nothin Today’s Special: Jared’s Super Supreme Baked… | New Haven Independent

Today’s Special: Jared’s Super Supreme Baked Potato

Brian Slattery Photos

The order for a Super Supreme baked potato at Spuds Your Way in Hamden took owner and cook Jared Cohen either mere minutes — or over 12 hours — to prepare, depending on how you counted.

A Super Supreme loaded baked potato has the classic ingredients of a baked potato — butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon — and then adds the works. That includes a medley of vegetables: broccoli, zucchini, peppers and onion. It also includes a second meat choice, from among shaved chicken (roasted, barbecue, or buffalo), shaved steak, ground beef, chili, or pulled pork.

This order asked for the pulled pork. That took 12 hours to cook, starting the day before. The vegetables were chopped fresh only slightly earlier in the day. The potato had taken an hour to bake. But with all that done before lunch orders came in, the rest happened fast.

First Cohen added the butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon to the still-hot potato. He then took a serving of pulled pork and chopped vegetables and fried them up fast on the kitchen’s griddle.

Then it was about layering. The pork went on the potato first, followed by a healthy dose of barbecue sauce. That gave the vegetables another minute to cook on the griddle. Cohen then added the vegetables and the potato was done — one of the most popular items at Spuds Your Way, from a menu that, true to the eatery’s name, offers baked potatoes with an array of options that would make meals ranging from quick lunch to sit-down (at home) dinner.

Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Spuds Your Way to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Call (203) 239‑3000 or visit the website to order the Super Supreme or other dishes for take-out or delivery from Spuds Your Way, which is at 3500 Whitney Ave. Hours are 11 a.m.-9:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Sundays.

Cohen grew up in Hamden and attended Central Connecticut State University. The idea to open a business based on baked potatoes started on a visit to the Big E in Springfield, Mass. with his father.

They found a food truck on sale for $10,000.

It was fully equipped,” Cohen said. All I needed to do was get a generator for it.” In 2013 the Spuds Your Way truck opened for business, parked at a gas station in central Hamden. The truck offered burgers and fries, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches, but the focus was on overstuffed baked potatoes. Cohen was 23 years old and was there six days a week. He learned how to run both a kitchen and a small business on the job.

I don’t consider myself a chef,” Cohen said. I’m just a hard-working guy who found a niche.”

For the first year, Cohen kept his previous job — dealing poker games at Mohegan Sun — at night. As Spuds Your Way started to gain a following, he made it his full-time occupation. He bought a trailer to be able to take the truck to farmer’s markets, food truck festivals, and private parties and events. As the years went on, to keep his business growing, he began looking for a brick-and-mortar spot.

We’d been looking for a while,” he said, when the Whitney Avenue space opened up. The rent was right, and Spuds Your Way occupied it in the summer of 2019.

I’m glad we did it.” Cohen said. At the beginning of the pandemic, he said, the food trucks took a beating.” All of the events he had been scheduled to appear at between March and August 2020 were cancelled. I missed out on all the college events for spring and fall,” he said. He applied for and got a PPP loan, which helped him weather the loss of income. But he also saw takeout business pick up from the Whitney Avenue location — which had by then allowed him to expand the menu further to include appetizers, quesadillas, salads, wraps and subs.

These days Cohen still brings the truck to Hamden’s farmer’s market, but otherwise it’s mostly occupied with private parties and corporate events. Spuds Your Way is also part of a meal program the University of New Haven runs once a week, in which the university invites food trucks to the campus and allows its students to buy from them on its meal plan instead of having to be indoors in the cafeteria.

Every day starts with food preparation. The bacon is cooked fresh every morning. The potatoes get made throughout the day, as they only have a four-hour shelf life,” Cohen said. He estimated that, each day, he sold 75 to 100 potatoes out of the storefront, and anywhere from 60 to 600 out of the truck. We’ve had days that we do over 1,000 potatoes,” he said. It gets pretty crazy.” Vegetables get chopped mornings, throughout the day — whenever there’s free time, there’s always something to do. There are always vegetables to chop.” It’s worth it, though, to have freshly chopped vegetables. We try to provide the best quality that we can,” Cohen said. By we” he means he and his crew, which can number anywhere from five to seven depending on the week and more in the summer. The crew includes his father, who works alongside me.” He now has two trucks in addition to the storefront, and is hoping to be able to staff all three in the warmer months.

He’s interested in continuing to grow the business but doesn’t want to do it too fast. You got to make sure everything’s in place,” he said.


Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:

Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan Wings”
Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
Today’s Special: Francesco’s Tortelli
Today’s Special: Seikichi’s Sushi
Today’s Special: Ketkeo’s Khao Poon
Today’s Special: Mike Fox’s French Toast
Today’s Special: Zhang’s Squirrel Fish Dish
Today’s Special: Jessica’s Gumbo
Today’s Special: Kenny Kim’s Vegan Ramen
Today’s Special: Ernesto’s Venezuelan Arepa
Today’s Special: Corey’s Prison Reformer” Frank
Today’s Special: Bryan’s Butter Chicken Pie

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