New Sioux Falls food truck features smoked cuisine and Instagram-worthy sandwiches

Symmone Gauer, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·3 min read
The Smoked Culture food truck menu features many items with smoked brisket.
The Smoked Culture food truck menu features many items with smoked brisket.

Sioux Falls residents Ryan Gaede and Jess Jones never planned to open a food truck. Their journey started with a smoker and an Instagram page.

“We bought a smoker about four years ago, and we just started making food, kind of teaching ourselves how to do it,” Gaede said. “We thought we were getting really cool-looking food, and it tasted really good, too."

After that, he began posting photos of the creations to his personal Instagram account. It was his wife Jess's idea to create a page just for the food back in June 2021.

More than a year and 3,000 followers later, the couple opened The Smoked Culture after having participated in the Buffalo Ridge Brewing burger battle during the winter.

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The menu includes everything from sandwiches to sharable nachos and "pork belly popsicles."

The sandwiches are nods to Gaede's lifelong hobby—skateboarding.

“When I was younger living with my mom, we would all go grab steaks and skateboard in the driveway, and we’d be grilling out. It kind of feels like the same thing we're doing now,” Gaede said. “Everybody's our friend. Everybody's hanging out, getting food and having a good time.”

The Big Spin brisket sandwich from The Smoked Culture food truck. Many items on the menu are named after skateboard terms and tricks.
The Big Spin brisket sandwich from The Smoked Culture food truck. Many items on the menu are named after skateboard terms and tricks.

There's the Big Spin Brisket sandwich which comes with queso, caramelized peppers and onions. The Trilogy sandwich is brisket, pulled pork and sausage with queso and onions.

They named their pork belly on a stick offering the Poser "because it’s like a McRibb but better,” Gaede laughed.

The Hardflip Hashbrowns have been a huge hit so far, he said, which are cheesy hash made in the smoker. Ceci’s baked beans uses Gaede's grandma's recipe but are made in the smoker.

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The standard menu for The Smoked Culture food truck.
The standard menu for The Smoked Culture food truck.

The Sunday menu features street tacos, and the BBQ No Comply nachos have also been popular with the crowd. They come with baked beans instead of black beans, pulled pork or brisket for upgrade, queso, fresh veggies and Mexican crema.

All their food has been taste-tested by Gaede’s mother.

“She’s really been our biggest supporter,” he said.

Gaede said it’s “definitely been a learning experience” since neither he nor his wife has worked in the food industry before.

“But we’re finding a groove now, and it’s feeling better every time we’re in it,” he said. “We’re having fun, having a good time and making memories. And that’s what it’s all about.”

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The Loaded Mac Burger from The Smoked Culture food truck.
The Loaded Mac Burger from The Smoked Culture food truck.

Since Gaede and his wife work full time, the food truck will mostly only be out on the weekends. Upcoming locations include WoodGrain, Bin 201, Billion GMC and Top Hat.

The Smoked Culture will be at WoodGrain Brewing, located at 101 S. Phillips Avenue, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday. Other events are listed on the truck’s Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls couple starts The Smoked Culture food truck from Instagram