What's new with RI's rugelach maven? Amy Russo hears plans for expanded food truck menu
Karen Griffin, rugelach roller extraordinaire, is taking it to the streets. Sort of.
Starting June 16, the owner of Just Like Nana’s will begin selling her creations from a food trailer stationed in the parking lot of Lorraine Mills in Pawtucket, no more than a few steps from the commercial kitchen in which she bakes the Jewish confection with her grandmother’s recipe.
That’s where I met Griffin last year for a lesson on how to assemble the small twists, which are somewhere between a cookie and a pastry.
This month, our venue was slightly different.
Opening the back door of her freshly painted trailer, Griffin shouts: “OK, are you ready?” She flips a switch, the side pops out, an awning emerges, and fluorescent lights flicker on. Posters tacked to a display case call out to customers with images of savory scones and classic blintzes.
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“It’s fun,” Griffin says. “It’s like a little kitchen. When I was little, I had this little house I used to play inside. I was born to be Martha Stewart.”
Day and night, Griffin’s trailer will offer an array of goodies, including new items such as mini Cheddar, bacon and onion quiches, Liege waffles, pecan buns and charcuterie boards decorated with salami roses, the perfect complement to a drink from one of the mill’s two watering holes: Crooked Current Brewery or White Dog Distilling.
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Those seeking something from nana’s recipe box can sample the mandelbrot, a Jewish biscotti available in several flavors, fruity and chocolatey. As an added bonus, with less of a crunch than their Italian counterparts, the cookies “will not break your teeth,” Griffin’s website says.
This will mark Griffin’s second year operating the trailer, acquired from the grandfather of Josh Burgoyne, who runs Ming’s, an Asian street-food truck, with co-owner and wife Korn Suom.
In another fortuitous happening, at a Providence farmers market last year, Griffin stumbled upon a couple of Rhode Island School of Design students who agreed to paint the trailer, splashing it with pops of turquoise and fuchsia, and adding the company’s logo with its bowl and spoon.
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The trailer, Griffin explains, helps her to avoid putting her eggs all in one oven, so to speak. Indeed, she has succeeded. Now, her family-inspired creations are available at farmstands, coffee shops, independent supermarkets and other stores. Want a cookie with your clam cakes? Blount’s has you covered.
Standing outside her trailer, Griffin remembers where it all started several years ago.
“I was 65. I was bored. So I said, ‘What am I going to do with my life? I knew I made good rugelach.”
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Griffin's trailer will serve breakfast, brunch and lunch on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It will reopen on Thursdays and Fridays from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m.
Providence Journal staff writer Amy Russo, a transplanted New Yorker, is looking for new ways to experience her adopted state. If you have suggestions for this column, email her at amrusso@providencejournal.com.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI's newest food truck 'Just Like Nana's' will offer Jewish delicacies
