One of the Santa Maria Valley’s newest food trucks is a well-oiled machine with well-oiled offerings.
From crinkle cut to tater tot, the fried potato possibilities are virtually limitless at Spud Street, which also boasts a baked potato option on its expansive menu—full of different proteins, sauces, and seasonings for customers to load their potato bases with.
Over the past four months, the locally owned food truck has been spotted at various street corners with rotating, weekly pop-ups held at select venues across Orcutt, Santa Maria, and Nipomo.
“We saw a gap in the foodie scene that we could fill,” Spud Street co-owner Adrien Flores told the Sun over email.
Before Spud Street came to fruition, he and his wife, Tori, knew they wanted to start some kind of build-your-own business, akin to Chipotle, Subway, and Blaze Pizza, with lots of base and topping options, Flores explained.
“[We] realized there’s a reason concepts like this work. It’s because there’s something for everyone,” Flores said. “We thought, ‘Why is there nothing like this ... with fries?’
“Many people have loaded fries on their menu, but, ‘Why not build-your-own,’ is what we asked ourselves,” he recalled. “We researched and there are some similar options out there, but nothing near what we felt we could create.”
The couple began prepping for Spud Street during the summer of 2023 and got the necessary permitting in time for the food truck’s official launch in April 2024. Flores said they narrowed down the menu’s offerings with an experimental outlook—“through trial and error and lots of tasting.”
Step one when it comes to customizing your order at Spud Street is to “pick a spud.” The base options for fries are classic cut, crinkle cut, curly cut, and waffle, with tater tots, wedges, or a baked potato as additional bases to build from.
Step two involves seasonings. Your choices are Cajun, lemon and pepper, garlic and parm, spicy, and Santa Maria’s favorite Susie: Susie Q. It’s also Flores’ personal fave of the bunch.
After picking your base and seasoning, it’s time to dive into the protein selection, which includes crispy chicken, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, bacon, carne asada, steak, and tri-tip—specifically, smoked tri-tip, Flores clarified.
“We don’t barbecue over red oak like the norm,” the proprietor said of Spud Street’s smoky spin on the beef cut Santa Maria’s best known for. “We slow smoke ours ourselves.”
The last two Spud Street steps are toppings (cheese sauce, shredded cheese, chili con carne, pickled jalapeños, grilled veggies, pico de gallo, and guacamole) and drizzles (chipotle aioli, jalapeño ranch, ghost pepper ranch, hot honey, salsa verde, sour cream, ranch, barbecue sauce, buffalo sauce, and “spud sauce”).
With so many delicious decisions to make, Spud Street may induce sensory overload for someone who’s super indecisive when it comes to food. Rather than shy away from the new mobile eatery for that reason, those who are more comfortable with predictable arrangements should check out Spud Street’s pre-set signature combinations.
Of these choices, Flores said the food truck’s biggest seller is the hibachi fries, which is followed by a clear runner-up.
“Hibachi-style definitely takes the crown as the most ordered, with Santa Maria-style being a close second,” Flores said.
Both arrangements can apply to any of the food truck’s spud base options. The hibachi style tops its base with Susie Q, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, grilled chicken, steak, grilled shrimp, and grilled veggies—all drizzled with teriyaki sauce and chipotle aioli.
The Santa Maria-style arrangement also includes the popular aioli drizzle and sprinkles each patrons’ spud base with Susie Q, chopped tri-tip, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo.
All accoutrements aside, the heart of Spud Street is the potato, and the truck’s two founders have differing preferences in this arena.
“My personal favorite is tater tots,” Flores said. “Tori’s favorite is classic cut.”
While cheese sauce, grilled shrimp, sour cream drizzle, and mango habanero are among Tori’s favorite toppings, her husband’s go-tos include smoked tri-tip, jalapeños, grilled onion, chipotle aioli, and both Spud Street’s cheese sauce and shredded cheese.
Before recently jumping into the food truck game, Flores owned a local insurance agency. He enjoyed the community aspect of working in insurance but never saw the job as part of his “long term plan” and eventually reached a “burnt out” phase.
“We listed the business for sale with no real plan of what was next, but we knew we’d be starting a new business,” Flores said. “We love to cook and host and always said, ‘We should start a food truck.’ ... Starting a new business is always risky, but going back to what we loved to do as a hobby was the perfect risk for us to take.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood used to love dipping fries in mashed potatoes and gravy at Hometown Buffet. Send nostalgic comments to [email protected].
