Hitting the road?

Rent hike may force beloved diner-on-wheels to close

Motoraunt owner Carol Reczak has been serving Monster Burgers, two pounds of pure beef on an Italian loaf, for 26 years. The city landmark is facing a 200 per cent rent increase and may be forced to close as a result.

Published: December 04, 2009 3:07 a.m.

Last modified: December 04, 2009 3:10 a.m.

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She has been serving Monster Burgers for 26 years, and without a miracle solution to a monster rent hike, Carol Reczak will be forced to rev up the Motoraunt’s engine and move on.

The massive mobile eatery occupies four northeast city lots, sitting inconspicuously amid commercial businesses, serving a legion of faithful regulars who swear by its homemade soul food.

In early November, city officials handed the recently widowed restaurateur with notice her monthly rent would rise from $1,000 to $3,000 on Jan.1.

“It’s nuts, it’s not fair,” she said Thursday. “If they’re losing money, I understand, but the severity of the raise, I don’t understand. I’m only human.”

Though she’s in negotiation with city Planning and Development, Reczak says she’ll likely face an unplanned early retirement if it isn’t amended.

“I’ve been losing a lot of sleep over it,” she said, predicting the business will likely close within six months without help.

Reczak’s late husband, Wayne Bond, welded the original double-decker structure around a Cadillac El Dorado engine in 1983. The couple planned to drive to California, selling two-pound Monster Burgers and fries on the way.

“We had no intent on sitting still, but life got in the way.”

It found a permanent home at 12410 – 66 St. in 1994, where it continues to feed an ever-growing following. Since Bond’s death in 2008, in-progress renovations have halted and Reczak has struggled to run the business alone.

Though she’s optimistic and says she’ll attempt to purchase the land, she’s realized the end may be near, and out of her control.

“We’ve stood the test of time, and maybe it’s because we have wheels that we’ve survived,” she said. “It may be time, but I don’t feel it should be.”

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