11th Street Station is like a casino. You could stay there all day and night, and never have to leave. There’s booze, coffee, and food. What more do you need?
The property on the corner of 11th Street and Main Avenue is home to a bar, a coffee shop and five food trucks. Each establishment are individually owned and lease space from Ernie’s bar.
The novel business idea provides lots of outdoor sitting and standing space to enjoy lunch or a late night drink. Furthermore, the business gives an answer to tight city restrictions on food trucks, as well as brings big city culture to Durango.
The city of Durango has tough regulations for food trucks. Food trucks are not allowed to park on public streets or parks. They must find a private lot to park and apply for a six month permit from the city. After six months is up, they must vacate the lot for another six months.
At 11th Street Station, the food trucks can remain in the lot as long as they have a lease with the business. I recently visited 11th Street Station for lunch and tried two of the food trucks.
I ordered the holiday special from Backcountry Gourmet, who serves slider style sandwiches. This one had turkey breast, cranberry sauce, brie cheese, caramelized onions, arugula and an apple slice. It was five dollars.
I enjoyed this twist on Thanksgiving dinner. It was tasty, but I’m not too sure if this sandwich had too many ingredients. I love all the individual ingredients, however it might take a larger sandwich to fully enjoy the combined flavors.
Overall, the price was decent and the food tasted good. The slider was a reasonable size, but if you want a more complete meal you should order two.
I also ordered a smoked chicken taco from the barbecue truck Smoking On Wheels. You could also choose pulled pork, and the taco comes with a topping of lime, cilantro and jalapeno cole slaw, and queso fresco cheese.
This taco was fantastic. The chicken had the right texture and flavor to make me want to inhale the taco in one bite. I put the house barbecue sauce on the taco, which only increased the taco experience. The sauce was more on the tangy side, but it was not too tangy nor too sweet.
My only complaint is the price. A taco is four dollars plus tax, so more on the pricey side as far as tacos go. A taco at Zia Taqueria, for instance, is right around three dollars.
The modern food truck movement is largely attributed to the Kogi BBQ truck, which opened in Los Angeles in 2008. Food trucks are now a place to eat gourmet food, rather than greasy pizza and hot dogs found in generations past.
11th Street Station brings a feel of the big city to small town Colorado. In other words, it feels like a place where hipsters ride to on their bike to take an instagram picture. They even have those lights that hang on a string and make you feel like you're in a scene from an indie film.
I see myself coming back often for food and drinks.