New food truck hopes to bring taste of Philadelphia to Rocky Mountains

John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today
Chef Jake Berman is putting a Philadelphia spin on local food with his Shreddies Food Truck, delivering great tasting food to locals and visitors from a number of locations around town.
“We wanted to be able to be mobile and to capitalize on different festivals, or locations, or events or catering opportunities — whatever it may be — and not have a fixed brick-and-mortar location,” Berman said. “Currently, we’re doing cheese steaks and hoagies.”
Berman said he has a couple of locations where locals can find his food truck right now, and he hopes to take his tasty menu to the people whenever and wherever possible.
Currently, Shreddies can be found in the Elk River Pet & Ranch parking lot at 2680 Copper Ridge Circle from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It also has a home at The Boat Yard at 831 Yampa St. on Thursday evenings from 5-9 p.m. and from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Berman said the truck will also relocate for special events, and this weekend, Shreddies will make an appearance at the Bud Werner Memorial Library parking lot as part of the Yampa River Festival.
Berman encourages customers to go to ShreddiesFood.com or find Shreddies Food on Facebook or Instagram for the latest information on the food truck’s location and hours of operation.
“I didn’t really fully understand that cooking and being a chef was a career path,” Berman said. “So when I kind of figured that out — I think that happened when I was a bagger at the grocery store when I was about 15 years old — I just went for it and started working in restaurants.”

John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today
Berman grew up in Delaware County, often referred to as Delco, in Pennsylvania. His interest in cooking started with afternoon snacks, sparked by home economics classes in high school and expressed by dishes like bananas foster that he made for his family at home.
He still recalls his toughest job interview when he was asked to make a three-course meal as part of an interview at the Hartefeld National Golf Club, where he was hoping to land a job. He attended the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.
He came to Colorado in 2014 when he landed a job at JJ’s Rocky Mountain Tavern at Copper Mountain. He has held jobs at One Ski Place and the Hungry Dog in Breckenridge, and at Table 79 and Aurum — where he worked as a sous chef and chef de cuisine — in Steamboat Springs.
Now he is hoping to create his own space in Steamboat’s culinary landscape with his food truck and Philadelphia flair.
“We’re just trying to do exactly what we would do back in Philadelphia,” Berman said. “Like if you could serve this in Philadelphia tomorrow, other Philadelphians wouldn’t be coming after you.”
He encourages locals to inquire about Shreddies’ lunch specials, and he said he expects the menu to evolve over time. He is planning on adding a walking taco, a Doritos bag filled with seasoned beef, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and other taco toppings, and the Fritos chili pie, which is a similar creation using many of the same toppings.
“One of the reasons you’ll notice that we don’t have cheese steaks and hoagies displayed on the outside of our trailer is on purpose,” Berman said. “It’s so that we can branch into different things. We want to get people to come up and interact with us and not just kick us to the sideline, maybe because we do only have cheese steaks and hoagies.”

John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today
John F. Russell is the business reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach him, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.

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