Saucy options at new Milford food trailer
A new food trailer now open on the Milford Oval is offering its own ground burgers, hand-cut fries and hand-breaded chicken tenders, and more than a dozen original sauces — or, in line with its name, “fuel” — like blueberry barbecue, Hawaiian honey mustard, hoisin-plum, curry and chive and Sriracha maple.
Fuel is the latest project of John Goldberg, owner and operator of The Riverhouse Cafe. The trailer made its debut on June 12 outside the Riverhouse, which has added about 40 seats in a roped off area out front, along with an outside bar and live music every Friday and Saturday. Customers who order from the trailer are given a pager to alert them when their food is ready. The trailer features new options not previously available at the cafe, plus rotating specials, and according to Goldberg the response has been very positive so far. He recently brought in chef Jon Talbot, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, to oversee Fuel’s menu.
“It’s a simple American menu … but it’s not your ordinary food truck. You’re not getting frozen chicken tenders or anything,” Goldberg said. “We grind our own burgers, we hand-cut our own fries, we dry-rub our own chicken wings and we make our own hot dog buns.”
Fuel features a few salads, all of which have the option of adding smoked chicken, pulled pork or smoked brisket as a protein. The most popular salad, Goldberg said, has been the Rocket Road, which features arugula, pickled onions, figs, almonds and goat cheese. There is also the Chubby King Caesar salad, with romaine, pancetta and jalapeno croutons, and the Trailer Greens, which include lettuce, carrot, tomato, onion and crispy chickpeas. Among the salad dressings to choose from are buttermilk ranch, honey balsamic, creamy poppy seed, and — Goldberg’s favorite — blueberry-riesling vinaigrette.
Items like the Fuel burger, the Hummel dog or the hand-cut fries can be ordered with a beer cheddar cheese. The Fuel burger is a double-stack patty that comes on a brioche roll with lettuce, tomato and house pickles, while the dog features toppings like the beer cheese as well as Maine onion jam and celery salt, house sweet relish or chili.
“The beer cheese is ridiculous,” Goldberg said. “You try it and you can’t stop.”
The trailer serves a falafel on its own homemade pita, topped with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, lemon and tzatziki sauce. You can also substitute smoked chicken for the falafel.
Other options, like the crispy chicken tenders and the smoked chicken wings, are really where you can get creative with all the different “fuel” sauces.
“We can toss them in one and then we give you the other one on the side,” Goldberg said. “I can’t even begin to name them all. We have blueberry barbecue, peach barbecue, Latin barbecue, curry and chives. … All kinds of different stuff.”
Just out in front of the Riverhouse Cafe’s doors is a full-service outside bar where craft cocktails are available. Live local music acts are booked to perform on Fridays and Saturdays all throughout the summer, Goldberg said.
The Riverhouse Cafe moved to its current location at 167 Union Square last year. Goldberg said the plan is for Fuel to provide the food options for those who visit Station 101, a new craft beer and wine bar opening in a renovated 1950s gas station next door. The old Riverhouse Cafe, meanwhile, will likely be turned into a doughnut shoppe.
Mangia Sano, Goldberg’s other restaurant just down the road on Nashua Street, has recently begun offering New York style pizza. It’s currently available for takeout and curbside pickup only.
“Right now, that’s all we do [at Mangia Sano],” Goldberg said, “but we’re going to reopen it under a [reinvented] new brand.”
Featured Photo: Bacon and beer cheddar fries. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.
Fuel
When: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5 to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays, 5 to 10 p.m. (hours are subject to change and may extend later this summer)
Where: 167 Union Square, Milford
Contact: Visit damngoodgrub.com/fuel, follow them on Facebook and Instagram @fuelnh or call The Riverhouse Cafe at 249-5556