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Mobile eatery hopes to break 'food bubble' with locally-sourced, international fare
McCOOK, Neb. — People in McCook can now taste international street food from across the world without leaving town.
That’s because Alex Roe and David Orr are offering locally sourced, made-from-scratch street food originating from places like Vietnam and Haiti from their food truck, Pahulu’s.
Don’t expect french fries or hot dogs from this truck. In fact, don’t expect much American food at all. Instead, Roe and Orr hope to nudge people out of their culinary comfort zone.
“People are stuck in a food bubble of chicken strips with ranch. We’re offering something different,” Roe said. Different as in the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Speedie, with marinated chicken, chopped spiced vegetables and fresh mango salsa on a grilled whole wheat hoagie. Or, the Vietnamese Banh Mi, with Kalua pulled pork, marinated vegetables and local jalapeno garnish. Both were offered at their recent soft opening on Sept. 19 with vegetarian options. They sold out in several hours, Roe said. “The response was great, we didn’t expect it,” Roe said. “It was also very humbling.”
Unexpected as Pahulu’s food truck has only been in business for not quite two months.
Roe and Orr have 25 combined years of restaurant experience between them, including working in local kitchens such as the Coppermill and The Loop and Roe studying under a chef in Oregon last year. And they’ve both talked for years of operating either a restaurant or food truck, but the idea stayed on the back burner.
In August, a chance came up from a friend to buy a used delivery truck. Painted bright red and already refurbished with kitchen equipment inside, Roe and Orr jumped at the offer. That’s when they came up with the name Pahulu’s for the food truck, a Hawaiian term meaning overworked soil and also the god of nightmares, and to serve street food that many may never get the chance to experience.
Both readily admit they’ve always been “foodies.” Orr, originally of Oberlin, Kan., traced it back to childhood. “My mom always made me try something new” when eating, he said. He also always liked science and art, so for him, cooking is a perfect cross of the two. Roe, a 2014 McCook High School graduate, said he’s “worshipped” food forever, citing art and music as his inspiration. Food is also the ultimate way of bringing a community together, he believes.
Their menu will vary, depending on what they come up with in research. “We’ll find something that looks good in a certain country and spiral down the rabbit hole of searching what they have,” Orr said of their Internet food exploring.
As they use only locally sourced products, the recipes have a Midwestern touch, melding two cultures that are worlds apart. They recently used cucumbers from Wilsonville, Neb., in their Vietnamese sandwiches.
Everything is done the old-fashioned way, “using our own 20 fingers,” as Roe put it. This means recipes are followed authentically, using local, raw ingredients and staying away from powdered or processed food. “There’s no pre-packaged anything,” Roe said. “And people like it, they notice the difference.”
Another difference is they only use biodegradable serving items, such as compostable straws and bamboo forks, eliminating refuse. “A lot of people don’t care, but we do,” Roe said.
The food truck will be active only on the weekends, as both are still working full-time jobs during the week in the medical field, Orr in administration and Roe in nutrition. They’d like to operate the food truck full-time next summer if enough retail sales are realized this winter. This means they’ve expanded to catering services, with a wedding already booked for next year.
“There won’t be any cheesy green beans on the menu,” Roe promised.
Pahulu’s will be at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Oct. 16, at the “What the Junk” market event at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds. The menu will be gluten-free, Haitian “Voodoo Tacos,” along with a vegetarian version.
For more information on upcoming events, go to their Facebook page, Pahulu’s.