If You’re In The Brewer/Orrington Area, Keep An Eye Out For This ‘RAD’ Food Truck

For the past month or so, a couple of times a week on my way into work, I've noticed a new food truck parked in the lot by the Brewer Auditorium. It's kind of hard to miss it, actually. In huge black letters against a bright yellow background, read the words "RAD FOOD TRUCK."

Rad food!? I like things that are rad...and I like food. So of course I had to pull in and find out what this was all about.

I was met, at the counter, by Jobie Cole, owner of said RAD food truck.

"Hey! How long have you been open?" I asked.

"It's been open a month and a half," Cole replied.

"Why open a food truck? What's your background?" I pressed further.

"I cooked for 9 years at another farm and table restaurant but wanted to do my own thing. So I built this food truck from scratch."

Cole does it all; the setup and prep, the cooking, even the cleanup.

"There are a lot of things that have to go right. It's not just the cooking, but it's making sure the generator is working. Like today I forgot the screw gun that puts the jacks underneath it [the trailer]. All that stuff has to happen for it to work properly."

Cole says he features easy comfort food, like tacos and coming soon, chili bowls--all of which feature locally sourced ingredients and are made from scratch. He was serving "Baco Tell" tacos this afternoon.

"It's kind of like an American-style taco," Cole explained to one customer. "It's a fresh tortilla and I kind of crisp it up and then it gets brisket it in and homemade salsa, some cheese in there."

The menu isn't huge, because he's a one-man band and everything is homemade. But judging by the smiles on the customers I saw come and go in the short time we were talking, he must be doing something right.

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In fact, he was taking notes as one happy customer made suggestions of what else to feature, down the road, as I was standing nearby, checking out his setup.

Based out of Orrington, Cole says he liked keeping in local, so setting up shop in Brewer works out well.