It was the end of September, but Glen Bossard was still thinking about his cookout in August.
He was enjoying lamb chops and shrimp kebabs, shirtless in the comfort of his own backyard. He had gotten used to the tune of the ice cream truck, which often parked on his street in Southeast Baltimore. But after 15 minutes of it that day, he’d had enough.
When he approached the Mr. Tasty truck, the driver began cursing at him, calling him “white trash” and making fun of the scar across his stomach, Bossard said. A few days later, he saw the small fleet of Mr. Tasty ice cream trucks parked at the Inner Harbor and planned to tell them about their unruly employee, only to find out the employee was the owner.
That didn’t go well either.
It left such a bad taste in Bossard’s mouth that he called The Banner in September and asked to speak with me. I had been reporting on the cool-blue vans, trying to figure out why they had become the talk of the summer.
Bossard’s story followed the narrative of many others I heard about Khaled and Tity Ammar, the husband and wife behind the wheels. As stories circulated about them, the two remained resolute — they denied the allegations, and said that problems came to them.
Over the years, people have complained online about the pungent diesel exhaust from the trucks and of watching them speed through Patterson Park.
But this summer, the conversation turned to the Ammars themselves.
It began with another food truck.
After quitting his job at a furniture store, Hussein Ababneh started waking up at 7 a.m. to serve falafel seven days a week. From the window of his truck, he encouraged people to donate the drinks that come with their meals to people in need.
On his first day of work in late May, he said, he went to introduce himself to the Ammars.
Khaled Ammar asked why he was parked near their truck, saying it would cost them business and claiming Ababneh did not have the proper licenses. Then, Ababneh said, Tity Ammar began yelling that Ababneh was harassing her. The two called the police in the moments before a passerby began recording, then they threatened to take Ababneh to court.
What a first day, Ababneh thought.
The footage was posted to Facebook, and the community rallied. People told Ababneh he wasn’t the first to face backlash for disturbing Mr. Tasty’s reign over the stretch of Linwood Avenue bordering Patterson Park.
Mirian Zelaya, who sells shaved ice in Patterson Park, told The Banner that Khaled Ammar pushed her cart and threatened to call immigration on her this past summer. Jahaira Carranza said the Ammars called the police on her daughters, who were running a lemonade stand years ago. Two other ice cream truck owners told Ababneh stories about altercations over parking near the Ammars’ trucks, which sounded similar to what he had experienced.
“I thought it was just a misunderstanding, but when the people started coming to me, explaining their stories, [I realized] I’m not the only person,” Ababneh said.
When I met with the Ammars over the summer, we first discussed their business, which they started in Baltimore in 1998. Just as people decorate their office desks with family photos, Khaled Ammar decided to show off his children on his vans when he designed them nearly 30 years ago.
Driving an ice cream truck, he said, affords him a certain freedom: He goes into work whenever he pleases, and if the weather is bad, he can take a day off. But he is most grateful for how it’s provided for his family over the years, allowing for trips back home to Egypt and for his children to pursue their passions.
Over the years, he said, he’s encountered people who’ve told him to go back to where he came from, others who’ve given him the finger. He said a competing ice cream truck driver wished death on him and his family when they were hospitalized during the pandemic.
He doesn’t go to other people’s spots, he said, and he doesn’t begin arguments. But “if you’re going to come like an asshole, I’m going to be an asshole more than you,” he said.
Khaled Ammar said he believes that Ababneh had been conspiring with another ice cream truck owner, whom he has been in competition with for years, to open a food truck to continue threatening his business. He said Ababneh was disrespecting his wife when he initially approached them.
Ababneh denied these allegations, and Khaled Ammar denied those made against him — threatening Ababneh, pushing a woman’s cart, making fun of a man’s scar.
“She’s very slow, nobody buys from her, everybody comes to Mr. Tasty,” he said of Zelaya.
Of his interaction with Bossard: “Junky people can say whatever they want.”
Ammar said he wants to protect his wife and get his children the best education possible, so his daughter can become a heart doctor, his son a pilot.
He said the family has felt threatened during their years of trying to get by on hot summer days, including this past summer. One morning in May, they found the windows smashed in on one of their trucks. On a night in July, a competing ice cream truck owner intimidated Tity Ammar and her children with “rude comments,” according to her statements in a police report.
But many say Khaled Ammar and his wife have brought a real negativity to Baltimore. “Mr. Distasteful,” said one woman, among many who coalesced on a local Facebook group to boycott the trucks.
Today, Ababneh is still out on Linwood serving falafel. Ammar is planning to open a storefront again, though he might hire outside help so he can keep driving the trucks.
Both parties said it’s been quiet between them. Bossard, too, keeps his mouth shut, even when he hears his least favorite tune.
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.