Elizabeth \u201cLizzie\u201d\u00a0Searing greets\u00a0Teangeley Centeno \u201928 (CLAS)\u00a0and\u00a0Juve Perez \u201928 (ENG)\u00a0as they walk up to the window of her stainless-steel food truck not by asking for their food order but by asking how their spring break in Puerto Rico went.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great! But we missed your food,\u201d Teangeley says.<\/p>\n
The couple has been going to Lizzie\u2019s Curbside every morning since their first visit their first year at UConn when they ordered The Mighty Mouth \u2014 a breakfast sandwich that layers bacon, ham, and sausage with egg and cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe discovered it freshman year, and we just started binge eating it, and then we just couldn\u2019t stop,\u201d Centeno says.<\/p>\n
She and Perez have gotten to know proprietors Lizzie and her husband, Joie, well. Someday they hope to have Lizzie cater their wedding.<\/p>\n
On this frosty day in mid-March following two massive snowstorms, the Searings have just returned to campus after their annual winter break in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Lizzie leans out the front window of her truck, taking orders in a black \u00adbutton-up chef\u2019s shirt embroidered with \u201cLizzie.\u201d Her hair in a messy ponytail, she moves around the truck quickly, talking to customers as she works. Her 6-year-old golden retriever, Melo, sits across the road on a grassy hill, luring customers for head scratches.<\/p>\n
After some three decades parked on Whitney Road, construction forced temporary relocation last year to Fairfield Way. From her new spot near Hawley \u00adArmory, Lizzie greets customers, many by name.<\/p>\n
\u201cUConn is my home. It\u2019s my family,\u201d she says. \u201cI know a lot of people, and I don\u2019t know what I would do if I wasn\u2019t here.\u201d<\/p>\n
This February marked 35 years of serving Husky Nation. Just 27 years old and a newlywed when she and Joie moved to the area, Lizzie began contemplating a suggestion from a former boss: Open a hot dog cart on the UConn campus \u2014 it will get a lot of business. That\u2019s how she found herself in Storrs on February 1, 1991, shivering and serving hot dogs on the sidewalk by Mirror Lake. \u201cI had my hot dog wagon, which had a steam table and a coffee urn, and that was it. I stood on the ground out in the elements, out in the cold,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
From that $100 day, her business grew. \u201cPeople found out about me by word of mouth. The menu was a lot more limited. I served coffee, soups, premade sandwiches, and had a cooler. … People would slowly come out of Monteith and Arjona and stop by, and they liked it,\u201d Lizzie says.<\/p>\n