June 10, 2021

An Iowa food truck that focuses on healthy wok-style cooking will appear in Sioux Falls several times this summer.

The Leaf Grill & Wokery will be at Levitt at the Falls for Friday’s opener and is scheduled for six other concerts there.

“We’ve been in the food industry for over 30 years,” said Terri Johnk, who farms with her husband, Fritz, near Hornick, Iowa, which is southeast of Sioux City. “Our family decided to create a truck like the way we eat on the farm. We tend to eat fresh foods. We wanted to put food out at festivals and events that would give people fresh choices.”

The menu features stir-fry entrees, and “everything is chopped fresh and cooked to order,” Johnk said.

“We start with fresh soba noodles,” she said. “The veggies are local, and they’re organic if possible. We actually grow some of the produce that we cook in the truck. We toss it with a house-made fresh sauce that has ginger and other ingredients.”

The menu changes from week to week, but typically, there are three choices for the entree: vegetarian, Thai chicken basil and Korean bulgogi steak or peppered steak. Occasionally, The Leaf offers a dish with blackened salmon. Sometimes, customers have the option of choosing Jasmine rice with a Japanese yum yum sauce instead of the noodles.

The meat is grilled, and the noodles and veggies are prepared in woks.

For beverages, the truck serves gourmet lemonade in flavors such as mojita mint, basil and peach.

In the eight years the Johnks have operated the truck, they have traveled to 17 states, “sometimes ending up in the South in the winter with the truck,” she said.

Johnk is starting a farm-to-market business for their produce, so that’s also keeping her busy, but she’s hoping to be in Sioux Falls more frequently.

“We would like to look for regular locations that would be open for something more on a schedule, places that are looking for good healthy food choices,” she said.

The Leaf’s Levitt dates

• July 2 and 16
• Aug. 6, 20 and 27
• Sept. 3

Love food trucks? Here’s your complete guide to the 2021 season