One of the newest food trucks in the Santa Maria Valley is a well-oiled machine with well-oiled offerings.
From crinkle cut to tater tot, the options for fried potatoes are nearly endless at Spud Street, and you’ll also find a baked potato option on the extensive menu.—full of different proteins, sauces and seasonings that customers can use to spice up their potato bases.
For the past four months, the local owner’s food truck has been seen on various street corners, with rotating weekly pop-ups at select locations in Orcutt, Santa Maria and Nipomo.
“We saw a gap in the foodie scene that we could fill,” Spud Street co-owner Adrien Flores told Sun by email.
Even before Spud Street came about, he and his wife, Tori, knew they wanted to create a self-service business, similar to Chipotle, Subway and Blaze Pizza, with lots of options for crusts and toppings, Flores explained.
“(We) realized there’s a reason why concepts like this work. Because there’s something for everyone,” Flores said. “We thought, ‘Why can’t we have something like this… with fries?’
Photo courtesy of Spud Street
A GIVE-AND-BAKE GAME: French fries, tater tots and wedges aren’t the only potato staples you can choose from when ordering from Spud Street, as the mobile food service’s menu also includes baked potatoes that can be topped with as many toppings as guests want.
“A lot of people were putting French fries on their menu, but we asked ourselves, ‘Why not make our own?'” he recalls. “We did some research and there are some similar options, but nothing that even comes close to what we think we could create.”
The couple began preparing for Spud Street in the summer of 2023 and received the necessary permits in time for the food truck’s official opening in April 2024. Flores said they narrowed down the menu offerings experimentally – “through trial and error and lots of tastings.”
Step one when you want to customize your order at Spud Street is to “pick a potato.” The basic options for fries are classic cut, crinkle cut, curly cut, and waffle, with tater tots, wedges, or a baked potato as an additional base to choose from.
Step two involves the seasonings. Choices include Cajun, lemon and pepper, garlic and parmesan, spicy, and Santa Maria’s favorite Susie: Susie Q. It’s also Flores’ personal favorite of all.
After choosing your base and seasonings, it’s time to dig into the protein choices, which include crispy chicken, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, bacon, carne asada, steak and tri-tip — more specifically, smoked tri-tip, Flores clarified.
“We don’t grill over red oak like we usually do,” the owner said of Spud Street’s smoky take on the cut of beef for which Santa Maria is best known. “We slow smoke our own.”
Photo courtesy of Spud Street
OLYMPIC GAMES IN SIMMER: Spud Street’s Build Your Own Menu offers plenty of proteins and topping options, including grilled shrimp and several toppings and condiments to choose from.
The final two steps of Spud Street consist of toppings (cheese sauce, shredded cheese, chili con carne, pickled jalapeños, grilled vegetables, pico de gallo and guacamole) and garnishes (chipotle aioli, jalapeño ranch, bhut jolokia ranch, spicy honey, salsa verde, sour cream, ranch, barbecue sauce, buffalo sauce and “spud sauce”).
With so many delicious choices to make, Spud Street can be a sensory overload for someone who is very indecisive when it comes to food. Rather than shying away from the new mobile eatery for this reason, those who are more comfortable with predictable arrangements should try Spud Street’s preset special combinations.
Of those dishes, the hibachi fries are the food truck’s best-seller, Flores said, followed by a clear runner-up.
“Hibachi style is clearly the most ordered style, closely followed by Santa Maria style,” Flores said.
Both arrangements can be applied to any of the food truck’s potato base options. The Hibachi style tops its base with Susie Q, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, grilled chicken, steak, grilled shrimp, and grilled vegetables – all drizzled with teriyaki sauce and chipotle aioli.
The Santa Maria-style arrangement also includes the popular aioli drizzle and sprinkles each guest’s potato crust with Susie Q, chopped tri-tip, cheese sauce, shredded cheese and pico de gallo.
Photo courtesy of Spud Street
TRUCK ETERNITY: The Spud Street food truck’s rotating pop-up schedule changes each week, with updates posted via social media. Returning locations include The Collective in Santa Maria, Birchwood Nipomo and Gina’s Piece of Cake in Old Town Orcutt.
Aside from all the accessories, the heart of Spud Street is the potato, and the truck’s two founders have different preferences in this area.
“My personal favorite is tater tots,” Flores said. “Tori prefers classic cut.”
While Tori’s favorite toppings include cheese sauce, grilled shrimp, sour cream, and mango habanero, her husband’s favorite toppings are smoked tri-tip, jalapeños, grilled onions, chipotle aioli, and Spud Street cheese sauce and shredded cheese.
Before recently getting into the food truck business, Flores owned a local insurance agency. He enjoyed the community aspect of working in the insurance industry, but never saw the job as part of his “long-term plan” and eventually hit a “burnout” phase.
“We put the business up for sale without really planning what would happen next, but we knew we were going to open a new business,” Flores said. “We love cooking and entertaining and we always said, ‘We should open a food truck.’ … Opening a new business is always risky, but going back to what we loved doing as a hobby was the perfect risk for us.”
Arts editor Caleb Wiseblood loved dipping French fries in mashed potatoes and gravy at the Hometown Buffet. Send nostalgic comments to (email protected).
