Fill Up on Fabulous Food Trucks in Southwest Louisiana

Nathan Lambrecht

The food truck trend is accelerating in Southwest Louisiana, with a vibrant mobile food and beverage scene that offers everything from down home Cajun and Creole cooking and authentic Mexican dishes to craft cocktails and hand-crafted Asian favorites. 

Lake Charles even hosts an event called Food Trucks Invade!, gathering all the regional mobile food options together in one place. With a wealth of locally based favorites, there’s no shortage of mouthwatering choices rolling through the region. Here’s a look at some of the great food trucks in Lake Charles and the region.

JJ’S Jammin’ Food Truck 

Food has always been at the center of Jobe Guillory’s life. His family owned a corner store and restaurant (his cousins are behind beloved local barbecue joint Famous Foods). After high school, he worked for chains like Ruby Tuesday and Copeland’s and later as a cook at McNeese State University. 

Cooking may be in his DNA, but he always wanted to work for himself. He started selling plate lunches to his wife’s work colleagues with the idea of opening his own food truck. 

“I thought it would take me a year to save up for the truck,” he says. “My plate lunches sold out and were so successful I bought my food truck in three months.” 

Today, Guillory takes his mobile kitchen – dishing out Southern soul food, Cajun and Creole specialties – across the state. Among the most beloved menu items are chicken and sausage jambalaya, red beans with sausage over rice, and a fried catfish filet sandwich. 

Dos Bros Tacos 

Natives of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, Sandra Rodriguez and her husband, Oscar, moved to the area for jobs in the oil industry but created a family business inspired by their two sons. Opened in July of 2023, Dos Bros Tacos is a permanent fixture on East Napoleon Street in Sulphur. They specialize in authentic Mexican favorites from their home state. 

“When we came here, there were no Mexican restaurants that had the authentic flavors of South Texas,” Sandra says. “The flavors of our food are different, and people here love our food, especially birria, which is probably our most popular dish.” (Birria is a traditional Mexican dish made from slow-cooked, fall-apart tender beef in a red chile broth, or consommé.) 

Also on the menu: taquitos topped with onion, cilantro, lettuce, salsa and sour cream, accompanied by charro beans. Their taco fillings include barbacoa, tongue, steak, al pastor and chicken tinga, and they sell a range of torta-style sandwiches plus the traditional stuffed corn pancakes called gorditas. 

Chère Petite Mobile Bar Co. 

When Brittni and Rusty Metoyer were planning their wedding in 2020, they knew they wanted to have a mobile bar at their reception but couldn’t find one. 

“The closest mobile bar was hours away in Houston and wouldn’t come all the way to Lake Charles,” Brittni says. “It was a new concept at the time, and we thought, ‘Why not just start our own?’” 

Brittni already had experience bartending, so the couple scoured Facebook Marketplace until they found a horse trailer they could convert to serve booze on wheels. They finally found one in Central Texas, dubbed her Audrey Lee (after Brittni’s grandmother), and had the trailer retrofitted as a bar. 

Chère Petite provides bartenders and custom packages that allow clients to choose everything they want at their events, from an open bar to monogrammed napkins – they’ll even create a signature drink. 

Hi-Licious Street Kitchen 

Haili Li moved to the U.S. from Jinan, a city in China’s Shandong province, and lived in Missouri, New York and Texas before settling in Lake Charles. Of all the things Li was homesick for, it was the flavors of her mom’s kitchen – authentic Chinese cooking, not the American-style Chinese food served in restaurants. 

Eight years ago, Li opened Hi-Licious, serving fresh, made-to-order Asian cuisine. 

“In China, we eat a lot of street food, and that inspired my food truck. I cooked for my neighbors, and they loved it. People in Lake Charles support me like they are my family,” she says. “I serve fresh, healthy dishes from China, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea.” 

Li’s menu changes according to what ingredients are available, and she was the first to bring trendy dishes like boba tea and Korean cheese dogs to the area. Among the most popular items on the menu are her award-winning crab rangoon, pad thai, green beans with meat sauce and broccoli beef.