Couple brings authentic Southwestern cuisine to Knoxville
As the food truck scene continues to rapidly expand in Knoxville, one such business is preparing to celebrate its one-year anniversary. Dia De Foods is a local mobile vendor that serves delicious fare perfect for any time of the day: breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner.
The truck, owned by couple Erica Collins and Jesse Rossbach, treats customers to New Mexican-style food, which includes burritos, breakfast burritos, tacos, huevos rancheros, eggs benedict, avocado tostadas, a Southwestern waffle, green chile stew, breakfast chicken enchiladas, chorizo/black bean dip, pineapple jalapeño salsa, Frito pie, birria tacos, a wonderful contrivance called Dia De Parfait and other items. The menu also includes Christmas salsa, a mixture of red and green sauce, which is a New Mexico staple.
Rossbach, a former chef at Elkmont Exchange and Lonesome Dove, boasts roots in barbecue and smokes his meats himself. But he and Collins wanted more than a barbecue truck since there are plenty of mobile businesses that focus on just that. Collins, a Philadelphia native, and Rossbach, who hails from New Mexico, met in Austin, Texas, while working at the same restaurant where she was a bartender and he was a chef.
“We met in Austin, and we fell in love,” Collins says. “We’ve been together for eight years, and I came to Knoxville because of this young man sitting right here.”
“I came here to open a location of Lonesome Dove,” Rossbach continues, tracing their steps to the Scruffy City. “Then I went to work at Elkmont, and you never knew whether you were going to have a job or not.”
Although one of the most hyped and seemingly promising restaurants in recent memory, Elkmont Exchange experienced myriad directional shifts and issues before finally closing its doors at the end of 2020.
When COVID-19 first hit the U.S., Collins was working as a bartender at three establishments yet would lose all of those gigs as a result of the pandemic. “But I was able to draw unemployment,” she adds. “So COVID actually made the dream come true.”
That dream, Dia De Foods, was a long time in the making for the couple, each of whom continued to find work in the fraught hospitality industry throughout the worst days of the pandemic. At one point, Collins’ brother, who lives in New Jersey, set her up with a man who sold school buses, and the bus that she bought would be the future home of Dia De Foods.
“My brother called me and told us to get a one-way ticket to Jersey and bring cash,” Collins explains.
She had her reservations, but she took a leap of faith and would drive the bus back to Knoxville, where Rossbach worked tirelessly to transform it into a food-worthy vessel. Now a regular fixture at Next Level Brewing Co., the truck, which represents a labor of love for the couple, also spends Sunday mornings and afternoons at Central Filling Station.
“Jesse works behind the scenes, and he does the cooking,” Collins says about her partner. “He’s quiet, but he works hard. You’ll look at the clock, and it will be 4 o’clock in the morning, and he’ll be preparing meat.”
For her part, Collins talks about how she takes pride in lending a personal touch to the operation. Dia De Foods utilizes a paging system to notify its guests – “You are not our customer, you are our guest,” Collins stresses – when their orders are ready. But she is happy to deliver and serve food as time permits, noting that she always makes an attempt to meet and greet each one of their guests.
“I make sure I bring the food to you whenever I can,” she says, adding a caveat. “Now, if we’re at Central Filling Station, and we’re getting slammed, getting our asses kicked, I’ll have you come and get your order, but I’ll make sure to tell you to enjoy it.”
The couple’s narrative is a love story, and together, Collins and Rossbach serve food that’s relatively new to the Knoxville market with that personal touch that makes all the difference. Dia De Foods will celebrate its one-year anniversary on June 11 at Next Level Brewing Company. A band will be on hand to commemorate the occasion. Drop by to say hi and indulge in some tasty grub.
