Tyler-based Catch Me If You Can food truck expanding

Published 5:40 am Monday, August 8, 2022

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A Tyler-based food truck is expanding to what it says its customers have been asking for — a brick-and-mortar location.

Catch Me If You Can, owned by Amanda Longacre, will soon open a sit-down restaurant located at 18928 Highway 155 South in Flint.



Longacre posted on her Facebook page to announce the news to her loyal customers.

“The moment you’ve been waiting for,” the post reads. “… I’ve wanted this specific building for years. Today is the day we take over.”

Longacre said she and her family will continue to operate the food truck, which is based in Tyler but travels to communities throughout East Texas.

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“That’s my baby. That’s how it all started. I could never get rid of Big Green! She’s a staple in the community,” Longacre said on a Q&A Facebook post.

Catch Me If You Can’s menu includes boiled, fried and grilled fish, chicken, shrimp, crawfish and sometimes crab. Po’ Boys and sometimes tacos are served as well, with crawfish grilled cheese and other items helping to round out the menu.

The new location is in what was formerly On The Docks restaurant. Longacre is hoping to have the restaurant up and running within “a month or two at the most,” she said on the business’ Facebook page. They have to order equipment, paint, and rearrange the kitchen to meet their needs.

In a previous interview with ETX View Magazine, Longacre talked about her dream to open a sit-down restaurant. “It will be more family oriented, just a place like I was inviting you to my house,” she said.

There will be live music with some “big names in the works,” along with karaoke at the new restaurant. Longacre also said many events are planned.

“This has been a TOUGH journey, but we made it,” the Facebook post reads. “3.5 years ago I started with two tents and one crawfish pot.”

RELATED: ETX View article on Catch Me If You Can: “Necessity might have been behind Amanda Longacre’s move to the food truck industry three years ago, but it’s a move that’s allowed her to follow her passion for cooking. She was a single mother at the time and had been laid off from her job as general manager at a restaurant, before the pandemic began. That’s when she told her fiancé about her longtime dream to own a restaurant, but thought she could start with a food truck.”

Longacre credits her supporters and customers for helping her take this step.

“Because of YOU! Your love. Your support. You have all carried me through some of the toughest times of my life,” the Facebook post reads. “Y’all are my family. I love each of you. I PRAY you all come and show support … YOU are a staple in our business.”

Longacre is asking customers for any photos they may have taken with the Catch Me If You Can trailer because she wants to print and hang pictures throughout the new restaurant. Photos can be sent to the Catch Me If You Can Facebook page or emailed to catchmeifyoucantyler@gmail.com. Follow the business Facebook page for more updates.