Food Cart Project Part XXX: Refrigeration and Stainless.

Plumbing is still underway in the cart. I've been stalled due to having to sort out my water heater options. The one I'd ordered turned out to be a gas model, which I'm trying to avoid. Rick over at Curtis Trailers was very cool about this, as it's an item he can put into his floor stock and move fairly quickly. Figuring out which electric model to go with required I do a little snooping around to see what sort of electrical service is typical for food cart pods around town, and it turns out that 200 amp service is pretty much the norm, or at least not uncommon. This is good news, because on demand electric water heaters are power hogs, and this operation is already pretty electricity intensive, with the induction burners, deep fryers and rice cookers. 200 amps should be plenty of power, though. I ended up ordering an 11kW EcoSmart water heater, which should arrive this week, and I'll get back to the plumbing next weekend.

In the meantime, I've been working on other tasks, the first being refrigeration. I picked up this 7 cubic foot merchandising fridge last weekend from Smitty's Vending Services. And yes, it is actually run by a guy called Smitty. This is not a huge refrigerator by any means, but my Cambros fit in there pretty nicely, and I think it should serve my purposes pretty well as long as I'm judicious in packing it:

I bought some sheet stainless for the cooking wall, and installed it over the backer board this weekend. So, there are no longer any unfinished walls in the cart. That's kind of a milestone. You'll also notice that I swapped out the formica counters I'd built for a couple of stainless prep tables. I'm pretty sure the Multnomah County Environmental Health Department will prefer this set up:

Those tables have bottom shelves which will house the immersion circulator, an extra rice cooker and the ice cream maker. At some point, I might squeeze in a countertop convection oven down there as well, but here's how it stands at present:

I also had a conversation on the phone this weekend with a guy called Dale Barron, who does a lot of work installing stainless and exhaust hoods around town. I was referred to him by the guys over at the Oregon Deli Company on Mississippi Avenue, where he'd done a particularly impressive installation. He was much more encouraging than the last guy I talked to about hoods, and he's open to the idea of helping me install it. We'll be setting up a time next weekend to have him come take a look at the cart and devise a strategy. I'm looking forward to that, and I imagine he'll have a recommendation or two for electricians. Much forward movement; stay tuned!