Underdogs Gastro Truck opened in June of 2012 and is run by two Steves, Steve Lee and Steve Kennard, who took some time to answer questions for sdfoodtrucks.com.
Why did you name your truck “Underdogs”?
Most people assume from our name that we do hot dogs, but really that name is a stand against those who tried to keep us down and tell us we wouldn’t make it in life. Underdogs almost always come out on top, they rally and give it all they can. The term underdog truly represents us.
Why did you open a food truck?
We were tired of working for “The Man” and we both have a passion for cooking, so after a few chit chats about the future we decided to venture out as a team.
What did you do before you had the food truck? What’s your background?
We were strippers…no we weren’t. Both Steves have culinary degrees and have worked in various kitchens from catering to the Redskins and the D.C. crowd, hotels and convention centers in San Diego and local San Diego restaurants.
How would you describe your food?
An intricate mix of desire and fantasy. It’s savory, sweet, unexpected, and daring served on a bun, and if you like to sizzle, we have a death sauce for you to conquer.
What makes your truck/food great/unique?
We have artistic freedom to take chances and truly explore all the quirky and delicious things we can do with Sausage. We roasted pumpkins and served up a pumpkin and sausage soup inside them, and we took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, added banana, and grilled it up with a savory sausage – Elvis has come back into the building! We love experimenting and that keeps our menu fresh and exciting.
What’s the best part about running this business and what is your biggest challenge?
Calling our own shots is the best part, well that, and the smiles on people’s faces once they taste our masterpieces. But with that comes our biggest challenge, getting our sausage in you. Many people don’t think about sausage as the multi-dimensional food it is. There is so much more you could be doing with our sausage than you think.
How do you come up with menu items?
Go to a local brewery and drink till the new menu item appears, very long and drawn out process, not for everyone, or we think about what’s in season and what we could do with that produce, how it could mesh well with our sausage, and what we haven’t done before; either one, we can’t remember.
What would you say is your most popular item?
Since we rotate our menu based on the seasons, that’s a little difficult, however, we do have some items available year round and are continually requested. Those are the MacDaddy, Cousin Elvis and the Sudden Death.
What is something “off the wall” that you would love to put on your menu but aren’t sure people would go for?
We really want to stuff an octopus tentacle with our sausage. You wanna see it!?
What is the best thing you’ve EVER eaten had from a food truck? Which truck was it and where?
BBQ from Slow Cal BBQ, we eat it every chance we get.
What’s the best reaction someone has had to your food?
Holy S#&T, D#%n, and a bunch of other expletives, always in a good way, but we even relish in the simple “thumbs up”.
Thank you to Underdogs Gastro Truck for taking the time to do this interview. Underdogs Gastro Truck can be found on Twitter at @underdogstruck or Facebook or their website.
Pictured food–top: Rolled Dogs. Bottom: The Hosehead.