Spud Stud

The Spud Stud has been parking by the courthouses in downtown New Haven during lunch as of late, and it’s a nice alternative to throw into my lunch rotation. I’ve gone once so far for lunch and had the potato topped with chili, cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, and crushed Doritos. There wasn’t anything particularly outstanding about it, and the Doritos were a little stale, but it was fun comfort food, and it made for a good lunch. I can’t remember if I’d had the Spud Stud before at a brewery or another event, or if my prior potatoes were from different vendors, but I feel like food truck baked potatoes are usually a little bigger than the one I had this day. There were a lot of options for baked potatoes, so I would like to go back to try those. My office roommate has gone a few more times than I have, and I’ve been able to snag some of her fried pickles, which I like better than the potatoes and want to order on my own next time.

Well today I got to try the Infamous Spud Stud Truck. They came to our work with their delicious fare. Luckily today nice and sunny with a beautiful breeze. Since we were going to chomping down on Fresh & Hot Baked Potatoes, Burgers, Fries, Onion Rings and Fried Pickles.
The Onions rings are more like what I call onion straws and they very tasty and crisp. I got a small fry with bacon, cheese & sour cream. Fries were nice and crisp and held up well to the toppings… and they use real Bacon! not that fake junk. My friend Tracey got the pulled pork potato which is topped with pulled pork mixed with bbq and then also topped with slaw and a few pickles. She said it was delicious! My friend David got the Cowboy potato which was topped with baked beans, chopped bbq chicken, cheese and bacon which he throughly enjoyed. I went with a Big Olé Bacon Cheeseburger topped with a fried egg… it was messy but so damn worth the calorie load… Guess, I’ll be on a diet this weekend… lol

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Spud Stud truck at Stony Creek. They messed up our order — though they then gave us free fries, which was nice — but everything was just super greasy. The fried pickles were my favorite, and tater tots are hard to mess up. The baked potato was overflowing with toppings.

Great spuds! Love the buffalo chicken spud, a surprising delicious combination! Chili cheese fries were also delicious! If you ever have a chance to eat at this food truck, do it!

There’s a big problem with this review. I can’t give you a 100% honest review of their food because what I got was literally thrown together by the guys in the truck. It was a potato with some bacon and sour cream on it. Not what I ordered at all, but I can’t completely blame the two guys. Allow me to explain.
We were at the Two Roads Brewery on a Friday night. The truck was there and as usual with all food trucks at the brewery, the line was wicked long. After a while it died down and we hopped in line with only 2 people ahead of us, but still ended up waiting at least a half an hour in line. We soon found out why. Two guys were left in the truck on their first day and it didn’t seem like they were shown where anything was. They both seemed really overwhelmed and frantic, which I can understand, and they kept apologizing because the boss (a blonde woman with a real attitude problem) had walked off without telling them. In the process she took the phone they use to accept credit cards.
To spare you all the ridiculous details, it took the gentlemen in the truck 10 minutes to fill my buddy’s order because they had to figure out what was on it, where it was and also contend with the boss lady who returned in a fury, shouting that they had to work faster because she wanted to leave. Never did she offer to help or actually step in to reduce the line.
I should mention that not once did she ever actually address the line of 6 or 7 people building up behind us or even acknowledge that we were standing there waiting for our food. She stood at the back and eventually the front of the truck trying to not to be seen as she shouted at the workers.
When told they needed the phone to accept my friend’s payment she had no patience to show them how to use it and actually insisted my buddy pay cash, which he didn’t have. She then suggested to her employee that my friend shouldn’t get his food, to which he awkwardly shrugged and said «he already has it.»
When it came to me the embarrassed worker told me he’d do his best to make what I wanted. He did. It was alright. Not worth the six dollars I had to pay though. Of course presenting my credit card drew another round of curses and frustration from the boss.
I feel really bad for the line of people behind us who were told they waited for nothing. The truck closed after I got my food. I understand that food service can be an incredibly frustrating business, especially when things go wrong like they appeared to tonight, but being a boss means being a leader and stepping up. Get out from your hiding spot and work. Apologize to people if the problem is keeping you from providing what they want or if you’re running out of food. Don’t hide hoping people won’t see you and curse at your employees.

What a lovely surprise to have a food truck at Black Hog Brewing Company. Although not a big fan of baked potatoes there were many other options available so while enjoying a couple of pints Mark C and I decided to split some fried pickles and a plate of nachos. I waited inside while Mark placed the order and not too long after Chris (the owner) delivered two heaping plates of hot, fried goodness.
I am a big fan of fried pickles (and pretty much anything fried for that matter) but the problem I have many times with fried pickles is the batter not sticking to the pickle. The diner is then left with a mouthful of pepper or a mouthful of batter which is no bueno. However these fried peppers did not suffer that fate. A thick homemade batter surrounding kosher pickle slices was a party in my mouth. Each slice had a wonderful sweet and salty taste and when I asked Chris if some of the pickles were bread and butter and he said no that the secret was in his batter, made fresh on the truck.
We also ordered nachos and again I was surprised at what came out of that truck. I was expecting cold random tortilla chips some sauce but what I got was freshly fried tortilla chips, layered in between a home-​made chili and topped with a hot «cheese» sauce. I will give a pass to the «cheese» sauce because the chili, chock full of kidney beans and a sweet/​spicy meat sauce was the star of the dish.
Both of these dishes complemented the beer and there were many other patrons enjoying a variety of dishes on the Spud Stud’s menu.
Chris told me that he has been in business for about 4 years and travels the state and also caters a lot of private and corporate functions. He’s got his menu and service down pat, with some amazing flavors coming out of such a small kitchen. I would gladly patronize his truck if we ever cross paths in the future.

Spud Stud has great food. However there comes a major problem when you book him to show up at an 80 person High School reunion and he doesn’t show up. My wife booked him for this evening and confirmed with the owner. I then confirmed with him last Thursday in person. He then tells me that nobody confirmed with him which is a lie. Now we are starting the reunion without our food truck.
I will never patronize this guy again.

The Spud Stud is an amazing food truck that parks outside Two Roads Brewery in Stratford on various nights. (Check their Facebook page for schedule.) They feature gourmet baked potatoes, burgers, hotdogs, wraps, and salads.
We had 2 of their stuffed potatoes on Wednesday night and they were amazing! One had barbecued pork and the other had nacho toppings. Not only were they delicious (and a great accompaniment for Two Roads beer) the portions were so generous we took enough home for two more whole meals!