Let's Eat! Mukja Is a Family-Run Food Truck That Specializes in Korean Cheese Dogs

"I worked in accounting for twelve years. I punched numbers all day, and I'm an introvert. So I just kept telling my husband, 'This is not for me, this is not for me. For me to grow, I need something more than just work in an office,'" explains Julia Rivera, owner of the Mukja food truck, which specializes in cheese dogs, a Korean street food staple.

As Rivera began to contemplate life outside of accounting, she recalls talks with her daughter, Kayla Makowski, who was in high school at the time. "We would talk about owning food trucks or doing street food, because we don't really have a whole lot of that in Denver," Rivera says.

Originally from Korea, Rivera has fond memories that stem from her childhood home kitchen. "My family, our love language is eating, feeding people and gathering. I grew up in a household with lots of aunts, grandma, my mom, and we all cooked," she explains.

Even though food played a central role in Rivera's upbringing, she is quick to admit that prior to launching Mukja, she had barely worked in the hospitality industry. "I had no restaurant experience. I never even served at a restaurant. I was a hostess when I was sixteen. So I didn't know what I was doing," she says.

Although she lacked professional experience, she traveled often, tasting her way through many cuisines, which was inspirational as her dream of starting a food truck inched closer to reality. "We were really expanding our palates. ... We were traveling to the East Coast, West Coast, and we were like, we need to bring this back to Denver." Soon she focused on the ideal of highlighting her Korean roots and focusing on fun street food — the kinds of dishes her kids loved to eat.

Shortly before Kayla graduated from college with an accounting degree, Rivera purchased a used truck and enlisted the help of her daughter. "We unwrapped the whole truck ourselves. We went and scrubbed the truck every day to get it ready," Rivera remembers. As Kayla got closer to finishing college, she had a more flexible schedule and the freedom to help, and the two officially launched Mukja — which means "Let's eat" in  Korean — in September 2019.

While the pandemic caused disruption during its first year of operation, business bounced back quickly. "We came to Long Table Brewhouse our first day back, and we just kind of blew up from there," Rivera says.

Mukja gained another team member when Rivera's son, James Makowski, moved back home from Pueblo. As the truck enters its third year of operation, Rivera finds herself happier than she could have ever imagined. "I get to run it with my kids. That's the most fun, I think. And we get to be creative," she says. "It's just the three of us and my husband. You'll see my husband once in a while, but he works a nine-to-five."

As a true family operation, Mukja shines with love and creativity through fun eats. "We're known for the cheese dogs, and that's what everybody comes and tries. But our most popular dish is the bibimbap, which is actually a traditional Korean dish that we have," Rivera notes.

Mukja also serves up Wonton Nachos — a pile of crispy wonton skins with cheese sauce, lettuce and scallion salad, topped with spicy aioli, cotija cheese, sesame seeds and a choice of protein. "That is our fusion," Rivera says of the dish. "My husband is Hispanic, and he's always like, 'Do nachos, do nachos,' and that was our first fusion dish."

The truck also gets creative with its cheese dogs, offering a spin on elote as well as the classic and a jalapeño popper variety.

If you want to be treated like family while digging into fun bites served with big smiles, this is the truck to track down. To find Mukja, follow it on Facebook or Instagram, where its schedule is posted weekly every Monday.