Good Truckin’s other side now its own shop

When asked how long The Other Side, a new cafe adjacent to Good Truckin’ Diner, was in the works, co-owner Nora Gorman laughed.

“Honestly, we thought of it like two weeks ago,” she said. “It came together pretty quickly.”

Good Truckin’, once a REO Town staple, relocated to Old Town’s Creole Building in March. The move came in response to hourslong wait times at the REO Town location, with only 26 seats. But the new location had the opposite problem.

Gorman and co-owner Nick Sinicropi set up the building’s right half, which has its own door, as a “cafe and co-working space” that operated as overflow seating on weekends. But people didn’t understand that the other side was distinct from the sit-down diner next door, and it was mostly unused.

“We just weren’t bringing in the amount of people we wanted to during the week, and it was essentially a non-utilized space,” Gorman said.

On Oct. 27, the other side became The Other Side, a cafe offering pre-made sandwiches, lattes and pastries. Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, The Other Side can be a quick lunch spot, a morning pick-me-up or a co-working space. On weekends, it becomes overflow seating for Good Truckin’.

The menu includes house-made pastries, MOO-ville ice cream and a full latte menu, all of which were available before the rebrand. But five pre-prepared sandwich recipes, which can be served cold or hot from a panini press, are new. They have been a hit, Gorman said, which is a good sign because they were all taken from the menu of the yet-to-open Lunch Room, which will replace Good Truckin’s former REO Town location.

“We pulled sandwiches from that menu, so it also gives us a chance to try out those menu items before the location opens,” Gorman said.

She declined to say when The Lunch Room could open, but it’s in progress. Its sandwich menu will be “much larger” than The Other Side’s, she said.

There is one vegan option among the sandwiches, plus the pastries, lattes and ice cream all feature vegan options, Gorman said.

Good Truckin’s expansion into Old Town already added an espresso bar, so that part is nothing new. Gorman said lattes have been a major hit at the new location, with some customers ordering them to elevate their brunch experience and others coming in just for the lattes. One employee, a barista already on Good Truckin’s payroll, runs The Other Side.

The sandwiches may be helping to convert the spot into a convenient lunch-break stop, but Gorman thinks the rebrand has also helped customers understand what’s going on with the space. She said “just putting a new name on the door” brought some customers in immediately.

“We had always advertised it as a cafe and co-working space,” she said, “but because we didn’t have a different business name on the door, I think people were confused.”