The Don Fausto’s food truck will transform into a permanent restaurant at Politan Row’s Colony Square starting next Monday, March 4.
Diners can expect food truck favorites, like Cuban sandwiches, plantains, and papas rellenas (fried potato balls stuffed with ground beef and pork) as well as newer items including a Cuban frita smash burger, empanadas, and ropa vieja.
Joel Diaz, who runs Don Fausto’s with his son, Noah Diaz, developed the idea for the food truck during the pandemic. It’s named for his grandfather who, in addition to being a doctor, community leader, seminary professor, missionary, and pastor, loved eating. “I loved cooking for him,” Diaz says.
Diaz learned how to cook from his Cuban mother, aunt, and grandmother, and worked in hospitality and restaurants in Chattanooga, Tenn. before serving as an ordained minister who predominantly worked with middle and high school students.
After President Barack Obama re-established the U.S.’s relationship with Cuba, Diaz had the opportunity to travel to Cuba and meet family he’d only known online or through phone calls.
“It was a life-changing experience,” he says. “It’s like going somewhere you’ve never been but feeling like you belong from the get-go.” Diaz still travels to Cuba twice a year to bring his family items, mostly medicine, toiletries, food, and supplements.
In 2020, while stuck at home, Diaz felt an itch to get back into the service industry. He contacted a friend to orchestrate the branding, and decided to start with a food truck. “I didn’t have any pedigree or proof that I could make it in a food hall or anything else, so I just went that route and we started operating about 18 months ago,” he says.
Initially, Don Fausto’s set up on Edgewood Avenue across the street from
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