A different angle on food

It’s a cold winter day and the subzero temperatures promised for the weekend can be felt on the breeze as Olio, a local food truck, parks in the Family Dollar parking lot.

Soon, other vehicles arrive as their occupants brave the cold to place an order with owner and chef Daniel Krugman. Due to the cold, Krugman is clad in heavy clothing, overalls and a beanie. It’s not unusual to see a food truck in Saratoga, though it is a relatively recent development. While food trucks have been common in Rawlins—just 40 miles away—it seemed to take some time before they ventured into the Platte Valley. Now, they’re becoming more common with both local and regional food trucks setting up at Family Dollar. Olio is the most recent addition, having come to the Valley this past summer.

Krugman has only been in the food truck business for a little over a year.

“I’m sitting at about a year and half now,” said Krugman as he moved around his small kitchen.

Krugman originally comes from the Fort Collins area and called Northern Colorado home before he moved to Chicago to attend Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute of Chicago. One might wonder, however, how a classically trained chef came to operate a food truck in Wyoming.

“There’s show’s all about it, all over the place,” said Krugman, jokingly.

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, Krugman cooked for about five years in Chicago before taking an offer in Austin, Texas. He spent a year in Austin before he returned to Chicago.

“So I went back for a few more years. My parents were starting to get a little bit older and I wanted to be around them a little more, so I came back to the Fort Collins area,” said Krugman. “I took a job at the Greeley Country Club and became the executive chef out there, had a kid and couldn’t get myself under 90 hours a week. So, I left that and went to the Marriott in Fort Collins.”

Eventually, however, Krugman left that job as well. He found himself struggling with the food scene in Northern Colorado compared to places like Denver or Boulder. Part of that reason, said Krugman, was cooks who didn’t aspire to be chefs.

“They would show up when they felt like it,” said Krugman. “I had some people that were good and I would have loved to have brought them wherever else I went.”

For a year, Krugman left the culinary world altogether and took a job as a salesperson with Fastenal.

“My wife was like ‘You just don’t seem happy. You need to be in a kitchen,’” said Krugman.

His wife, Shelby (Wilder) Krugman, encouraged him to open up Olio when they lived in Fort Collins.

“I always say my wife kicked me into this and I absolutely love it,” said Krugman.

As he opened up Olio, Krugman decided to combine his culinary experience and family heritage.

“I’m just bringing a different angle on food. It was the same thing down in the Fort Collins area. There wasn’t really a Mediterranean truck and it’s just kind of out there, that’s why I went with it,” said Krugman. “My mom is Italian and she’s an amazing cook. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her. Her brother’s a chef and there’s dad’s a chef … all the way back into Sicily. It kind of runs in the blood and I always enjoyed being in the kitchen.”

While he had an Italian background, Krugman didn’t want to limit himself to just one type of cuisine. When at Le Cordon Bleu, he had interned at “avec”, a Chicago-based Mediterranean restaurant. He also worked at Nico Osteria, a rustic Italian restaurant also in Chicago.

“There’s so many good cuisines that I didn’t want to limit myself to just one, so I decided to go with a larger region,” said Krugman. “That way I can play around with my menu a lot more.”

Krugman’s menu is indeed diverse. Meatball sandwiches, beef gyros, chicken or steak empanadas and grilled moroccan chicken are all currently on the menu and all are made from scratch. This menu variety seems to have been well accepted by the Valley.

“There’s always that honeymoon period. When there’s a new truck, everyone gets excited and then it kind of fizzles down,” said Krugman. “I think I’m starting to climb back up a little bit where people are starting to understand the quality of the food and how everything is from scratch.”