You may have recently grubbed down at one of the food trucks parked at the short-lived Nuevo Atrisco Food Park located near Unser Blvd. and Central Ave. The park opened in December of 2024, but by July, it had already shut down. The project created a big buzz in the “foodie” community, and social media posts on pages such as Albuquerque Foodies had a lot to say about the infamous locale. Unfortunately, a lot of that buzz was negative, with many community members expressing concerns that the project displaced businesses who had operated in the space prior to the establishment of the official Nuevo Atrisco park. Later this month, two local entrepreneurs with a great working knowledge of the local food truck industry and a major love for fun and exciting new dining options, are re-vamping the park at the same location. And they are heavily focused on keeping it real with the South Valley locals, especially the vendors who have fed hungry, hardworking folks in the area for the past decade. Miguel Rodriguez and Dipo Alam are hosting a soft opening of the new Nuevo Atrisco Food Park: DiverCity on Friday, Nov. 21. If the name doesn’t make sense at first when you read it on the page, try saying “DiverCity” out loud and you’ll probably catch the pun. The new project’s title couldn’t be more fitting, because the guys in charge of the food park are heavily focused on community building and, of course, diverse food options.
Miguel Rodríguez works for Mariposa Marketing, a company that collaborated with Revel Entertainment Center in its early days. This past summer, the company hosted Pistons for Patriots – one of the biggest car shows in the state. Mariposa does local marketing for food businesses such as New Mexico Pinon Coffee, Weck’s and the Paleta Bar. They’ve also done industrial marketing for the Duke City Ready Mix concrete company for the past seven years, and that includes the launch of Sir Mix a Lot, Albuquerque’s favorite cement truck-shaped hot air balloon. He says one of the reasons the former Nuevo Atrisco Food Park might have failed was due to the displacement of “legacy” food trucks.
“When I say legacy food trucks, I mean the people that are truly committed to investing in their restaurant. These folks have been around for over a decade. These folks have their families learning their trade, learning their craft, and simultaneously making a living for themselves,” he says. “There were probably 20 to 30 legacy name food trucks that were not able to park and serve their food on a nightly basis in that area anymore. The big disconnect came when people followed their favorite food trucks and they did not stick around for the Nuevo Atrisco concept.”
The new operators have some big changes planned for the new community hub. For starters, Rodriguez says DiverCity will be giving priority to the food trucks that were already doing business there. While there will be permanent food trucks installed on-site, he says the goal is to invite small business owners who either have a brick-and-mortar store or are looking to expand their footprints to the west side of town. The long-term goal is to create an event space where locals can host family events such as weddings and cultural dances — things that the new park operators say the community really craves on that side of town. Rodriguez says they want to set vendors up to be successful and do their best from the place that they originally made home.
Rodriguez has nothing but kind words to say about the folks who previously ran Nuevo Artisco Food Park. He says the project was really well thought-out from a development perspective. Everybody wanted to be a part of the project, especially because of the prime location. The amount of traffic through the area is massive, and these days when Rodriguez looks west from DiverCity, he hardly sees any commercial development. It’s nothing but houses.
“Everyone’s heart was in the right place. I believe that, over time, people figured out how beautiful the venue was, but how inconsistent the foot traffic was. And so the model that they used to serve the guests was not working,” he says. “I think with any community that is historically underserved, there should be leaders in that community that are very much like them, that understand what it is to have to have to work every day to provide for your family and to do it in a proud way. I believe that Dipo and I grew up in similar ways. He’s obviously been in restaurants his whole life, and my parents were teachers, so I was able to see hard work from a very young age. And that’s not to say that anyone over at the city or the development group did not grow up that way. I just think that the people with their hands on the pulse of the community should be able to lead a space like that.”
Rodriguez says he’s learned what people respond to. Not just in terms of flashy social media videos, but with the price points and engaging content people are looking for. And the “cherry on top” of the DiverCity project is his partner Dipo Alam’s extensive knowledge of the customer service industry. That, and his immense love for food.
Dipo Alam, operator of DiverCity says he’s had a vision of a multicultural gathering space for a long time, and DiverCity is his chance to bring that vision to life. He is one of the founders of The Paleta Bar ice cream shop and is involved with operating restaurants such as Potato Corner and Spring Rollin.
“Diversity is one of our strengths here in New Mexico in general. With my background being Indonesian, I’m a Chinese descendant, and I’m actually really close with Hispanic culture,” Alam says. “It’s a food desert here, and we can actually create value together in the South Valley. I have a really close heart in terms of supporting the community. And with this project coming along, I just want to rewrite the story.”
Alam came to the United States when he was 17 years old. But before that, he traveled the world as a professional soccer player for the Indonesian National Team. He was picked up by Chivas USA, and that’s where he says he started becoming immersed in Hispanic culture. He lived in Los Angeles for close to eight years.
“In Los Angeles, Asian culture and Hispanic culture are really close to each other. God brought me here to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I just love it, man. The culture is actually really close in terms of Indonesian and Mexican food. I’m excited to get the opportunity to bring all of this together, especially to the South Valley,” Alam says.
He doesn’t foresee competition among vendors being a source of conflict at DiverCity. In fact, he envisions quite the opposite: a space that thrives on collaboration. Alam says there are eight permanent trucks that will call the new park home, and there might be as many as 30 when things are in full swing. So far, businesses slated to serve food at DiverCity include Potato Corner, Pho & Noods ABQ, Phat Stax, Kukiri/Tikka Spice, Slice of Heaven, Mobiyaki, Sipps, Taco el Junior and Cafe Monita. Alam says he eventually plans to add a playground where kids can play safely in the area and, hopefully, a new soccer field. To ice the cake a bit, so to speak, he’s giving his new friends an incentive to join him in his vision.
“We’re going to let them park in the dirt area, we’re going to support them, but also make healthy boundaries in terms of the concept, because we don’t want competition and I want to make sure that they’re being successful. [During] those two weeks trucks are being approved, I’m looking at their menu, I’m looking at their ideas. I want to work together in this place. So, we’re actually going to give two weeks for free. There’s no rent. Everybody can park. How can you charge someone when they don’t even have business? And then when those trucks actually see the value that we can offer, now let’s talk about business,” Alam says.
Michael Ordoñez owns and runs Algo Dulce, a food truck specializing in concha ice cream sandwiches. He’s one of the vendors who will be dishing out desserts during DiverCity’s soft opening event. Concha is a Mexican sweet bread that Ordoñez says is really famous in Mexico. Algo Dulce offers 10 signature sandwiches, and the most popular treat has been featured on Tiktok and other social media sites. It’s called the Pica Piedras, which is “The Flintstone” in English, and it’s loaded with Fruity Pebbles and strawberries served over vanilla ice cream and topped with strawberry syrup. Algo Dulce has been in business since April, so they’re fairly new, but Ordoñez says they’ve been growing tremendously.
“We’ve created a lot of relationships with other food truck owners since we started, which is really awesome. The food truck community was really welcoming when we first opened, and we’ve met a lot of awesome owners. They’ve helped us get into events, and we’ve helped them, and we just love supporting each other,” Ordoñez says. “I think food parks are really good for vendors. Our old location on Central was right down the street from Nuevo Atrisco. There’s a lot of traffic, so you have a lot of people that stop by and they check out each and every food truck. And the good thing about our food truck is we’re the one that you go to for dessert. You check out one of our neighbors, and when you’re done eating there, you’re like, ‘You know what? I’m craving something sweet.’”
He says he’s aware of the poor reputation the previous park had with the food truck community and the South Valley area in general. He actually hoped to operate out of the Nuevo Atrisco park until its abrupt closure put a damper on his game plan. He’s hopeful this is his second shot at an alcohol-free, family-friendly place to sell sweet treats is his new ticket to success.
“We were waiting to hear back from [the previous operators] so that we could get a spot there. I’m not sure if they scrapped the idea or whatever, but then they decided to put some of their own food trucks there. So, a lot of people on social media were complaining or, you know, expressing their opinions about Nuevo Atrisco, and I was one of them that was upset,” he says. “I think this is just going to be a really good comeback story. You know, they’re going to build it back better. And I can already see it happening. I’m excited to be a part of it. Dipo and Miguel have our support, and we’re going to help them with whatever we can to do something amazing for the community.”
It seems that the consensus between everyone involved is to take a community-first approach to the new food park endeavor. They want to give the spot back to hardworking, and very hungry, New Mexicans.
“We believe that the simple act of allowing all of these legacy food trucks to come back and set up shop again and give the space back to them, is going to be quite the statement and is going to allow the general public to see that and be comfortable at our space,” Rodriguez says. “And it’s a harmony that, in that area of town, is unstoppable. There’s not a lot of chain restaurants out there, and it’s because that part of town cares so deeply about the small business owner, because the small business owner is all of them. This is the story of many people on that side of town, so that’s why I think we’ll be good for the job.”