Rock icons The Grateful Dead blended multiple genres to create memorable tunes. Now, decades later, food truck owner Desiree Bagnell is doing the same with her cooking. She runs The Grateful Gourmet, a food truck in the Garden State that’s becoming as legendary as its namesake. Today, we’re happy to showcase it as one of The Best New Jersey Food Trucks.
Bagnell began her culinary enterprise more than two decades ago under the name My Retro Bistro. Back then, it was her side business as she worked a fulltime career in human resources and recruitment. She only occasionally catered small events, like birthday parties and baby showers, as her business slowly grew. However, Bagnell was laid off from her full-time job during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Fortunately, Bagnell and her husband, Paul, were already in the process of building her food truck. While waiting for the truck to be built out and painted, Bagnell posted weekly menus on her social media pages; personally delivering her food to customers’ doorsteps. But by the fall of 2020, The Grateful Gourmet hit the streets of New Jersey. The truck visits a number of events as well as vineyards, and still caters those intimate parties.
The Grateful Gourmet offers a variety of southern-inspired comfort food influenced by Bagnell’s mother and grandmother’s German heritage. She puts her own spin on traditional dishes, while staying true to her favorite flavors from each. Best of NJ spoke with Desiree to discuss her menu, her truck, and her life growing up cooking.
Best of NJ Interview: The Grateful Gourmet
BONJ: You have a very unique truck. What was the process like getting that ready?
Desiree: I had the people working on the truck speed it up a little bit and finish it quicker after I got laid off, and I was set to go by fall 2021. We found the ’57 Canned Ham camper down in North Carolina from a fisherman. I had a local artist from Long Island paint it. It was just this ratty-looking old trailer and we decided to have it gutted. I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, because every event that we’d ever gone to I just looked at the food trucks and thought, ‘Yeah, they’re cool, but I think there could be something that would be a niche, like that would look neater‘. And that’s what it turned out to be.
BONJ: I have to ask, just based on your name, are you a Grateful Dead fan?
Desiree: Yes [laughs]. I’m a huge Grateful Dead fan, yes. In fact, I just got back from the show in Charlotte. I flew down to see them. I try to get to as many shows as I possibly can every time they’re playing.
BONJ: Did you always know what you were going to name your truck?
Desiree: It’s funny, because when I started doing this, I started out with just doing catering. I always did it part time. So it allowed me to keep my toe in the water and keep my passion alive. Then people started asking me, “Hey, do you think you could cater this baby shower?” or “Do you think you could do this birthday party?” And then started growing to, “Hey, do you think you could do our wedding?”
So it started out with just doing catering as My Retro Bistro. That was the mother company that I started it under. But when I saw the truck, it just all came together. I was like, “It’s going to be the Grateful Gourmet.” And it morphed into exactly what it should have.
BONJ: What year did you first start doing catering?
Desiree: The very, very beginning… I’m going to date myself now [laughs]. I’d say it’s been 20 years. And just small events here and there. So 2000, 2001.
BONJ: What was business like when you first started out with My Retro Bistro and then The Grateful Gourmet?
Desiree: I started out doing small events, but when I got laid off it turned into something else entirely. I didn’t really have a business model, I was just doing it for fun. But when the pandemic hit, I thought, “Okay, let me figure out how to make a living off of this.” I started doing contact-less delivery. I would put a weekly menu up as the Grateful Gourmet and people would text me and Venmo me; then I would go and deliver meals to their home so they didn’t have to cook. That’s kind of how it started with Grateful Gourmet.
Then when the truck was ready, we got everything prepared to go roadside. We eased out of doing weekly meal deliveries and just went full steam ahead with the truck. So the business model certainly changed and shifted with what I needed to do for the pandemic. I just had to be flexible.
BONJ: When was your first event with the truck?
Desiree: The first thing was Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery down in Cape May.
BONJ: How was that experience?
Desiree: Fantastic. I mean, you’re a nervous wreck, because you’re new and you’re thinking, “All right, I’ve practiced with this at home. I’ve had it plugged in, and I think I know how it’s going to run.” But honestly, you start to work out all the kinks during that first event; your instinct kicks in and you know how to cook and how to keep rolling. It’s just the running of the register you’re a little nervous with or just being with a new team.
My husband works with us, and one of my best friends ever works alongside us, too. She usually does service. So when we have an event like that, we need to ramp up. It turned out fantastic, though after we were done our first day, we were like, “Okay, I need a glass of wine now” [laughs]. “And let’s talk about what we can do better the next time.”
BONJ: Where do you typically deliver to?
Desiree: I would say within about 25 miles of Haddon Township, if they order a certain amount for delivery.
BONJ: Okay, let’s get into the food. How would you describe your menu?
Desiree: I feel like it’s southern-inspired comfort food, for sure. A lot of times, I try to marry concepts from the south and also from the north. It’s kind of like putting a Philly spin on certain things. Certainly I have my own little spin, but you try to keep it as classic as possible. For example, there’s a pork sandwich that I do that is great; I do a barbecue pork and then throw in something really Philly, like hot cherry peppers normally on cheesesteaks.
The greatest part of this is I get to do what I feel like doing [laughs]. I have notebooks – tons of them – and I just think of crazy combinations, and then test them out.
That’s what people want to eat when they’re out to a food truck. It’s filling, it’s satisfying, and it’s very comforting.
BONJ: What are the menu items people go crazy for?
Desiree: Nashville Hot Chicken is one of them, for sure. Tater tots and Brussels sprouts. And you would think, “Brussels sprouts? Ew, weird.” But no, I make a really funky sauce that goes on them, and people are always asking for the recipe [laughs].
Those are some of the main staples. I love it because you can do so many things with the tater tot. I do Nashville tots, salt and vinegar, dill, truffle parm… there’s a million things you can do with tater tots. Then you can load it with melted pimento cheese and chili sauce. They’re very popular.
I also have some really popular grilled cheeses. There’s one that I usually have on the menu called The Little Dreamer, and that’s pretty popular. It’s thick-sliced bacon with two kinds of cheese on a maple swirl bread. I also do one that’s bacon jam with pears, arugula, and two kinds of cheese.
BONJ: What kind of catering options do you offer?
Desiree: I can do anything from a private dinner for two to larger parties. Often, I do small, intimate dinner parties where they’ll want something a little more upscale; as well as large events like weddings and baby showers. I like to meet my customers and get to know them to find out what they’re looking for. I’m not going to be your white glove service kind of person. I leave that to the true chefs, like that’s their thing. But I’ll go through the menu with my customers, and we try to figure out exactly what they’d like.
BONJ: Do you have anything special planned for 2022?
Desiree: Believe it or not, people are already booking for the following year out for weddings. That’s weddings and rehearsals. We also have a lot of corporate events booked for this year—employee appreciation events, corporate luncheons. Then we have some fun events planned as well. It’s full steam ahead!
Click here to see more of The Best New Jersey Food Trucks.
All Photos: © Patrick Lombardi / Best of NJ
Source: https://bestofnj.com/features/food/the-best-new-jersey-food-trucks-the-grateful-gourmet/