Chow down on this month’s bill of fare in our latest edition of InMaricopa

I don’t know about you, but among the things in life I do really well is eat.

Evidently, we have a community full of people who are good at it, too — or want to be, judging by their clamoring for more dining choices. The demand is for sit-down places, yet a rapidly emerging culinary scene is the polar opposite: stand-up dining.

Food trucks, or in many cases food trailers, have rolled into town and built a following, so we’ve whipped up a package of stories about them for you in this month’s InMaricopa magazine.

These aren’t necessarily purveyors of cheesy nachos or hot dogs boiled in who-knows-what, either. These are high-end eateries — meals on wheels — with upscale offerings of all genres.

You see them on Food Truck Fridays, at virtually all festivals at Copper Sky and often just standing alone in a parking lot. That’s where it can get sticky with permissions.

How do you know you’re being served food that is safe, from a kitchen that is clean? The food-truck industry is governed by the same rules and the same inspectors who make sure any restaurant in the county is storing meat at the proper temperature and doesn’t have an unacceptable grease buildup.

Our centerpiece food-truck package is a nice read by one of our newbies, Cameron Jobson.

And with regard to sit-down restaurants, our Brian Petersheim Jr. tells us about a sports bar, The Roost, that is blowing up its model and converting to a sit-down steakhouse to accommodate public demand.

It might be a bad pun to describe Mark Goodman, Maricopa’s police chief for a couple of months now, as a straight shooter, but he is open and direct in an interview with our other newbie, Monica D. Spencer. And the guy rocks a beauty of a flattop.

From All-America college hurdler to successful Maricopa entrepreneur, Arnita Green took a journey through a couple of careers to get here. Read all about it.

Finally, take a look at the changes in Maricopa the past six decades through the eyes of long-time prominent residents Shirley Ann and Philip “McD” Hartman. Her backstory as a hard charger — like the horses she loves, as a festival queen, educator and seeker of a good time — caused a reporter to tell her he’d have enjoyed knowing the 84-year-old back when. “You would have,” she said.

We hope you enjoy Shirley Ann and all the others in our April InMaricopa magazine.