Hey everybody! We had such a great time at SoWa. We’re hoping to call this our new Sunday home. What a start. I didn’t expect much for the first day. After all, our formula usually gives us a slow start: zero promotion, avoid press, focus on building relationships with customers one at a time and delivering really good food. Normally we have something like 8 customers to start. Then, if we do our job right with the food and the experience (they don’t have to wait too long, we’re friendly, etc.) they come back. And if we’re lucky they bring a friend. So day 2 we might have something like 7 return customers + 5 friends. And the cycle happens again. You get the idea. We grow, but slowly, one day at a time.

So we were really surprised by our first day at SoWa. We served almost as many mouths as we do on a regular day at one of our existing (already built-up) locations. We’re thrilled for the chance to meet so many new people, and I hope we’re giving you a great experience. We’ll know we’re doing OK if you return next Sunday we’re up (market is closed for holiday this weekend, so it will be on the 12th). And we’ll know we’re really hitting it if you bring friends.

Thanks everybody, looking forward to seeing you again!

So what did you all think about the tables and chairs? The Greenway has these sweet tables and chairs for Dewey Sq. Only problem is we’re often so busy getting your food ready we don’t have time to put them out.

I was around the other day and made sure every single chair and table got out before lunch. If you all like this set-up let us know and we’ll try harder to set them up.

The lunch rush quiets down at about 2-3pm, and then dinner starts. The truck goes from having 9 people hustling in and around it to 2 or 3.

Today around that transitional time, one of you ordered a sandwich, a couple fries, and a drink. You waited for five minutes or so, got your fries and drinks, and your chickpea fritter didn’t come. Then you asked for your money back, and said something about the crew being tired after the lunch rush.

This is true. We’ve all finally paused after a couple really hard hours. But it’s not an excuse. There’s a bunch of stuff we can do better during this transition (continue using the iPod system is one, having a consistent person taking orders is another). Come by tomorrow – we’ll get it right.

By the way, this is a picture from dinner a few weeks ago, we were so excited to have our first real dinner crowd.

Sometimes when we have two people taking orders and the line is really long, it can be kind of confusing as to who you order from. One order-taker stands in front of the other order-taker. I stand back closest to the truck, so I need to beckon the next person in line. Sometimes I wave. Sometimes I raise my iPod in the air. Mostly I just say, “I can help the next person…down here!”

Apparently the folks at Dewey are way more timid about coming forward than at MIT. Ayr was taking orders and one person ordered from 6 or 10 feet away from where he was standing. He made an announcement to the line. Something like, it’s okay, guys, we don’t bite, you can come closer!

Alright, Ayr, I think I found the worst possible solution. I was at 7-11. They had two cashiers and a pretty long line. The second cashier finished with a customer. Then, to beckon the next person in line (me) he just raised his hands up and clapped loudly in my direction. I couldn’t stop laughing because I knew how he felt. But don’t worry, I won’t adopt his method.

Uhgg… food trucks.

OK everybody, I owe you all an explanation about why Clover isn’t going to be at the Boston Food Truck festival thing.

It’s really pretty simple: we try not to get involved with events that build other for-profit brands. We’ve turned down a bunch of events you may not know of (including Life is Good festivals, Yelp events, etc.). We’ve been known to support the Food Project, and we’ve done events for a few other cool non-profits. But this thing is CitySearch sponsored. That’s a for-profit company.

That’s all true, but there’s more to it than that. You might have suspected. It’s related to our being generally prickly with the press and refusing to spend money on advertising. We want to grow because we’re building great food and great relationships. Not because we’re promotional, or advertising, or gimmicky, or in the press a lot. And this isn’t just a philosophical stance. It’s a business stance. The brighter the flash in the short term, the weaker the shoring for the long term. And we’re in this for life.

So sorry folks. You can eat us next to Gooseberry’s, and Jose’s, over in Kendall every day, or at Dewey Square. But you’re not going to find us at marketing events.

Have fun. I’m sure the food will be great. Rolando and I may even walk by to check it out.

(btw: if you’re wondering what that picture is, that’s from LA where there is a factory that rolls these trucks out like sausage. I’m not kidding. Wide-eyed entrepreneurs in one side, gussied up trucks, each a different color come out the other side. Look it up. I hear it’s hot and trendy. Called roadstoves.)

Tony, I think you have some competition in the kitchen. Sara is one of our regulars. One day she said she was going to make seitan at home. I thought…Good luck!

Seitan is one of the most labor-intensive things we make. We knead wheat gluten and barbecue broth into something like a loaf of bread. We cut the dough into thin slices, and simmer them for an hour or longer in barbecue sauce. Then on the truck we bake the seitan with the cheddar and caramelized onions.

I told Sara the ingredients to buy (wheat gluten, the exact barbecue spices from Christina’s spice shop) and gave her some really detailed instructions on a paper bag.

Actually, it took two paper bags. There were some drawings. There were also some warnings…

Like when you’re mixing the wheat gluten with the barbecue broth you have to mix really, really fast, and then form it into a loaf really, really fast, or else, you end up with a crumbly mess, and not a loaf you can slice. And the water: wheat gluten:spices:salt ratio has to be right. And when you simmer the seitan in the barbecue broth you really can’t simmer it for too long, but if you undercook it you’ll get slices that are way too thick.

So after all this, I was really proud when a few days later, Sara came by with a slice of homemade barbecue seitan. It looked great. Thin, held together well, right amount of spice. We even put it in a pita, tested it side by side with Clover’s, and we couldn’t tell the difference. Great job, Sara!

Last Monday was one of those days where the weather was calling for rain, but there was no clouds in sight.  Before I could bite my tongue, it started to drizzle and than downpour.  I took the remaining orders and everyone scattered seeking refuge where ever they could find it (some better than others).  It was raining so hard that it was coming inside the truck and we had to take action. We closed both awnings, but that didn’t stop us from serving food to the folks that were trapped outside.
We ended up serving food out of the front door window and weathered out the storm. When the dust settled, the awing came back up and the customers went on their way and operations went back to normal.

If you haven’t heard, Dewey is growing up. It’s time for a little truck-to-truck competition. Our first ever. We’re going to be counting how many people are fed at each truck over the next 2 weeks. I’ll call the plays. And of course I’m a disinterested observer, right?

Hey Enzo! we know you’re killing it over there in Boston, we know you’ve got the Mayor on your side, did you sneak some pork into that BLT while I wasn’t looking?

But you know what, MIT is still king, at least after day 1 and 2 tallies are in. I’ll admit, we’ve had an advantage. The foul weather doesn’t matter as much when you’re working tech (vs. finance). And yeah, we’ve had a bit of a head start over at MIT. And yeah, breakfast and dinner are huge at MIT. But numbers are numbers. And we’re in an alley at MIT. I mean and alley. You have what, 10,000 people a day come out of that subway stop?

We’re just getting started. Feed more people!

(I didn’t give away any bias, did I? Disinterested observer, I promise. But I’ll admit, I’m an older brother, and you can ask my sisters who’ve had to deal with me for years, I’m always going to be the oldest. DWY like it or not, MIT is always going to be your big brother.)

OK Boston, it’s your turn to speak up. If you’ve stopped by the truck today we gave you a card. Follow this link to fill out the survey. It’s short. It’s simple. And it helps us a ton.

ONLY for Boston customers who stopped today please. Thanks!

DWY Survey

It was Rolando’s birthday today. I knew I had to come up with something good. He even told me that much.

So I was thinking and thinking about what type of cupcake to make. We usually get something that represents the employee as well as we can. Let me back up, we have a lot of new customers. Clover gives away cupcakes, for free, to customers anytime a staff member has a birthday. It’s never announced, but if you come by for breakfast you’ll see us getting them ready and have a heads up. They’re always ugly, but they taste good.

We usually try to get close to our employees (Enzo == corn cupcake, Rum buttercream when Hat turned 21, Chocolate and stout for Jeremiah, parsnips for Teasel, etc.). I started thinking about Clover’s food philosophy, which Rolando is responsible for. And at the core it’s about making simple things taste great. Relying on care and quality ingredients. This is sort of radical in a world where chefs define their cuisine by unpronounceable ingredients, exotic combinations, exotic techniques, and of course, complexity. We’re into few ingredients, carefully prepared.

So I made Rolando the original recipe that all of our cupcakes are based on. This is an old depression era recipe from my Grandmother. We’ve been riffing on it for a long time, but I’ve never made the original for Clover. So here it is, a cupcake version of my Grandmother’s “wacky cake.” That’s a chocolate cake with a crunchy coconut topping.