If there’s one food trend that doesn’t seem to be abating, it’s the blitzkrieg of the food truck (hooray!). Last year, Haddonfield chef Mark Rooks decided to add his mini-restaurant-on-wheels to the fray. He tapped into the local-food trend, supporting neighboring farms (hooray again!), and Beast of the Street was born.
Today, Rooks zips around south Jersey in his glossy black truck, serving street food like grass-fed beef sliders, crab-meat-and- cream-cheese spring rolls with habanero-honey dipping sauce (made with Busy Bees NJ honey from Cape May Court House); the Gobbler egg roll, with fresh roast turkey, stuffing, and fresh local-cranberry relish; and curried local-pumpkin soup. A catering specialist for nearly 20 years, Rooks sums up his cooking philosophy in three words: fresh, seasonal and edgy.
“I love what I do from day to day,” he says, of catering. “But I was having the itch to do something else. I have really tried to focus on basic food-truck comfort foods, but put an edgy spin on them,” Rooks explains.
One example? Rook’s take on crab fries. His version starts with waffle-cut fries that are topped with luxurious jumbo lump crabmeat and a housemade white American cheese sauce.
Visit the website to see where the Beast is rolling next, or call to arrange a personal pit stop for fall parties. —Marisa Procopio
