Food trucks have been a hot culinary trend in recent years, but they’ve actually been around since before the invention of the automobile. Chuckwagons served cowboys and urban workers alike as far back as the late 1800s, while pushcarts offered busy city folk fast, simple food like sandwiches and fruits while they worked on buildings, sewed clothing, or delivered packages.
If you have fond memories of chasing down the ice cream truck in your neighborhood, that’s one of the earliest forms of the modern food trucks that we know today, with freezers-on-wheels taking to the streets to distribute their sweets in the 1950s. Today, you can find almost any kind of delicious item imaginable rolling around the state in a food truck, and while the northern end of the state may be able to claim the majority of those businesses as their own, South County has a few trucks – I mean, tricks up their sleeves as well.
Off the Menu
Off the Menu, an extension of the Ocean House, offers “on-location fun and affordable New England cuisine,” ranging from lobster rolls and clam chowder to grilled items and dinner entrees. As most people know, the Ocean House is a AAA Five Diamond luxury hotel and restaurant, now joined with the Weekapaug Inn and the Watch Hill Inn to comprise some of the most prestigious hotels in New England. As an extension of these establishments, Off the Menu can serve an array of food truck menu items, all with the culinary expertise and quality for which its stationary counterparts are known.
The Cupcakory
With a home base in Charlestown, RI, The Cupcakory can roll all over the South County area and beyond! Co-partners Tara Brosnan and Marc Mauricio recently took the time to discuss their Why with us.
“We both love dessert, so it wasn’t too hard of a decision of a make, and there aren’t many food trucks in this area, let alone ones that specialize in dessert,” Tara explained.
Their menu consists of cupcakes, of course, but they also offer mini cheesecakes, Portuguese fried dough (malasadas), cookies, custard, and the occasional turnover if it’s early enough in the morning to catch a breakfast crowd. They craft their menu according to seasons and events, so look for pumpkin and apple cinnamon flavors in the fall, or the extremely popular lemon raspberry cupcake in the summer. The best seller though, year-round and without question, is the Chocolate Lovers cupcake – a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ganache, topped with a cherry.
“The biggest thing for us is community – we love being a part of it and we love giving back,” Tara said. “We’re both in the human services field and we’ve done a lot of fundraisers for schools and libraries with the truck, and we always try to use local ingredients from small businesses.”
Rhody Roasters Cafe/The Food Truck on 91
Need a coffe fix? Ken Marot has been roasting coffee for the last 15 years, teaching himself the skills required to produce truly excellent brews out of beans sourced from environmentally friendly areas, like India, Ethiopia, and Bali. After leaving his previous career, he wasn’t sure what to do next, “but I knew I had to do something, and my neighbors wanted a coffee shop so I just went with that and built my own roaster,” he explained.
Every cup of coffee is fresh-brewed individually, and Ken also offers a selection of espresso drinks, Brooklyn Bagels from New York, pastries, and will soon have sandwiches ready to grab and go as well. I’ll be the first to admit – I love to shop locally, but it doesn’t always feel convenient and sometimes convenience wins the day with my busy schedule – but Ken has that all figured out, too.
“There’s an app called Food Hub that we use – it lets people see the menu, order, and pay, so you can just roll up and we’ll bring your order right out to your car. We want to make everything fast and efficient – and if you’ve got kids, this could make your morning even easier because you won’t have to get them out of the car or make anyone wait in line for anything.” Dunkin? Never heard of her.
