Last Friday, February 17, employees of Hibachi Queens Food Truck in Long Beach experienced what they describe as an aggressive encounter with a man who is associated with The Auld Dubliner, an Irish pub whose owners claim was "built in Ireland and then shipped to Long Beach" before opening on Pine Street in 2004.
The incident occurred around 1 P.M., a few hours after the food truck was parked in front of the pub. A video captured by Hibachi Queens’ surveillance camera shows the man passing by the food truck and moving their A-frame style menu sign to the side. Soon after, the chef of the truck is seen trying to wave the man down to ask why he moved the menu. The man then returns and kicks the menu down, resulting in the menu breaking. The video has no audio.
Lupe Godinez, the owner of Hibachi Queens Food Truck, who was not present during the altercation, tells L.A. TACO that they are no strangers to these types of encounters from brick-and-mortar businesses. Still, she was confused by the man’s anger toward them.
She considered it possibly due to the man seeing her business as competition since it was parked in front of The Dubliner. However, her food truck does not sell beer like the pub. The food they offer is Japanese American-style grilled meats with steamed rice and vegetables, compared to Dubliner's menu consisting of traditional pub fare such as fried potatoes, burgers, and shepherd's pie.
“We’ve never parked here before," Godinez said over the phone the next day. "There was a festival this weekend being held at our original parking location on Shoreline Drive, in front of The Pike. We were told by the event coordinators to find different parking for the weekend because [the] area where we park would be blocked. This was just going to be for the weekend.”