There’s good eats to be found in and around Howard County. That’s always been the case.
But now, thanks to some entrepreneurial types, the food scene in general has seen some exceptional additions in recent years, turning up in some very unlikely places: roadside trucks, trailers and gas stations.
Food bloggers were among the first to note a growing trend of small, inexpensive and refreshingly unique offerings being dished up at these unconventional haunts.
HowChow, a local food blogger who requested to be identified only by his nom de guerre to maintain the separation between his personal and professional lives, is one of the writers who has been busy chronicling each delicious new find.
“For me, it was the excuse I had for going out and finding new and exciting places to eat lunch,” HowChow said. “I feel like I’m seeing more and more [roadside vendors] now.”
Three years ago, he said, it wasn’t uncommon to see trucks or trailers selling Mexican barbecue along Route 1. But then, something changed.
“Jamaican moved in, the Mexican trucks expanded into Columbia and a Korean truck opened last year,” HowChow said. And the county became a much better place for it, in his eyes.
National Recognition
The rising star in the small eatery category has proved to be R&R Taqueria, a tiny restaurant located in a corner of the Shell gas station at the northwestern corner of the routes 1 and 175. The kitchen is larger (by far) than the dining area, which not so comfortably seats eight at a narrow counter along the wall, looking out on the scenic vista of 87, 89 and 93 octane pumps.
Owner Rodrigo Albarran-Torres moved into the space two years ago after being furloughed from his job as a pilot for a commercial cargo airline. He admits he has no formal chef’s training, but that doesn’t mean the man doesn’t know a thing or two about Mexican cooking.
Just ask Guy Fieri, host of the Food Network series “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives,” who filmed a segment for his show at R&R Taqueria in October and gave it a rave review.
“I think people who come here are intrigued at first because they’ve heard about the location and can’t believe it,” Albarran-Torres said. “Then they come in and get overwhelmed with the way we treat them, and after the first bite their attitude changes completely.”
Expect authentic Mexican comfort food including huaraches, parillada and eight different types of $2 tacos — including lamb, pork and chorizo — that are big on fresh ingredients and savory flavors.
“Street vendors in Mexico sell one item,” Albarran-Torres said. “Here, we do a large variety of these items every day,” serving up to 200 customers on a good day.
Albarran-Torres is contemplating an expansion into an open space above his taqueria. He already opened a second location in the White Marsh Mall food court in November.
“I told my first employees we were going to be famous, and now we are,” he said. “It wasn’t out of arrogance. Our strategy is simple: Don’t copy anybody else; just be ourselves and serve great food.”
Award-Winning BBQ
Pull onto the shoulder of Dorsey Run Road at the Savage MARC Station entrance on any weekday before noon and chances are good Dave Welch will be serving his award-winning barbecue from a trailer grill. That’s not so surprising when you consider that he was the 2006 Maryland State Barbecue Champion, and was formerly an executive chef at the Washington, D.C., Mayflower Hotel.
Welch’s fare is simple, meat and a roll, but filling, tasty and a terrific value: $6 for an overflowing sandwich, or $9 to $19 for ribs. His offerings follow a weekly rotation of pulled pork on Monday, beef brisket on Tuesday, monster pork chops on Wednesday, ribs on Thursday and chicken on Friday. Most days, he also has kielbasa and half smokes.
“It’s a great business, because the overhead is much lower than running a restaurant,” Welch said. “I’ve got no mortgage, no utility bills, no theft, no workers’ comp and hardly any spoilage.”
When the weather plays fair, and with a full catering schedule, he can clear nearly as much as he could with a sit-down restaurant, said Welch.
Growth Strategy
Just across the county line on Route 175 (and just shy of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway interchange), travelers will encounter Bill Chung serving up teriyaki, bulgogi and other Korean specialties at Jessup Deli — a kitchen truck.
“We opened in October,” said Chung, whose experience also includes time spent as a chef in Washington, D.C., hotel. “I want to open a restaurant eventually, and my strategy is to use this to establish a customer base first and get people familiar with the food we serve.”
In western Howard County, Brett Arnold used the same strategy, starting with a barbecue grill and catering business before establishing the Smokin’ Hot Bar and Grille on Route 97 in Glenwood.
“In some ways a trailer is better than a restaurant, because you can’t always put a restaurant where you want to sell or where the customers are,” Arnold said. “On the other hand, I can offer more and more varied choices in the restaurant. But [roadside vending] was definitely a good way to establish a customer base.”
Jamaican Flavor
Workers in Columbia Gateway have a Jamaican option on John McAdams Drive at the Bennett 5 Star Grill trailer. Kaydian Bennett and her husband, Wayne, are celebrating their fourth year at this location, dishing up jerk chicken, jerk pork, fried plantains and flavorful buckets of beans and rice.
They also supplement their food sales with a side catering business, featuring the dishes Kaydian Bennett learned to make by watching her mother and grandmother cook, and a homemade jerk sauce that’s a zippy, lip-tingling blend of sweet and sour, tangy and spicy.
“I would say our sales here would be on par with sales at a small restaurant,” Kaydian Bennett said. “We’d like to move into our own space someday, but rents now are ridiculously high. At $7,000 to $10,000 a month, we’d be selling chicken from here to eternity just to break even.”
The better option, the Bennetts decided, was to invest in a $47,000 kitchen trailer and make a few modifications. Rose McGee, a Bennett’s regular who works in the Columbia Gateway office park, agreed, saying she appreciated having such a unique option available during her lunch break.
“I enjoy the food so much I even hired them to cater a party a couple of years ago,” McGee said.
Beneficial Trend
Becky Bowman, administrator at the Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs, confirmed that food trucks, trailers and small eateries have been on the increase in the county.
The number of annual peddler permit requests increased from about 24 in 2005 and 2006 to roughly 43 in 2008 and 2009, she said, before dropping down to 34 last year.
The vast majority of new permits, she said, have been issued to Mexican barbecue vendors and hot dog carts.
“It’s possible that the economy had something to do with people deciding to start their own business and sell food,” Bowman said, “but we haven’t studied the numbers closely to see whether that is actually the case. Something else could also be driving the trend.”
Whatever’s behind the trend, HowChow and his hungry legion of appreciative online followers are hoping it continues.
“There wasn’t a way to find [new vendor businesses] when I started writing the blog,” he said. “People really want to know about these places. [Roadside vending] creates a place in the food chain for somebody just starting out and gives them a shot at success, and we all get the terrific benefit of having new options where we can get something unique and interesting.”
