Wood Fired Pizza food truck moves to N.O. – “It broke my heart not to find a Baton Rouge location…”

Just two months after an alleged drunk driver struck Chef Bogdan Mocanu’s Wood Fired Pizza Truck, the chef has decided to move his once-popular mobile eatery into a New Orleans brick and mortar location.

Mocanu says that Dolce Vita Wood Fired Pizza will be his new home. Mocanu’s new venture will replace the former Cairo Café (Map it!) on St. Charles Avenue. Mocanu signed the lease for Dolce Vita yesterday and says Dolce Vite will not be open for at least another six weeks.

“It’s a big work in progress,” Mocanu says, mentioning he is now having a one-of-a-kind wood fire grill made for him and that the interior will feature specially-made tables to provide an Italian atmosphere.

Baton Rougeans will be bitter as this is the second food truck that has moved to New Orleans. Curbside, a popular burger truck, moved to the Crescent City in the spring but is still looking for options to update its Red Stick business.

Mocanu says he didn’t want to betray any customers but business comes first.

“I looked at 10 [Baton Rouge] locations,” he says. “I was in the midst of negotiations. I made all the calls. But let me tell you, my rent is cheaper on St. Charles Avenue than on the end of Dalrymple Drive. It was taking me months to negotiate in Baton Rouge.”

When Mocanu had settled on some choices for a Baton Rouge location, he found that corporate restaurants didn’t want him next door, he says.

“I found out all these absurd things,” he says. “It broke my heart not to find a Baton Rouge location, but I couldn’t go broke before I opened the doors.”