Photo by Alan Olson The lunch rush sets in as soon as the clock strikes 11 a.m. at De Adi Hibachi, set up near the CVS in Woodsdale.

WHEELING — A food truck making the rounds around town since late summer is more than a business — it’s a way to support a family on their own terms.

Owners Alysa and Putu Astana are no strangers to hibachi-style cooking. Putu has been a local favorite chef at Fusion Japanese Steakhouse and Osaka Steakhouse over the last decade, while Alysa was a bartender at Fusion, where she met her husband. The birth of their son, De Adi, however, had some complications — during his delivery, De Adi suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a brain injury resulting in lifelong disability.

In order to accommodate the care of their son, the Astanas needed a job with more flexibility. With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting restaurants and with a need for the ability to change plans on short notice, De Adi Hibachi started up in August.

“There’s been times where he’s gotten sick unexpectedly, and we’ve had to be at a children’s hospital for a week or two at times,” Alysa said. “That left dad, the main breadwinner, off of work for those weeks, and it left the company he worked for without a chef for those weeks. We needed to find a more flexible business for us to run, that way even if he does get sick unexpectedly, we can just close for the day, and it’s not going to affect our whole business. … The main inspiration is our son, … so we named it after him.”

At first a transient site, setting up shop in Woodsdale, Elm Grove and South Wheeling, the business now chiefly operates out of the parking lot at the former A.C. Buffet, near CVS in Woodsdale.

Astana said that business so far has been good, and getting better, with the more permanent location. They lease the space at the parking lot month-to-month for the time being. On Friday, within minutes of opening, six customers had flocked to the food truck to pick up their lunches.

“Because of my husband’s local restaurants he’s worked at, a lot of people are familiar with who he is. If you’d been up to Fusion Japanese Steakhouse, he was head chef up there for a couple years. … We had a lot of requests, people really enjoyed his entertainment and his food,” she added.

“With his experience and passion for cooking, I think you can taste the difference.”

All tips at the food truck, Astana said, go toward the purchase of a handicap-accessible vehicle for De Adi. The food truck comes to local events, with Blues Fest being their inaugural event.

“That was when we just got started, so we just jumped right in there and it was like a whole new world for us,” she said. “It was just so crazy busy. It’s taken us some time, but every day we learn something new.”

De Adi Hibachi can be found on Facebook, where updates to operating times, dates and locations are posted as needed. Meal options consist of steak, shrimp, chicken or vegetable dishes with fried rice and noodles. The De Adi special consists of all three meats combined.