a mobile kitchen.
The truck functions much like any other belonging to the food truck movement. Like Ms. Cheezious, the truck whose food will be featured on the cover of the Food Issue, Uragano never stays in the same place for more than a few hours, and anyone craving pizza on campus can check the truck’s Twitter account (@UraganoUM) for updates on where it will be next.
For those who have not yet joined the Twitter revolution, the truck serves pizza on campus Monday through Friday. It is frequently spotted parked near the UC or at the fountain near the Dooly Memorial building, but locations (and hours) are fluid and are chosen based upon where and when there will be the most desirable level of foot traffic.
Uragano is parked at the Rock and serving customers on the evening of Monday, February 6th, 2012.
Uragano employee Brandon Wilson takes an order from UM Law student Dayna Johnson.
The Uragano food truck prepares its pizza dough on a counter dusted with flour in a similar style to many pizzerias.
Employee Yurian Rodriguez prepares a pizza, starting with raw pizza dough (left), covering it with tomato sauce (center), and finally topping it with chicken, cheese, and other goodies (right).
Pizzas are placed on a conveyor belt that moves the uncooked food (top) through a hot oven for approximately six minutes, until it emerges bubbling hot at the end of the conveyor on the opposite end of the oven (bottom).
Uragano employee and UM freshman Juliana Berhane removes an order of cheesy Foccacia Dippers from the truck’s conveyor belt oven.
Employee and UM freshman Juliana Berhane packs up a pizza for take out.
