Ngon on wheels

The latest chef to roll out a food truck is Hai Truong, chef/co-owner of Ngon Vietnamese Bistro (799 W. University Av., St. Paul, www.ngonbistro.com).

"I talked my wife into it," he said with a laugh. "She wouldn't let me open another restaurant."

Truong's vehicle is going to be an attention-getter: He has been restoring a 1967 Volkswagen bus -- in the garage of his St. Paul home -- and its pop-up roof will allow him to stand inside and cook in a tiny workspace (check it out at www.motorhugger.com).

Rather than stick with a set menu, Truong is going to play it by ear.

"I'll have a grill, a sauté station and a warming table, so I'll have a chance to mess around," he said. For example: Pork lettuce wraps, pho served ramin-cup style, a caramelized pork-pickled greens sandwich.

"And sausages, definitely, because I like making them," he said. "I want to throw some Vietnamese street food into the mix, and make some of the Vietnamese stuff that I make at home, just make it portable."

No set schedule yet, but one of the reasons that Truong is getting into the mobile food business is to offset any possible business disruption due to the Central Corridor light-rail construction that's tearing up University Avenue.

"It's a way for me to keep the restaurant in the public eye," he said.

Root beer float season "It was my winter project," said Barb Zapzalka, owner of Pumphouse Creamery (4754 Chicago Av. S., Mpls., www.pumphouse-creamery.com), referring to the house-made sodas she's now serving at her eight-year-old ice cream shop. Along with an ever-changing seasonal flavor -- look for rhubarb and then strawberry in the not-so-distant future -- Zapzalka also produces a not-too-sweet root beer, tailor-made for a scoop of her ultra-rich vanilla ice cream.

"We sell a lot of root beer during the summer, so I decided that I really wanted to make it for myself," she said.

Glad to hear it. A 16-oz. float costs $4.75, and Zapzalka also sells her sodas in 12-oz. ($1.50) and 16-oz. ($2) sizes.

Cities' best biscuits The breakfast of the moment is, without a doubt, the awesome pork sausage biscuits and gravy at Sun Street Breads (4600 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., www.sunstreetbreads.com).Baker Solveig Tofte, formerly of the Turtle Bread Co., kicked open the doors of her sunny bakery/cafe last week, which grew out of the popular stand she launched in 2009 just up the street at the Kingfield Farmers Market.

Along with breads, made-to-order sandwiches and a handful of sweets (including the Twin Cities' tastiest fruit turnovers), the stars of the show are definitely the tender, golden biscuits, served with eggs, cheese, bacon or ham, or split in half and drowned in that peppery pork gravy. For vegetarians, there's an equally hearty mushroom version. But for the truly heart-unhealthy, order what Tofte has dubbed the "Southern Fried Biscuit," with juicy fried chicken, strips of smoky, thick-cut bacon and more of that pork gravy.

Who would have thought that a former strip-mall video store could look so good? The handsome Douglas fir planks that form the bakery's counters and ceiling were refashioned by Orton Tofte, Tofte's carpenter father, from bleachers retrieved from the University of Minnesota's demolished Memorial Stadium.

RICK NELSON