With a pizza truck in place, Marina is one step closer to organizing a food truck alley.

Surrounded by parking lots, with the Marina Municipal Airport as its background, Double 0 Dough stands out. It’s a food truck that specializes in Neapolitan-style pizza. More significantly, it is the first in what is planned as a food truck alley – the first in Monterey County.

The concept of creating a food truck alley at the airport took shape a couple months ago and one of the goals – besides parking a variety of cuisines – is more visibility for the Marina airport.

“We were trying to just figure out a way to bring more of the community members out to the airport and get them involved in aviation,” says AJ Lawson, airport manager, noting that workers and business owners at the airport were on board with the idea.

Those businesses include a manufacturing facility of the electric air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation and Skydive Monterey Bay, the area’s only skydiving company.

Lawson says Double 0’s owner, Edward Martinez, has been a key person in moving the project forward, informing other food truck vendors about the proposed alley and encouraging them to apply for permits.

“When we first met him, we talked about this whole concept,” Lawson recalls. “He got on board, and sometimes I think he sees this vision even better than we see it.”

Martinez is new to the food truck scene, but not to the professional kitchen. He has 15 years of cooking experience and worked at several local restaurants, including Stationæry and Stokes Adobe. The chef says he learned a lot from Aaron Rayor, former executive chef at Stokes, and Anthony Carnazzo, an owner of Stationæry.

“Anthony is one of the reasons why I decided to finally go for it,” Martinez says, noting he has dreamed of having a food truck for a decade. “He went through so much, and then Covid hit. He kept going and going and going – not giving up on his dream to open up a place, and now he’s doing really well.”

Martinez sees pizza dough as a blank canvas. It welcomes a variety of ingredients and flavors. But he understands the attraction of the classics. Since he opened, Margherita and pepperoni have been staples – and popular with those visiting the truck.

“I don’t blame them – I like pepperoni,” he says. “But now they’re slowly starting to try the other stuff too, which is great.”

In September, Martinez offered two specialty pies. One was a spicy Calabrian with nduja, sweet peppers, ricotta, basil, sauce and Calabrian-spiked honey. The other was more unusual, topped with baked potato, pickled jalapeño, a blend of mozzarella and sharp cheddar, plus creme fraiche and scallions. For October, Martinez will prepare one with pineapple – a controversial topping for some, but his topping treatment will be similar to the filling of tacos al pastor, in which pineapple is a central ingredient.

“It kind of excites me to keep it changing,” he observes. “You can work with different cuisines. You can make it Asian, Mexican, obviously Italian. Just whatever sounds good is what I’m going for.”

So far, the success of Double 0 and the chef’s calls to fellow food truck owners appear to be paying off. According to Lawson, additional vendors so far have indicated they will join Martinez at the airport. One features a hibachi menu, while another is a coffee truck.

“We’re just trying to add some diversity,” Lawson points out. “The city doesn’t have any place that is dedicated to food trucks.”

Currently there are a couple of banners pointing drivers to Double 0. Once the food alley is established, additional signs would be placed to guide diners to the area, which is not known for through traffic. Lawson says there are different attractions people can see at the airport, from the usual takeoff and landing of airplanes to Joby’s aircraft. But the food truck alley will be the draw.

“You get to sit out here and see things that most other people will never get to see until it becomes a commercialized venture,” he says.

Martinez and Lawson hope the food truck alley will be up and running within a few weeks once the food truck vendors have their permits in order.

DOUBLE 0 DOUGH, 781 Neeson Road, Marina. (831) 224-9370, double0dough.com.