You should write a book.
Those were the final words shared with longtime Bellevue restaurant, food truck, and now café owners Jackie and Moisés Salgado. While Moisés was prepping for the lunch rush, Jackie took ‘5 minutes’ to discuss the couple’s latest business venture – a new café on Galvin Road in the former location of American Heroes. For each question asked, Salgado shared stories that led to other stories (and tangents) about their unique and interesting history, from how they met to how they got into the food industry to why they chose Bellevue as their home.
But those will be stories for another day, as the main focus now is getting everything up, running, and working right for opening day at the café.
The Salgados have owned and operated For the Love of Food Truck for the past ten years, and they’ve always done things their way – keeping it simple. They bucked several food truck trends by setting up in a single location (the O’Reilly’s parking lot), having set days and hours of operation, and never traveling to weekend events like local weddings, festivals, and private parties.
Doing things their own way worked as the food truck became an increasingly popular early morning and lunch destination – especially for those at Offutt Air Force Base. So a brief bit of a panic set in in early February when the Salgado’s announced that the food truck would be closed (sold to family friends who now operate it as a BBQ truck). However, the full message said that they would be transitioning from their food truck to a new business down the road, keeping most of the original name – For the Love of Food Café.
While the food truck business was successful for the couple, there were things about it they didn’t like. The top of that list was the cold Nebraska winters and the generally unpredictable Nebraska weather. Those freezing winters led Jackie and Moisés to start looking for alternatives to the truck, and when this opportunity presented itself, they took it.
When you stop in to eat, one thing diners should be aware of is that the Salgados proudly operate a “Cash Only” business – one of the only ones in Bellevue. No checks or credit cards are accepted. Come prepared, but there is also an ATM available in the parking lot if you arrive with no cash.
“We like to keep things simple and just focus on the food. No DoorDash, no Uber Eats, no fancy website, or even accepting credit cards. We don’t do it.”
– Jackie and Moisés Salgado
Longtime customers will be glad to know that they are still serving their breakfast burritos and biscuits & gravy. Each breakfast burrito is made with rice pilaf, brothy beans, scrambled eggs, totopo crunch, salsa, and cheese. Meat choices to be added to the burritos include Chipotle Chicken, Yucatan Shredded Pork, Birria Beef Brisket, thinly sliced ham, or sausage – or it can be served vegetarian.
For lunch they offer a Southwestern Cobb Salad (pictured above), Buffalo Chicken Burrito, Nayarit Mountain Pork Roast Burrito, and their Signature Pozole Chix Burrito. They are also known for offering a variety of special burritos on their lunch menu.
For the Love of Food Café is located at 1103 Galvin Road S, Suite L. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 6am to 1:30pm (though they close from 10am-11am each of those days to set up for lunch). They are also open Saturdays from 7am-1pm. The Café is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Orders can also be placed in advance by calling (402) 401-4477. They also have a Facebook page that is updated daily and can be found here.
