D I S H
Trucks, Taps and the Two Couples Running the Show STORY AND PHOTOS by Sara Locke
A
fter months of patronizing the resident pod of food trucks parked at 108th and Q, The Reader was finally able to sit down with the innovators behind Trucks and Taps. A year that made outdoor dining the only eating-out option made this food truck park a no-brainer for quick bites, grab and go, and a cocktail on the patio. With spacious seating and a full bar, Trucks and Taps is a significant step forward in Omaha’s truck food scene, which until recent years has consisted of a handful of brave souls keeping their meals on wheels with little more than grit and good intentions. While the short roster of trucks available to us were well-loved, they were not well-regulated, well-advertised
Creative cocktails are made from fresh-pressed juices and local liquors. Rotating local brews on tap ensure a fresh experience with every visit.
20
or well-supported. You can’t patronize a truck you can’t find, and you can’t find a truck that didn’t show up to its scheduled stop because of a flat tire. While these intrepid chefs kept trucking along, MetropolThe well-considered angle of the awning at Trucks and Taps ensures itan Community that no truck spends the summer with the sun beating through the College culinary window, and no customer cooks in line while waiting for their order. grad Isaiah Renner was paying his dues on the and the union has proven just Joining Forces Omaha restaurant circuit. Stints at as fortuitous to Omaha as it was While the Omaha Food Truck Nosh, The Grey Plume and Kitch- for the Renners. Soon, the truly en Table built the foundation that dynamic duo were ready to do Association has worked hard helped him launch Daily Grind, a more than pledge their undying to create regulations and suphomestyle cafe at 7171 Mercy Rd. love for one another, they vowed port for food trucks, one thing has been missing for the fleet of “It was my bread and butter, to tackle construction headaches, food factories: a community. The health inspections, sweaty sumbut it wasn’t my cup of tea,” RenOmaha restaurant industry has ner said. “But it was a step in the mer days and the paperwork become the living, breathing, involved in starting a business process that made a lot of things thriving machine it is because of together. possible.” the chefs working together and building it into what it’s become. A Lean, Green BBQ Fish and Chips and a Food truck proprietors have been Machine Chance Encounter islands unto themselves – until Kevin Wyatt had his sights set now. One of those things was the Dire Lion Grille and Chippy. Ren- on a food truck, as well, but there The Renners and Wyatts ner’s food truck got off the ground was no manual, organization or pooled their knowledge, resourcsupport to show him the steps through the use of the commises and networks to create Trucks sary kitchen at Daily Grind. All needed to make it happen. Even and Taps. The spot features four food trucks are required to prep when opportunity didn’t knock, anchor trucks: Dire Lion, Big in a health-department-approved Wyatt found the door. Green Q, Modern Waffle and kitchen, which the commissary “There was a food truck that newcomer Burning Bridges. In kitchen provided. Most food was parked in a driveway near- addition to its anchors, the spot truck proprietors will tell you that by and finally I walked up and has a rotating roster of trucks a proper prep area can be hard to knocked on the door,” Wyatt guest starring Tuesdays through come by. Renner pulled double said. “I wanted to know every- Sundays. duty, spreading himself thin be- thing — what are the regulations, “We wanted to have a place tween Daily Grind and Dire Lion, where can I park a food truck, where people had everything while looking for someone to how or where do I register it? At they needed, an energy source, take the reins on the former. the time, there wasn’t a better a kitchen, a bar and a great seatRenner’s odd hours and cre- way to get that information.” ing area,” Renner said. “But we ative energy resulted in a forThrough trial and error, and also wanted to offer other people tunate encounter with Omaha the courage to ask a lot of ques- what we didn’t have. We wantmusician, engineer and energy tions along the way, Wyatt and ed to give them our experiencactivist Jessica Errett. The pair ex- his wife, Gail, launched Big Green es so they weren’t starting from changed vows in August 2019, Q food truck in 2016. scratch. They were starting with
June 2021
