Inside the potato oven – where the magic happens. Photo: Kazuri Photography
Potatoes are the most versatile of vegetables.
We love them rustic and simple: roasted, baked, mashed, fried up into hot chips and hash browns.
We fancy them up as gratin, Duchess, Hassellback or galette.
We turn them into pasta as deliciously textured gnocchi.
And, of course, we stuff them!
Stuffed baked potato expands its cinematic universe exponentially. I often serve potato works at home, with a variety of meat, baked veggies, cheese, sour cream, and shallots, and it would have to be one of our favourite meals.
Mr Spud food van owner Scott Evans knows this better than most. He’s been working in the food van business since he was 14 and is now mastering the spud.
“My dad’s cousin has an ice cream van,” he says. “So when I was 14, I started working for her. Through that job, I met a lady making baked potatoes in a food van. I worked for her for five years and just loved it. From there, I started out on my own. I started with one food van and grew into a fleet of them.”
Scott says he bought his first trailer-mounted potato oven for $500, spruced it up with another $1500, and hasn’t looked back.
“That oven continues to be used today, mostly at the Handmade Markets, and has been the best one out of three I own.”
On the day I popped past to order a spud, his food van was selling at the markets, and there was a line. Scott’s spud van boasts two gargantuan spuds on the front bench. The line of us waiting to place our order wonders aloud if our potato will be that size. Surely not!
It turns out that the spuds range from medium to large to gigantic.
The baked potato varieties begin at $14 and include Traditional, slathered in butter, sour cream, cheese and shallots to the Hunger Buster, stuffed with generous lashings of seasoned beef mince, cheese, sour cream, corn chips and sweet and sour sauce. A brand new addition to the menu is the richly sauced chicken and corn spud.
I order creamed corn and bacon, Scott’s personal favourite. Mine is huge and blistered from its time in the hot oven. Scott splits open the potato and covers it with delicious gooey cheese, creamy corn, fresh shallots and bacon.
I order creamed corn and bacon, Scott’s personal favourite. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
It is when I begin to mix up the toppings – cheese, sour cream, bacon, creamed corn and shallots – I see the true magic of the hard potato skin. It almost forms an edible bowl around the tender potato, which peels away from the skin easily. No knife is necessary. Crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. My spud is delicious.
The food van also offers a range of nachos. Go classic with the Traditional, simple and satisfying with savoury mince, cheese, sour cream and shallots, or go whole hog with the Combo Nachos, where you can’t see your corn chips for topping – seasoned mince, cheese, seasoned grilled vegetables and beans.
Owning four food vans has cemented Scott’s success as he brings so much variety to any event.
His MR WHIPP sells soft-serve ice cream, sundaes, milkshakes, slushies and milkshakes. Their other food van offers burgers, chips, hot dogs, bacon and egg rolls, and cold drinks.
Scott’s food vans can also cater for private functions, markets and festivals with a menu to suit.
Vegetarians, vegans, and carnivores can all enjoy a spud or nachos here. The menu covers most dietary needs.
Follow Scott’s Food Vans on Facebook to discover where they are serving up their incredible loaded potatoes, ice creams and coffee.
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