March 28, 2024

Cheers to the growing number of Ott Street followers!  I hope spring is treating you well and you are able to stay warm on cold days and get out when its dry and warm. 

I don’t know, it may have to be Thursdays that I end up putting this out.  Sundays tend to be the day off…time to relax, rejuvenate, rest, and watch mindless tv.  Mondays tend to be planning days, where we look at the menu for the week, do a lot of shopping, contemplate further menus, communicate with folks about caterings, and more administrative ‘stuff.’  Tuesdays are prep days.  Lots of things need to be chopped, cooked, portioned, and made ready for service.  After all, we are not a sit-down restaurant where we can take 15-20 minutes to serve your food while you sip some over priced wine. We are far more of a ‘quick service’ operation.  So, we choose our menu items, prep, and portion with the idea of being able to put good food in your hands within a couple of minutes, without sacrificing quality.  Anyway…Tuesday is prep day.  Wednesdays can have their own challenges.  As you know, every week there is a different menu.  So, the food truck gets set up a little different each week.  We look at the menu and what we have.  We set up our ‘mise en place’ (see last week’s newsletter) to be ready to cook each item quickly.  What needs to be refrigerated?  What needs to be kept on ice for quick access?  What can we keep in a warming cabinet?  How are we serving this or that?  What are we putting with it for a side?  Has everything been put into the register system?  Every Wednesday…  As we have progressed, though, we are getting better at this.  By the time Tuesday’s prep is done and Wednesday’s set up and sales are done.  We are tired.  So, Thursday morning seems to be a good time to put fingers to the laptop and start writing a newsletter.  Food is prepped, setup is complete.  Life is less stressful.

Last week we served Ebelskivers.  According to Alexa, it is pronounced [ebel Sky verz].  And, who is to argue with Alexa?  I’ll admit, I had never heard of them before.  But, Leigh Anne certainly seemed to know about them.  The origin of Ebelskivers is questionable.  However, they are best known as a Danish Pancake Ball. Most often, they are made as a dessert.  However, savory versions are acceptable too, such as the chicken croquette that we served last week.  They require a special pan:

A fairly wet dough is made with optional fillings.  The pan is heated on a stove.  Butter is put in the half-domed divots.  The dough is scooped into each divot.  After waiting patiently, the dough is flipped over revealing a cooked side of a ball.  Often, this is done with the use of chop sticks.  Once the second side is cooked, you’re done!  This has struck me as a great vehicle to explore interesting flavor profiles.  Think of it like a taco shell.  So many flavors can be put in a taco, right?  Chicken, steak, veggies, rice, lots of different sauces…and the taco shell is but a vehicle for that.  I see the same potential with Ebelskivers.  They can be sweet.  They can be savory.  All this to say, you may find them on our menu again sometime.

Let’s have a brief conversation about a local contest that we seem to be part of now.  The Daily News Record is our local newspaper.  Each year they hold a “Best of the Vally” contest.  It’s a feather in the cap to win these things.  There are lots of categories and even more sub-categories.  There are three stages to the contest.  All of this is driven by the public. First, there is the nominating stage.  Then, there is the first round of voting so that contestants are narrowed down to five in each sub-category.  After that, there is a final stage of voting for the best of best out of the top five.  Well, you all nominated us in five categories:  Best Food Truck, Best Delivery/Take Out, Best Burger, Best Appetizers, and Best Outdoor Dining!  So, phase one is done and phase two is underway.  How does one vote?  Anyone can vote.  You do not even have to live here!  All voting is done online at dnronline.com and find “best of the valley.’  And, you can vote every day!  Feel free to vote for us in each category, then do it all over again tomorrow, and the next day…up to April 4th.  Then, we find out if we made the top five.  Hint:  there are 15 food trucks nominated.  All of them are great people and put out good food.  But, we certainly wouldn’t mind winning!

So, I have a question to ask you, seriously.  I would really appreciate some feedback on this.  In the fall, we changed our hours.  We were open from 11:00-6:00.  Eventually, as it does every year, it got cold, and it got dark around 4:30-5:00.  Not a lot of people were interested in dining at a food truck in the cold and dark.  So, we made a pivot.  We opened at 7:30 and served breakfast!  Then, we close at 3:00.  Breakfast did ok in the winter.  Not great, of course.  But, staying open helped our exposure.  Now, we are really are not doing much breakfast.  And, getting up at 0-dark-30 to get here to turn everything on, spending gas, electricity, etc. seems like it is not really worth it.  Yet, the breakfast orders I get now are between 10:30-2:00!  So…do I open a little later and serve breakfast all day along with a lunch menu?  If so, how late do we stay open?  I would honestly appreciate your input.  Simply hit ‘reply’ to this email and it will come directly to my inbox only.  Thanks in advance!

Moving back to Harrisonburg after a 20+ year absence has been amazing.  Leigh Anne and I love this city.  “Friendly by Nature” is taken seriously.  People actually talk to each other.  Pedestrians can cross a road or parking lot without fearing for their lives.  People wave and shake hands.  What a great place to live.  With the adventure of this food truck, we have had the honor of meeting some  of our newest friends, and I don’t use that term lightly.  One of these is a guy named Shawn Gatesman.  Leigh Anne was on a bread making kick for a while.  At one point she needed some kind of malt for a particular kind of bread she wanting to make.  She googled what she needed, and Google told her to go to The Friendly Fermenter.  Well, unless you are looking for The Friendly Fermenter you might not find it.  For those of you in the area, it is on the corner of East Market Street and Mason Street…UNDER Glo Fiber. There is a staircase on the East Market Street side of the building.  You may feel at first that you are going down into a bomb shelter, which MUST be where he got his hashtag #beershelter.  Anyway, once upon a time Shawn sold home brewing supplies.  But, alas, no more.  However, he did have one package left of what Leigh Anne needed and sold it to us.  As we looked around, we found this to be a welcoming, small, intimate bar built on the beer brewing skills of this man.  There were a couple of gentlemen sitting at the bar, so we decided to sit and have a beer.  We started talking with the guys.  One was a medical doctor, the other a professional of some sort (I don’t remember, obviously).  A few minutes later, a retired couple came in and sat down.  Then, a few more.  Everyone seemed to know each other.  Everyone welcomed us.  And, they were all adults! I point this out because Harrisonburg is a college town.  There are a LOT of students.  So, to find a neighborhood bar that is not overrun by ‘kids’ is pretty amazing.  Shawn is the owner.  Shawn is a big bear of a man who seems larger than life, yet he is remarkably approachable.  Really, he’s a teddy bear.  And, he loves making beer.  He usually has somewhere between 6-10 beers on tap to choose from.  He keeps a variety going so there is usually something for everyone.  Shawn has done a LOT to help us out.  He has recommended us for catering.  He has allowed us to sell food there.  He buys our Fried Potato Ribbons to resell to his customers.  He talks us up to his customers and stops by the food truck often.  We are grateful for business, the recommendations, but most importantly the friendship of Shawn Gatesman and The Friendly Fermenter. 

Where will we be when?  Well for April so far:

April 6: Catering a dinner for Open Doors

April 13-14:  Charlottesville Quilt Show

April 17:  Virginia Quilt Museum breakfast

April 19:  Blue Ridge Builders Association

April 20:  Brothers Craft Brewing Cigar and Barley Wine Festival

April 21:  Alpine Goat Brewery

April 24:  Melrose Caverns for the Spotswood Garden Club

“Wow John, you are certainly verbose.  We haven’t slit our wrists, yet. But, could you wrap this up, please!”

Ok. Ok.  This week, we are serving:

March 27-30

Breakfast 7:30-11:00

¨ Cat Head Southern Biscuit                          $6

Tukey, Egg, Cheddar Cheese

¨ Vegetable Omelette                                   $6

 With a Hashbrown

¨ Garlic & Chive Hash Browns                        $1

¨ Side of Bacon                                         $3

Lunch 11:00-3:00

¨ Chicken Kabobs                                       $8

¨ Taco Soup                                             $8

¨ Pasta Bake                                             $14

¨ Pork Belly Club Sandwich                           $14

¨ Fried Potato Ribbons w/ Sauce                    $5

¨ Soft Pretzels                                                  $5

With German Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Butterscotch Wine Cake                              $5

And then:

April 3-6

Breakfast 7:30-11:00

¨ Cat Head Southern Biscuit                          $6

Steak, Egg, Cheddar Cheese

¨ Breakfast Quesadilla                                  $6

 Sausage, Egg, Cheese

¨ Garlic & Chive Hash Browns                        $1

¨ Side of Bacon                                         $3

Lunch 11:00-3:00

¨ Boneless Chicken Wings                            $8

¨ Chicken Noodle Soup                                $8

¨ Carrot and Cucumber Salad                         $8

¨ Barbeque Burger                                      $14

¨ Pork Burrito                                            $14

¨ Fried Potato Ribbons w/ Sauce                    $5

¨ Soft Pretzels                                                  $5

With German Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Chocolate Covered Caramels                       $5

Now and forever, we thank you for all of your support!