A look at area food trucks
There have probably been mobile kitchens since before the invention of the wheel. But in recent years there has been a change in the country’s and New Hampshire’s food scene, led by a new generation of food trucks. Area food truck enthusiasts can choose from everything from hot dogs to a themed coffee experience to fire-grilled steaks or salmon.
Nick Provencher is a career chef who has worked in professional kitchens for decades. Currently he runs the Ash Street Inn’s Chef’s Table (118 Ash St., Manchester, 668-9908, ashstreetinn.com). He sees the recent proliferation of food trucks as a reaction to the financial realities of opening a new restaurant.
“There’s a lower capital startup for talented chefs and cooks who aspire to have their own places,” he said. “It’s a great starting point where they can showcase their skills. And to me, honestly, after getting an inside view of the restaurant industry for 15 years, sometimes I’m like, that just might be the best bet ever because you’re not putting a lot on the line. There are minimal variables. You’re not locked into some lease or this and that. You don’t have a ton of employees. With the current state of the economy and the way the restaurant business seems to fluctuate, that kind of seems almost like a pretty good way to be able to sustain yourself for a longer time and a more reliable period. I think it’s brilliant.”
KS LeBlanc is the chef and owner of The Sleazy Vegan Cafe (205 N. State St., Concord, 877-328-7838, thesleazyvegan.com/concord) and The Sleazy Vegan Food Truck. She started in a food truck, then moved to a shared restaurant space and finally, during the past year, has opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
“I think in New England, I think we see, especially in New Hampshire, food truckers make the leap, going from ghost kitchen to food truck and into brick-and-mortar [restaurants] just because this is really a hard place to run a food truck,” she said. “New Hampshire’s got some really weird rules and policies, so it’s a hard place to be a food truck. I think that’s why we see it focused here a lot more. Places out west and down south are not quite that way. They do more food truck parks and gastro places where multiple trucks can get together and have like a shared expense of a place really pulling, you know, more people and more crowds together. We don’t see that very much here.”
At the same time, she said, food trucks allow an extremely focused approach to a particular type of food that would be hard to pull off in a conventional restaurant. “There’s an ability to take something that’s really, really special to you or something that you can make really, really special and build a business around that. One tiny slice is where a food truck wins. You can get to business with something small and have that small niche actually be a win and not something that’s limiting — get into some Ethiopian food or run a truck that just does empanadas or trucks that just do tacos but they slay at what they do.”
Here is a look at just a few of the many area food trucks trying to do just that.
Cali Arepa
(202-5845, caliarepa.com)
Owner: Olga Muriel
What type of food does it serve? Colombian street food, especially arepas
Where can customers find it? “I move around. Usually I post where I’m going to be on my Facebook and Instagram pages. I try to be in most of the big events around New Hampshire, but sometimes breweries or private events want to have food on site and they contact me. So I really have a schedule, and I post every month where I’m going to be so people can find me.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
What is the most popular dish with customers? “The Arepa Mixta because it has three different meats and the arepas have all of the homemade sauces that we prepare.”
What is Muriel’s favorite dish? “I enjoy all of them. Every single item in our menu, I enjoy because it’s authentic. All of the arepas have a good amount of flavor — an authentic flavor — for someone to try, like authentic Colombian street food. I am a beef person, so I will always go with the beef one.”
“We are from Cali, which is one of the biggest cities in Colombia,” Muriel said. “If you travel to South America, especially Colombia, you will see arepas on the street. Everyone will have a little cart, grilling the arepas on site. Most of them are filled with cheese. Some have beef, so we kind of mixed the whole idea and brought up the whole variety of meat in the arepas, so people like it.”
Muriel said she likes to educate new customers.
“People think that the arepas are kind of like tacos,” she said, “but they’re not, because the arepas are a mixture of mixed up ingredients, bringing the dough in a consistency where it is grilled and crunchy, and it’s tasty. So I want people to understand that the arepa, you can say it is kind of like a sandwich, but it is nothing like a taco!”
Cup of Ambition
(1170 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 843-591-6146)
Owner: Barbara Devay
What is it? A Dolly Parton-themed mobile coffee bar
What does it serve? Coffee drinks and mini-doughnuts fried to order and named after Dolly Parton songs
Where can customers find it? “At my husband’s shop on Hooksett Road. I’m here most of the time, unless I’m booked for an event, and I’m booked for several already!”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
What is the most popular with customers? “A medium iced coffee butterscotch with a shot of espresso has been the thing that people love.”
What is Devay’s favorite dish? “My favorite donut is the Islands In the Stream, which is a warm breakfast blend with vanilla and cinnamon sugar. That’s probably my favorite thing on the whole truck”
“I have been a fan of Dolly Parton my entire life,” Devay said. “I am a season pass holder to Dollywood. We lived a lot closer when we were in South Carolina, so we would go quite often. We’re a little further now, so instead of driving we’ll have to fly. I brought this whole mini donut/coffee thing up from South Carolina. It was a combination of two things that I really enjoyed doing. My husband bought me this trailer this past Christmas to kind of make my dream come true. He actually went to South Carolina to pick it up because we were moving our businesses and he made me believe that he was going down there to move some more equipment for his mechanic shop, but then he pulled in the driveway with ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’ on his radio and he had my trailer behind him. It’s red, so it definitely screamed Christmas.”
Teenie Wienies
(403-2336, twprovisions.com)
Owner: Riley O’Loughlin
What type of food does it serve? Sandwiches made from scratch-made sausages
Where can customers find it? Teenie Wienies is at most downtown Concord events, such as First Friday. “We’re based out of Concord although I don’t have a physical location yet. If there’s any event I can do in Concord it’s a priority.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram, Facebook, and X
What dish is most popular with customers? “A sandwich we call the Chinese Dumpling. The sausage itself is basically the contents of a dumpling — a pork base with sesame sauce, sesame oil, cabbage, a few Asian spices like ginger, and then we continue to build the sandwich around that with like a Asian -inspired slaw, pickled radishes, red onion, Sriracha aioli, green onion and sesame seeds.”
“We wanted to do hot dogs originally,” O’Loughlin said. “I pivoted to sausages because I make everything from scratch. It’s a lot easier for me to make sausages than a hot dog. With a sausage you have much more texture of the actual meat inside of it. I’m more of a butcher than I am a chef. I don’t feel comfortable calling myself a chef, but I feel much more comfortable calling myself a butcher.”
At any given time, O’Loughlin said, Teenie Wienies offers six to seven house-made sausages and as many sandwiches. “Occasionally, for special events like Oktoberfest we’ll do more like German sausages served on a plate with spetzel, sauerkraut, handmade pretzels, that sort of stuff. But for the most part our core menu is sausage subs.”
The Treat Trolley
(235-9357, treattrolleynh.com)
Co-owner: Eleni Gagnon
What is it? A classic ice cream truck
What does it serve? “We are an ice cream truck, but … in addition to the novelties, we serve scoops, which kind of sets us apart.”
Where can customers find it? “We focus mainly on events. This year we will be at the Hooksett Farmers Market, which is every second Sunday of the month and it runs May through October. And then people will call us to do company outings, birthday parties. We are doing weddings.So we don’t have a set spot, but we are out and about at a lot of different events. We have quite a few weddings actually that have booked us for this coming summer. We’re excited for the warm weather.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
What dish is most popular with customers? “The scoops are definitely more of a seller. We do a lot of the basics — nothing too unusual. I feel like the basics are more popular. We’ve tried to throw in some different [flavors] but your vanilla/chocolate/cookies and cream are definitely the more popular ones. I think with something as basic as ice cream, it’s very important to people. It’s foundational.”
What is Gagnon’s favorite dish? “The Strawberry Shortcake is probably my favorite novelty ice cream.”
“Nobody’s ever upset when they’re eating ice cream,” Gagnon said. “So everybody’s always happy to see us, which we love. We did drive some neighborhoods last year, so it was really fun to see grown men chasing the truck because they probably haven’t seen an ice cream truck since they were kids.”
Smokin’ Spanks Barbecue
(smokinspanks.com)
Owner: Kevin Anctil
What type of food does it serve? “I offer a full barbecue menu. Everything I offer is prepared fresh by me from scratch from my own recipes. I use no prepackaged rubs or injections or marinades or sauces. Everything I serve is made by me. My smokers use no propane to smoke my meat. I only use natural hardwood lump charcoal, and wood. I have a battery of six sauces that are always made fresh and they’re always served on the side because the meat stands up on its own and doesn’t need the sauce. The sauce is just there for extra if you like it.”
Where can customers find it? “Right now I’m selling every Sunday in Litchfield at 517 Charles Bancroft Highway — that’s [Route] 3A — a couple minutes south of Manchester. And then once we get going this summer and more into mid-season, I’ll be adding in Friday nights as well. I found that I draw pretty well just on my own. I’ve got a couple gigs, but for the most part I’m not going to events and trying to find places that are providing me with customers. I’m pretty much setting up and drawing people to me for myself and trying to operate that way and then supplementing with the catering work and the parties and such. I get a lot of graduations, birthday parties, a lot of family, backyard type stuff like that.”
Where can people find it on social media? Facebook
What dish is most popular with customers? “It tends to go week by week. Some things are heavier than others. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason. That just depends on who’s coming in that week, what their favorites are. That said, I sell an awful lot of brisket.”
While smoked meats are the foundation of Anctil’s menu, he said great barbecue requires great side dishes. “I love mac and cheese,” he said. “It’s nice and creamy and soft and smooth and hot. Baked beans are really good — something sweet like that stands up nice with the spiciness and the richness of the barbecue. I do a loaded baked potato salad that I think pairs very nicely. It’s creamy, cold and rich.”
Wicked Tasty Food Truck
(699-5217, wickedtastytrucks.com)
Owner: Jakob Norris
What type of food does it serve? “Our concept is New England classics with a twist. It’s kind of a cultivation of the food that I grew up with in a very approachable comfort food style. We do things like smash burgers, we do some good hot dogs, we have a really great maple bacon onion jam, chicken sandwich with honey Sriracha, and braised short rib poutine. The whole idea is really just to kind of remind everybody where we’re from and kind of kick it up a notch and everybody in the family can enjoy it.”
Where can customers find it? “We are very event-based and mostly privately booked. But you can find us at some of the same major events every year. We always do Concord Market Days. You’ll find us doing the Concord Winter Festival. We do a couple events in Manchester. We have a full calendar on our website. Every week there’s usually at least two or three public spots that we’re open for.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
What dish is most popular with customers? “We’re definitely known for our smash burger with our maple bacon onion jam. That is our bread and butter. It has our homemade garlic aioli. It has like four different types of garlic — roasted garlic, granulated garlic, fresh garlic and garlic oil. We really focus on a good handful of homemade items, and those are really what we’re known for. So that smash burger is certainly the top one.”
What is Norris’ favorite dish? “My personal favorite would be our grilled cheeses. We actually have two signature grilled cheese [sandwiches] that we do. One of them has our braised short rib and our maple bacon onion jam on it. But one of the interesting things that we do with our grilled cheeses is we cover the outside with a garlic aioli and press it in shredded cheddar. We put that on the grill so it gets a crispy cheese crust on the outside. and then it’s filled with cheddar and American and bacon jam and short rib on the inside.”
Pours and Petals Mobile Bar and Catering
(205 N. State St., Concord, poursandpetalsevents.com)
Owner: Erin Doonan
What type of food does it serve? “We do primarily drinks. We serve cocktails, but we offer lemonade, iced coffee, hot coffee. And that’s what you’re going to find us selling at public events. We do also offer street tacos as well. However, we only do that for private events.”
Where can customers find it? Mostly at private functions. “We cater a lot of weddings. Honestly, that’s kind of the reason we got into the business is because we wanted to cater weddings. And people do have the typical idea of a food truck. But knowing that we wanted to go into weddings, we really want to make [our truck] a bit prettier for pictures — something that people would want to have in the background, people actually get excited about taking photos with it, and going up to the truck. So I think it adds a really nice, unique touch to weddings.”
What is most popular with customers? “Our lemonade is definitely by far our most popular item. We do a bunch of different flavors like strawberry basil and raspberry lime. Those are our two most popular flavors.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
“One of our goals was to have something that looked nice in photographs,” Doonan said. “We want to keep branding pretty minimal, so that way it didn’t feel like we were advertising to people’s wedding guests. We chose colors that kind of go well with weddings. We have a sage green food truck as well as a light yellow food truck, so that usually goes along with wedding colors. And instead of just going with a typical trailer, we also went with true, authentic, vintage, renovated trailers. We have a 1960 and I think the other one is a 1966. They used to be campers and we converted them. I think a lot of food truck owners also kind of prioritize either doing public events or setting up in one spot, and that’s what we’re doing. our model. Rather than having people come to us, we go to the people.”
Sicilian Street Chef
(sicilianstreetchef.com)
Owner: Sal DiMaggio
What type of food does it serve? “The original intention of the truck was to sell Sicilian food, but we do do a lot of Italian things — chicken pesto, prosciutto and mozzarella and that sort of stuff. You have to sell what the people want, so I make my own smash burgers. I make my own hot honey sauce, pesto sauce, and marinara sauce of course. It’s turning into Main Street fair food than anything else.”
Where can customers find it? “Last summer was maybe 50 percent breweries and 50 percent fairs. This year it’s going to be about 90 percent events between town concerts, car shows and private parties.”
Where can people find it on social media? Instagram and Facebook
What dish is most popular with customers? “They love smash burgers.
Motor Pie Co.
(644-2467, ext. 210, motorpieco.com)
Owner: The Chopscotch Hospitality Group, parent company of Hanover Street Chophouse, the Crown Tavern, and the Kitchen on River Road.
What type of food does it serve? Wood-fired pizza and upscale wood-fired dishes
Where can customers find it? Available for private functions only.
Mairin MacDonald handles the booking for the Motor Pie Co. She said the truck itself is one of its selling points. “The truck’s name is Riley Grace,” she said. “She’s a new part of the family. She’s a restored 1950s Ford with a wood pizza oven on the back. Anybody who knows the Crown Tavern’s pizza will find that same sort of style and quality that you would find at the Crown. But we’re not necessarily calling ourselves a pizza truck. We’re more of a mobile kitchen that we’ll be doing catering out of. It will be for private events only.”
In addition to pizza, MacDonald said Riley Grace will cook other dishes — “things like oven-roasted salmon,” she said. “We can do tenderloin, and hors d’oeuvres. So really anything that can be cooked in a regular oven can be cooked in that oven.”
