Two years ago, Denver food truck Easy Vegan won season 16 of Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race; now it's about to open its high-end supper club, Mother Other, in the Baker neighborhood. Meanwhile, Colorado has another shot at reality television food glory: Season 18 of The Great Food Truck Race: Truckin’ Awesome premieres Sunday, August 3. And behind the wheel this time is Devin "Tiger" Keopraphay, the chef responsible for the popular Rising Tiger grill at the weekly Longmont Farmers' Market.
Keopraphay is a 33-year-old Lao American originally from Virginia who was introduced to the food industry through his family's Chinese restaurant in Washington, D.C. "I started out washing woks in my father's restaurant," he says during a quick trip from the Boulder County Fairgrounds to pick up more char siu from his kitchen a few minutes away. The experience ignited his passion for cooking, and he studied at the Art Institute of Washington — but soon left the formal confines of school to gain hands-on experience.
He learned the art of sushi while at the famous Morimoto's flagship restaurant in Philadelphia and then worked in a series of eateries on Maryland's coast. He fell in love with Colorado on a visit here, and after hosting a series of sushi popups on the East Coast, he moved to Longmont and started a food delivery service, Tiger & Wife, in February 2020 — just in time for the pandemic. So in 2021, he took a break and became a sous chef at the Jax Fish House in Boulder.
In 2023, Keopraphay signed on at the Longmont Farmers' Market, where he's since built a loyal following. Fans show up every Saturday for what he calls his "Asian-ish" cuisine that focuses on breakfast and brunch dishes with a cultural twist that reflects both his Southeast Asian Lao upbringing and other culinary experiences. The menu isn't huge — one recent weekend he offered Lao Summer Salad (summer veggies from his farmers' market peers, fried egg, roasted pork, toasted rice and housemade chili sauce that's available for sale in jars), Smack Wrap (chicken, bacon, Provolone, green miso Caesar dressing) and his top-seller, scallion pancake (eggs, greens, cheese, tofu or char siu — the reason he had to get more of his sous-vide pork — wrapped in a tortilla-like scallion pancake for an Asian-style wrap).
He says he can sell 200 scallion pancakes in a day, and he sold out before the 1 p.m. end of that market.
He also serves his "front of house" manager Sarah White's refreshing drinks, which include Salted Limeade with Western Slope Cherries and Saffron Rose Seltzer.
Keopraphay doesn't know how he was singled out and asked to compete on The Great Food Truck Race's new season; the process seems to be a closely guarded secret, and he didn't audition or contact the show's producers. "Yeah, they called me," he recalls. "I thought it was spam: 'Hey, do you want to be on Food Network?' Then it was an email, then it was a DM, and then it was a text message, and it was a phone call, voicemail. I was like, 'Okay, this must be real.'"
He was grateful for the opportunity. He can't talk much about the eight-week race, which takes nine trucks through various cities to compete for sales and celebrity status. He does know that the show values each truck's ability to get diners to line up, and competitors get extra money that counts toward the season finale by taking on challenges provided by host Tyler Florence.
The new season begins with a two-hour episode in Savannah, Georgia, and moves to various mid-Atlantic cities where the trucks set up and try to attract crowds through a combination of charm, community engagement (online and in real life) and great food. Besides Keopraphay and his crew, the competitors are Burger Walla of Newark, New Jersey; Cooking with Que from Detroit, Michigan; Eat My Biscuits, from Atlanta, Georgia; Fat Kid Food Co. from Ashland, Oregon; G’s Cheesesteaks from Staten Island, New York; Good Fortune Company of Memphis, Tennessee; Nishaan of Brooklyn, New York; and Stop Drop N Roll from Springfield, New Jersey. Each season features a diverse lineup of cuisines. Keopraphay is proud to cook what he calls "Third Culture" food, which pays homage to his Lao roots but acknowledges his American upbringing. He notes that his father ran a Chinese restaurant back in the day because "there was no such thing as Lao restaurants. If anything, we disguised ourselves as Thai restaurants." That's because Thai restaurants were more familiar in the U.S. at the time. But American palates have become more sophisticated over the decades.
"I think that's the biggest surprise," he says of the popularity of Rising Tiger. "You know, when I moved here and began working here, a lot of people would imply that Longmont wasn't ready for change. Not a food town? A lot of people don't care, I was told. They're into steak and potatoes, Mexican restaurants, also pizza or burgers.
Though he's competing on a food truck show, Keopraphay is aware of the potential to move on to a brick-and-mortar shop, following the route taken by Easy Vegan. The winner of the show receives $50,000, and that's a good first step towards a permanent address.
"I would love to do a brick-and-mortar," he says, and in fact, he's planning on it, whether or not he wins the reality TV race. He's already launched a GoFundMe campaign to help open his own place. Since he likes the community that's been created around Rising Tiger at the market, he doesn't plan to open a high-falutin' restaurant. "I'm not looking for awards, we're not shooting for accolades," he explains. "What we're shooting for is to really just become a pillar in the community."
One of the best things to come out of cooking at the Longmont Farmers' Market is that "we have regulars," he adds, and he's become part of their lives. "In the last year, I've been to people's graduations, baby showers, weddings. Why am I here? I just cook their breakfast, and they invite me. Wow. I ask, 'Do you want me to cook? Do you want me to cater?' And that's not why they're asking. They just want me as a person."
When he opens that brick-and-mortar restaurant, it won't be in Boulder or Denver: Keopraphay plans to stay in Longmont. "We're here for our community, you know," he says. "Don't get me wrong, I think it's amazing that chefs have found fame through this. But I don't need to be popular. I just want to sell good food and I want to have a good life. You know, it's what I have right now."
He's definitely not trying to be like The Bear, that non-reality hit Hulu television show that shows the chef trying to serve expensive, artsy dishes in order to get positive reviews and make money for investors. "I'm past that stage of my life," Keopraphay says. "There's no need for that."
Season 18 of The Great Food Truck Race premieres on Food Network at 7 p.m. Sunday, August 3,and streams the next day on HBO Max. Rising Tiger is at the Longmont Farmers' Market from 8 a.m to 1 p.m. every Saturday through November 15 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. For more information, visit bcfm.org/markets/#section-longmont.
