Sue Sitter/PCT Chantel Luna (left) and son, Cy, at Luna’s Food Wagon, where they serve Tex-Mex specialties.

Rugby residents had a taste of Tex-Mex cuisine last Thursday when Luna’s Food Wagon stopped in the parking lot behind Main Street Boutique.

A steady stream of customers waited in the cool breeze for tacos and sandwiches featuring grilled meats and fresh produce.

“I’m originally from Texas. What you see here is everything we cook in Texas,” owner Ernest Luna said of his menu, which featured items from brisket tacos to pork carnitas and chicken fajitas.

“We try to bring out food that nobody else carries,” Luna added.

Luna now calls Towner home. His wife, Chantel, a teacher in the TGU School District, was on hand to help serve customers who stayed six feet apart from each other. Luna’s son Cy, who usually plays for the Rugby Panther baseball team as a co-op player, stayed busy taking orders at the truck’s window.

“We started (the business) last year,” Luna said. “I just bought the truck last year.”

Luna said the food truck has become very popular. “We’ve been doing great,” he noted. “People love us. They follow us.”

“It gets packed all the time,” he said, adding, “People respect (each other’s space) at the window. We got lucky with our menu. Everything’s made fresh.”

Luna said the food wagon has traveled throughout the state, followed by people hungry for items such as prime rib sandwiches, steak fajitas and other specialties. “We’ll be in Jamestown in two weeks,” Luna noted.

Luna said the food wagon has such a following he needs a second truck.

“They’re following us everywhere and our calendar’s getting booked,” he said of the truck’s customers. “It’s getting bigger and bigger all the time. I wish we had two trucks now.”

Luna said the COVID-19 pandemic “hasn’t really affected us.” The truck is an outdoor business serving only takeout food. Luna said customers maintain social distancing “on their own.”

“It is tough to get some of the products for our truck because the companies are shut down,” Luna noted. “If we don’t get something one week, we’ll get it another week. It’s been a struggle, but we’ve finally gotten everything back in.”

Luna estimated Luna’s Food Wagon would return to Rugby “in another three weeks or so.”