Pueblo cuisine takes center stage as local food trucks dominate Governor's Plate competition

There are food trucks all around Colorado, but Pueblo-based businesses have continued to thrive at the Governor’s Plate competition held at the state fair.

Wielding a variety of ingredients sourced in Colorado, two Pueblo food trucks wowed both Gov. Jared Polis and the crowd to sweep the top prizes Tuesday afternoon.

Polis selected a Pueblo-based pizza truck as his favorite among the six competing Tuesday, while the crowd picked grilled cheese purveyor Papa Mario’s as their favorite for the second year in a row.

Stoke Pizza was the governor’s top pick

A Pueblo-based food truck serving up pizzas that included a variety of Colorado ingredients wowed the governor’s palate.

Wes and Bre Latka, the husband-and-wife duo who run the business, met while they were working at a wood-fired pizza restaurant in Durango.

“It was love at first slice,” Bre Latka joked.

They also competed in the competition in 2022. But their pizzas featuring flour milled in Colorado Springs, corn, peppers and cilantro grown at DiSanti and Milberger farms, cheese from Springside Cheese Shop in Pueblo and sausage from Gagliano’s, won them the top prize from Polis this year.

The couple told reporters after they won that they worked to include more Colorado produce in their entry this year.

Taking their three-year-old daughter with them up to the stage to accept the award was “really exciting,” Wes Latka said. And in case you were wondering, her favorite food is pizza.

Their business has been consistent and they have a lot of events on the books this fall, but the Latkas are looking forward to getting some time to relax this winter and continue planning for opening a brick-and-mortar store in Pueblo.

How Polis picked the winner

Polis told reporters after he arrived that he would be trying each of the foods multiple times to make his decision.

He said that he appreciated how trucks used a variety of Colorado-based ingredients in their offerings — that went into his criteria for picking a winner.

“It's really looking for flavor, but also looking for how they feature the Colorado ingredients — We don't want just Pueblo Chile as a little flavor, we want it to come through,” Polis said.

Papa Mario’s continues to be the crowd favorite

Pueblo-based food truck Papa Mario’s continued its streak of winning every year at the Governor’s Plate.

The food truck wowed the crowd with the “Tiff Special” — featuring roast beef from Greeley, produce from Musso Farms and cheeses from Pueblo and Fort Collins.

Papa Mario’s won the governor’s top pick and people’s choice award during the event’s inaugural year and also won the people’s choice award in 2022.

“We were out there with so many other amazing food trucks, so it means a lot to have so many people who love Papa Mario’s and loved what we brought to the table,” owner Tiffany Gernazio told the Chieftain. “Definitely an honor!”

Pueblo chiles also featured in other dishes

Another Pueblo-based truck also competed this year: Araujo’s Taqueria dished out beef samosas featuring Pueblo green chiles from Musso and DiSanti farms in Pueblo.

Pueblo chiles also featured prominently in several other dishes from trucks from around the state. A Grand Junction-based food truck served up a green chile slider with Colorado beef and local chiles.

The governor’s top pick from 2022, Anne’s A La Mode, served up mini pies featuring apples from the Western Slope, flour from Boulder, cheddar from Longmont, ice cream from Bonnie Brae in Denver and a kick of green chile.

An all-vegan food truck from Castle Rock served up a plant-based French dip sandwich, featuring wheat protein made in Lakewood and bread baked in Denver.

What’s in store for the future of Governor’s Plate?

This was the third year of the event, started under Polis’ administration.

“We want to highlight grown-in-Colorado produce and give Colorado chefs and food trucks the opportunity to really elevate those ingredients,” Polis said.

Colorado voters elected Polis for his second term in November 2022 — he will be ineligible to run for a third consecutive term in 2026. But he still wants to see this event go on, he told the Chieftain.

“When Colorado elects a new governor in three and a half years, I'm going to make sure I tell them the importance of continuing and growing not only the tradition of the Governor's Plate but also the improvements at the state fair to make it even more amazing,” Polis said.

Anna Lynn Winfrey is a reporter at the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo food trucks win top prizes at Governor's Plate competition