Enjoy Kitchen joins the food truck phenomenon rolling slowly onto the island.
Despite being a world-class dining destination, Nantucket is often slow to embrace the culinary trends that are taking off on the mainland. Only in the last few years have food trucks shown up on the scene, even though they’re a seemingly perfect complement to island eating. What day on the beach wouldn’t be made better by a lobster roll? Or how about a catering company that could cook for your summer soirée without taking over your kitchen? These were the questions that Ben Goldberg and Patrick Ridge were asking themselves when they conceived Enjoy Kitchen, a full-service mobile catering company that has just hit the island.
Ben Goldberg is the founder of Enjoy Nantucket, a high-end concierge service, and Patrick Ridge is best known as the owner and executive chef of Island Kitchen. After collaborating on more than eighty events a couple of summers ago, Goldberg and Ridge partnered up on this unique food truck concept. “Ben knows how to run the front of the house really well and create special moments for people,” Ridge says, “and I come in with the food perspective.”
After some long delays customizing their food truck, Enjoy Kitchen is now firing on all cylinders and ready to cook up a storm. Equipped with nearly all the appliances of a commercial kitchen, Enjoy’s menu will range from hot dogs and hamburgers to full dinner menus made to order. “The menu will always be changing. Some days we’ll want to stop by the beach, other days we’ll be catering weddings and parties,” Ridge says. For instance, he says, “We did an event this morning, then had a drop-off for a dinner, and now we’re heading over to a wedding after-party at Westmoor Farm.”
Goldberg says he is looking forward to catering a lot of parties with “food-truck food,” offering truffle fries, sliders, mac and cheese, mini ice cream cones and more. But if that doesn’t hit the spot, you can order anything from omelets for breakfast, a clambake for lunch, finger apps for a cocktail party, a barbecue for the beach or an elegant meal for dinner — all served from the truck. The duo has also struck a partnership with Cisco Brewers’ bar catering service, Cisco To Go, making Enjoy Kitchen a full service affair. “There’s been an amazing response so far, and that is the way we are growing our business — one client and one connection at a time,” says Goldberg. “There’s not enough fun, casual food on the island these days.”
Nantucket Kitchen will stay on island through the early fall, before heading down south to Palm Beach, Florida for the winter, which might just be the best part of the business model. When the crowds leave the island, Nantucket Kitchen can take their show on the road. For more information, click here.
