ShaWING Is Dishing Up Garbage Plates in Denver

"I was a waiter my whole life, serving mostly in fine-dining restaurants and all that, and just wanted to work for myself and thought this would be a good way to do it," says Chris Rizzo, who launched his food truck, ShaWING, in 2016.

Last October, he also launched a ghost kitchen offering fan favorites like wings, chicken finger subs, fried pizza rolls and something that's not typically found in Denver: garbage plates, a sloppy creation that layers a meat sauce and burger patties (or hot dogs) over mac salad and home fries, all topped with mustard, ketchup and diced onions, with a piece of bread on the side for good measure.

Rizzo spent most of his life on the East Coast. "I grew up in the western New York area," he says. "I was born in Rochester and lived there my whole life" — which is where garbage plates originated. "After high school, I made my way to Buffalo and lived there for like nine years." In 2006, he decided it was time for a change, so he headed west. "It's Colorado, man. It's different from Buffalo in just about every way."

He continued to work as a server, but also spent a lot of time "just ski-bumming, doing a lot of shows and things," he recalls. "Living the Colorado life, you know. Working twenty hours a week and doing fun things for the rest of the week."

Eventually, though, Rizzo wanted something more. "I went to college for business, and I never really did anything with it, so I ended up thinking that [a food truck] would work with my skill set," he says.
He knew that he wanted to focus on western New York fare, and "had been thinking of names for months and bouncing them off my friends," he recalls. "I literally woke up to go skiing at A-Basin one day and left my house at 4 a.m. I'm driving down I-70, not far from my house, and it just came to me, and it was like, 'ShaWING!''

Rizzo shared the name, which is a Wayne's World reference, with friends, and after receiving high praise, he decided to run with it. "Some people get it, some people don't. But the people that do get it are like, 'That's fucking awesome,'" he adds.

The truck rolled up to its first event in March 2016. "It was tricky trying to get all the processes down and all that," Rizzo admits. "I was a front-of-house guy, so I never really cooked professionally. I used to make wings on my stovetop at home in a Dutch oven using a candy thermometer, and just some regular cooking for me and my ex-wife. But I would say the more challenging stuff was the things I wasn't educated on, like the mechanics of a diesel engine, or commercial kitchen equipment that's not built to be in the back of a truck. ... I learned a lot on the spot, adaptive problem-solving.
"I have a different philosophy with the truck than most trucks do," Rizzo continues. "I think a lot of them are out there to make money. Obviously, making money is important, but for me, I have developed relationships with breweries and other types of locations where it might not be the best on that specific day, but I'm there all year. ... When I have an issue with the truck, they know it's a real issue and that I'm not just calling because I don't want to come in that day, which is pretty common in the food truck industry."

ShaWING, of course, specializes in traditional Buffalo wings, and also offers vegetarian cauliflower "wings." Another notable item from the mobile kitchen is the Roast Beef on Weck, slow-roasted top round sliced thin and served on a Kummelweck roll (a kaiser roll topped with salted caraway seeds) with mayo and horseradish.

The garbage plate is only available from the ghost kitchen — which is good news if you're a few drinks in and want to get this sloppy-on-purpose creation delivered.

ShaWING's ghost kitchen is located at 810 North Vallejo Street and offers pickup and delivery from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information and to find the truck's current schedule, visit bestwingsdenver.com.