A Food Network Appearance Made Big Stuff Food Truck a Reality

Brad Brutlag’s story of venturing into the culinary arts begins in a familiar way. “I’ve been cooking for a while. I started at Little Caesars when I was fourteen years old, and after I flunked out of college, I decided that maybe culinary is my way to go,” he says.

But his journey from culinary school graduate to the owner of a food truck called Big Stuff took some unexpected, and exciting, twists.

“I worked as a private chef on yachts for about ten years,” he recounts. “So big, 130 foot private yachts…. I worked the East Coast for about five years, traveling up from Maryland all the way down to the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands.”

Then he headed to the West Coast, where he worked as a private chef on a fishing yacht. “So it’s all the creature comforts of a luxury yacht, with the addition of a fishing cockpit. We caught giant marlin, fresh tuna, fresh wahoo. And we’re cooking that up every day, and I did that for another five-plus years,” he says.

In 2018, Brutlag decided to leave the nomadic seafaring life behind and return to Colorado. “So I’m sitting at home one day watching TV, watching The Great Food Truck Race [hosted by Tyler Florence] on the Food Network, and I was just like, hey, I wonder how to get on this?” he recalls. A quick search online led him to a non-official-looking email address and questionnaire. “I just sent off a random email to some random email address that had nothing to do with the Food Network.”

Fast-forward eight months, to a call that would dramatically change Brutlag’s culinary journey. The person on the line asked if he was still interested in The Great Food Truck Race. “So I’m like, yeah, for sure, why not? They were like, ‘Can you be ready to go in a week?’ I’m like, ‘I can, but let me see if I can still find people to do it with me,'” he says.

After finding two more people to form a team of three, Brutlag and his new crew traveled to New England on Valentine’s Day in 2019 to compete against four other teams in the show’s season eleven “Blizzard Brawl” edition. “We ended up winning, which was awesome,” he says.

For his original pitch to the show, “I wanted to do all stuffed food, like a Juicy Lucy burger, empanadas – just anything that was stuffed inside of something else,” Brutlag says. But his team quickly learned that the concept didn’t work with the fast-paced nature of the challenges. “We kind of pivoted, and did what I call Colorado comfort food. I kind of coined that phrase while I was on the show.”

As the team traveled to different cities, Brutlag would research popular foods and then “Colorado-ize it,” he says. That led to the creation of Colorado poutine. “People had no idea what green chile was, but they loved it,” he recalls.

After winning the show, Brutlag and his team split the $50,000 prize three ways and eventually cut ties, leaving him to carry out his dream of operating a food truck solo. He used all of his winnings and most of his savings to officially launch Big Stuff in December 2019. “Our food is big. I mean, we do big flavors and big portions and have a big menu,” he explains. Options include a banh mi, a burger made with bison, chorizo and beef, all-beef sliders, the Mile High Gyro and mac and cheese bites. “Everything’s made from scratch,” he adds. “There’s only two things on the truck that I don’t make, and that’s my barbecue sauces and my Buffalo sauce.”

With an expansive menu to satisfy everyone, Big Stuff delivers Colorado comfort food that is fresh and truly Colorado. “I use as much local flavors and ingredients as I can,” Brutlag notes. “I use bison from RL Bison Ranch, chorizo from Boulder Sausage, and local beef.” He even incorporates local beer into food items when he parks his truck and serves at a brewery.

From a Cuban-rado, a Colorado inspired Cuban sandwich, to a patty melt made with bison and pork belly, Brutlag serves food that comforts the soul and satisfies hunger. But the must-try remains the Colorado Poutine that helped catapult him to victory in the food truck race.

Brutlag is actively searching for a brick-and-mortar location, but until he finds his spot, you can track the truck and its menu at bigstufffood.com.