Couple cooks up contest success

SANDPOINT — Mandy and Steven Smith are at it again.

The couple, who grew up in the same Sandpoint neighborhood, is competing in the Thomas’ Breakfast Battle — Food Truck Edition. The competition started with 50 food trucks from around the country; each was asked to create signature breakfast recipes featuring the company’s English muffins paired with their culinary speciality. Now down to 25 trucks, the contest is based on votes, with the second round closing on Sept. 25. The top 10 trucks will move forward to the third round, which ends Oct. 2 and winnows the field down to five semifinalists. The five semifinalists will then compete for votes from Oct. 3-9, with the top two trucks going head to head from Oct. 10-16.

“We’re honored to be selected to represent the state of Colorado,” said Mandy Smith. “Crock Spot is ready to bring home food truck gold and glory in this breakfast battle.”

Chef Steven Smith created the “Lamby Sammy” as his entry for the Thomas’ Breakfast Battle competition; a mouthwatering English muffin sandwich consisting of Colorado braised lamb, a sweet potato mash, scrambled eggs and a mint Chimichurri sauce.

Mandy Smith said the couple has competed in numerous cooking contests and received several awards throughout the years, but to be recognized nationally by a big name like Thomas’ English Muffins is a first. The only truck in Colorado to be chosen to represent the food truck industry, the couple soon realized that their home state of Idaho had been left out of the fun.

“We figured since Idaho does not have a food truck representing their state, we may as well consider it ‘our territory’ and rally up as much support as we can from our beloved home state and town,” Mandy Smith told the Daily Bee in an email.

Nominated for the America’s Favorite Food Truck in 2011, the Crock Spot got its start at the Cherry Creek Farmers Market in Denver, Colo., with a tent, a mobile kitchen and hopes that residents “would receive the concept with open arms and hungry stomachs,” the couple said on their website. “Not only did people love it, they cried for more.” The Smiths got to work on plans for a gourmet mobile food truck, and within a year, were on the road.

According to the couple’s website — thecrockspot.com, the idea for the Crock Spot dates back to 2008 while Steven was living in New York City. “He loved the idea of taking an ugly piece of meat and making it beautiful,” the couple said on their website. “A simple combination of an old school crock pot, a mirepoix, time and a whole lotta love, yielded delicious ingredients that would feed many. The food was consistently a hit at many a dinner party and the seed of an idea was planted.”

Mandy, who was living in the Bay Area in California at the time, and Steven reconnected via Facebook when a friend request popped up.

“We have known each since we were 6 years old,” Mandy Smith said. “We lived in the same neighborhood in Sandpoint and attended the same schools and graduated together. We were in different social clicks growing up, and went our separate ways after high school.”

Twenty years later, the Facebook request popped up and they began corresponding. “We actually ended up having our first date in Sandpoint and fell in love almost immediately,” she said. “We did the long distance thing for a while, then decided to move to Denver.”

That was when they decided to take their love of gourmet crockpot cuisine to the public

“We believe that your experience at a food truck is not just about the delicious food, but also about the time you have with the folks that run the truck,” the couple notes on their website. “It should be fun and enjoyable on all levels.”

To help The Crock Spot move onto the competition, go online to thomasbreakfastbattle.com/recipes/lamby-sammy and vote.

Information: http://thecrockspot.com/