Food Cart of the Year: Americana

If you’ve had a burger from the Americana truck, then you know how it goes: Eat an $8 OG Burger for lunch, feel incredibly satisfied by the mix of crispy-yet-not-too-dry beef and melted cheese, plus all the fixins, and by dinner, you’re wondering if it’s appropriate to have a two-burger day. OK, well, technically, you’ve already had a two-burger day with Americana, because each order comes with two patties, smashed into the grill and cooked all the way through from one side, but hey, if it sounds better to tell yourself that “two orders” is a “two burger day,” we wouldn’t blame you.


The technique of letting the burger sit on the flattop on only one side keeps the patties juicier, and may be part of Americana’s “secret sauce,” says Joseph Franco, who owns Americana with his wife Olivia. The couple gets a lot of help from teammate Tommy Fraioli, who helps keep this massively popular cart at The Podski in Bend humming.

Franco started Americana when he moved to Bend in 2020, using seed money from his late father’s life insurance policy. After short stints in Redmond and at Bridge 99 Brewing, Americana began to charm the eaters of Bend in a big way when it was set up at Spider City Brewing. It was there that Franco was approached by the owner of The Podski.


“What he said was, I’ve heard this is the best burger in town, and I want to have the best burger in town at my place.” By November 2022, Americana was set up at The Podski in a big orange rig – later replaced by a big green one.

Relying mostly on word of mouth — and some notable nods from the public, including winning second as Best Food Cart by the readers of the Source Weekly in our Best of Central Oregon readers’ poll last year — Americana has grown steadily into one of those places that, as described above, you might find yourself bargaining inside your head to go get a second time in a single day. And since they’re priced affordably, it’s an even easier bargain.


“It doesn’t matter your socioeconomic status or where you come from or anything like that – you should be able to have good food and something that you can afford,” Franco told the Source Weelky. “Here, somebody can come in, get a burger and a beer for less than $15 and call it a meal.”

Fans of Americana will be happy to know that they’ll soon be able to enjoy its burgers, fries and grilled cheeses in downtown Bend; on the day of our interview, Franco told us he’d just signed a lease to open a brick-and-mortar in the former Seven Nightclub location on Bond Street – with more details yet to come.