One of San Antonio’s most well-known chefs is steering his career in a fresh direction with a new West Side food truck, Wok Wey. The just-opened trailer at 9410 Potranco Rd. is an homage to Jaime Gonzalez’s heritage, serving a menu of traditionally wok-cooked Cantonese cuisine.
The UNESCO chef ambassador is mostly known for his work at luxury hotel properties like Hotel Emma and Mokara Hotel & Spa, but he felt the time was right to move into fast-casual dining. According to a release, Gonzalez wanted to enjoy cooking again and directly interacting with customers.
After serving South Texas-inspired fare as the opening executive chef of Carriqui, Gonzalez also wanted to explore the other side of his heritage.
Chef Jaime Gonzalez.Courtesy photo
"My mother is Cantonese, and my father is Hispanic, so I grew up in a household with both influences,” he said in a news release. “I'm heavily driven towards Asian cooking because my great grandfather would take care of us…so I learned early on how to cook Asian food. It's close to my heart."
The menu, served in nostalgic Chinese takeout boxes, riffs on time-honored dishes with seasonal, locally sourced produce. Char siu pork and a crispy fried chicken bowls are served with stir-fried vegetables, spring rolls are stuffed with charred cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts, and blistered green beans are tossed with pickled mustard greens.
"To me, it's a very homey style of cooking,” Gonzalez said. “There's a lot of stir-fried veggies in Asian cooking, and we'll be rotating the stir-fry for all the dishes — continuously evolving to accommodate the seasons.”
Wok Wey is currently parked outside a Chevron station at 9410 Potranco Rd. near SeaWorld, but the truck can travel for events and private catering. Gonzalez plans to add more trailers to the fleet and is drafting plans for a brick-and-mortar location in the upcoming years.
For now, the food truck is open 4-11 pm, Wednesday through Sunday. Gonzalez plans to extend the hours to lunch service in the upcoming weeks.
A Memorial Day weekend benefit at Gimme Gimme will help owner Aaron Peña with medical bills.Photo courtesy of Fajita Lounge.