Get an Italian Beef Fix From This New Food Truck

"I'm from Long Island, New York, and I talk quick, so you're gonna get the fast New York Version," says Mathew Ridge, owner and operator of Mona Lisa's food truck during a busy Sunday lunch service.

Born in Boston, Ridge grew up on Long Island and later went to the Culinary Institute of America. "I attended the two-year program. They had a four-year program starting when I was there, but two years was long enough for me," he says. "I've cooked in New York, I've done fine dining in Charlotte, I've owned my own restaurant in Charlotte. ... Oh, and, I've fed every president back to Clinton at this point via working on jet planes. I've been around."

But he'd never owned a food truck before launching Mona Lisa's three months ago. In North Carolina, he opened his pizza place, which was also called Mona Lisa's. "Unfortunately, through the depression of 2008, I couldn't survive without losing money and had to get out," Ridge explains. "Shortly after, I moved to the Highlands of North Carolina and became the culinary director of Mountain Fresh Grocery, a specialty food and wine shop/restaurant in the mountains. I did everything from butchering to catered dinners and parties."

When the pandemic hit, much of North Carolina shut down. Then, Ridge says, "a gentleman from Colorado called me up. ... It was the Stranahan family, and they had a little general store in Clark," a Colorado town with a population of around 700. Ridge decided to relocate his family there, but after a couple of years of running the store, his kids started to grow tired of the small-town lifestyle.

"My children — one who is on the truck, the other who is a chef at a place called Humble Cafe in Golden, and my youngest son — all wanted to move somewhere a little more populous. So I actually took a job in the Golden area. I worked for someone for a couple of months and realized I didn't want to work for anyone anymore," he recalls.
Ridge began entertaining the idea of starting a food truck this past summer, and it didn't take long for him to go all in. "My wife is Sicilian and jumped into the Mona Lisa idea right away," he says. "She makes the bread and helps make all the sauces. We're a newbie on the scene, and that's why I don't have any lettering on the truck. One of these days, I am going to stop working five to six days a week and make enough money to pay off my loan and get the lettering on the side."

Although he's new to the food truck business, Ridge finds more joy and excitement with each passing service. "I like the control of my own schedule, meeting a bunch of different people, being in different areas, and trying to do different parties," he says. "I've always liked the challenge of cooking on the go and doing catering. I've done dinners in the middle of nowhere and all sorts of different stuff. It's really fun."

He also takes pride in preparing most of his dishes from scratch. "What we're known for is our Italian beef sandwich," he says. "We load a fresh, homemade hoagie with Italian-style beef and melted provolone and then top it with our homemade giardiniera. ... My wife makes the bread, and most of the time when you have one of our sandwiches, the bread is less than six hours old when you're eating it. It makes a big difference in the quality and taste."

In addition to the popular Italian beef sandwich, his favorite items include the sausage and peppers sandwich and the Caprese sandwich, which includes "a sun-dried tomato pesto that my wife makes, and it's fabulous," Ridge adds.

Ridge is excited about the future and focused on doing more parties and private event catering. "We're just a family making great Italian-style food. Everything is top quality, and it's all made with love," Ridges concludes.

To find Mona Lisa's schedule, check it out on Instagram @monasmobilekitchen.