The Big Bad Food Truck
Following a motorcycle accident in Canada in July 2016, Chef Ben St. Jeanne of Hampton was told he would never work in the kitchen again. But after multiple hospitalizations and surgeries, culminating with the amputation of his right leg in August 2019, St. Jeanne was able to make a full return to work . Up until last year, he had been the chef at the former Mombo Restaurant in Portsmouth. After that eatery closed in the spring of 2020, St. Jeanne and his wife, Molly McCoy (St. Jeanne), began laying out plans for their newest venture. The Big Bad Food Truck (bigbadfoodtruck.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @bigbadfoodtruck), which launched earlier this year, features an always-changing menu of scratch-made barbecue comfort food items, from smoked meats like beef brisket and pork shoulder to vegan alternatives like jackfruit, also prepared with its own house spice blends. The truck’s name is a play on the “big bad wolf,” and its logo is inspired by St. Jeanne and McCoy’s two pomskies, Scotch and Whiskey. The couple lives in Hampton but has traveled to communities across coastal New Hampshire and Maine. The truck’s weekly schedule is regularly posted to its Facebook page and website. The Scene recently caught up with St. Jeanne to talk about his journey fulfilling a longtime dream to launch a food truck, as well as some of his must-try menu picks.
How long has The Big Bad Food Truck been around?
We started working on it in February of this year. … Our first event was May 15, and then we also did the [Smuttynose] Beach & Brew [Festival] at the end of June in Hampton. We’ve both wanted to have a food truck for a very long time, so it’s been a really fun experience for us.
What makes it unique?
We definitely strive to have the freshest ingredients possible. We make everything from scratch, and we pour a lot of time into it just trying to go for the highest quality we can.
What is your personal favorite on your menu?
We do a 13-hour smoked brisket that is absolutely exceptional, and we make our own barbecue sauce for our sandwich that goes on toasted buttered bread. It’s incredible, especially if you’re really hungry. We also have a fryer in our trailer, so we can do hand-cut seasoned fries.
What is something that everyone should try?
We do our own take on a grilled cheese called The Meltdown, which has our smoked bacon with Gouda, provolone and cheddar cheese, and barbecue sauce. … We also do a really slow roasted jackfruit that has the texture of a pulled pork, and that comes on a vegan barbecue sauce.
What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your food truck?
Alton Brown [of Food Network]. I have watched every episode of Good Eats since the beginning. The guy is my idol.
What is an essential skill to running a food truck?
I think it comes down to ... keeping the process streamlined and making sure you have everything lined up. The other thing is patience and … being ready in case things go wrong.
What is your favorite thing about being on the Seacoast?
The community, and just everybody coming together for the greater good. There is no better example for us than our accident. … The town of Hampton collectively raised thousands of dollars to bring us home from Canada to Brigham and Women’s Hospital ... and some of these were [people] we had met once or never met. The people here have just been incredible.
— Matt Ingersoll
Photo Credit: Big Bad Food Truck
