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Luke Fowles of the Capitol Burger food truck has a simple mission — serve delicious, high-quality food to as many people as possible.
Luke and his wife, Sunny, are the owners of the Torrey-based truck, where he also works as the chef. Luke spent years working at fine dining establishments like Forage before transitioning to his current mobile format.
While fine dining taught Fowles to respect food and value quality ingredients, the exclusivity of the upscale restaurant setting ceased to appeal to him.
“I plated with tweezers for 15 years,” he explained. Leaving the world of Michelin stars behind allowed him to “serve normal people” and “give really high quality food to the world.”
It also allowed him to elevate Torrey’s culinary offerings, since the small, southern Utah town is not known for its dining. “People will skip our town just to go to [Hell’s Backbone Grill and Sweetwater Kitchen]” – renowned restaurants that are over an hour away, he explained.
The couple felt that Torrey deserved really great food of its own, and so Capitol Burger was born.
The truck prepares its own brioche buns, sources beef from a local Utah farmer, and grinds its patties fresh every day, a process which is “very labor-intensive, but…ten times better,” according to Fowles.
(Mark E. Bailey) Luke Fowles, the owner of the Capitol Burger food truck in Torrey, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
Mobile food preparation has its challenges, however, and Fowles has had to adjust to the cramped quarters and frequent movement of the truck. “Imagine steaming grease in a shoe box,” he said. “You’re inside of that shoe box.”
He and his team also have to be careful to keep utensils secure and lids screwed on tight to prevent spillage when the truck changes locations. “Everything moves,” he said. “You’ll forget a thing of fry sauce on the top shelf and the whole thing will fall over.”
Though the truck has delivered excellent burgers since its founding, Fowles believes that its offerings are only improving with time.
“We’ve worked for four years, and every year it’s gotten better and better,” he said. “Now we’re certainly in the top five [burgers in Utah], in my opinion.”
Visit the Capitol Burger website to learn more and follow them on Facebook to track the truck’s location.
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