When you think of the dudes that make up RVA thrash metal band Municipal Waste, dabbling in the culinary arts may not necessarily be the first thought that pops into your mind. But that’s exactly what drummer Dave Witte is pursuing while simultaneously being on tour.
With his girlfriend April Viar at the helm, the two will roll out vegan food truck, Go Go Vegan Go this weekend at The Vegetarian Festival.
All of the recipes are Viar’s, who has been a vegetarian for the last 30 years, and Witte will be helping out in the kitchen.
“That’s where the magic is with her and her food,” Witte said. “She’s a great home cook, she’s always cooked for me and we figured you know, let’s do this. I’ve always wanted to do a food truck, the timing was right, we wanted to be mobile, we didn’t want to have a brick and mortar so we thought a food truck was the way to go.”
Although the food truck is a new venture for them, the two are no strangers to the Richmond restaurant scene. Viar ran the front of the house at Edo’s Squid for 12 years and for the last two years, both have worked front of the house at Commercial Taphouse.
The couple started seriously looking into the venture last year and about a month and a half ago they bought the big yellow truck in Maryland.
“It’s always been in place thought-wise, but last year we started looking for trucks, life gets in the way sometimes, you have to wait for the right opportunity so we were weighing are options, looking around and this one just really spoke to us and we just hustled and got everything together and went up there and got it,” Witte said. “It proved to be the best choice we’ve made so far.”
Go Go Vegan Go’s entire menu is vegan and includes cashew cheese, cheese paninis, vegetable paninis, chimichangas smothered in cheese sauce, tacos, grilled cheese, a burger, chocolate mousse, coffee chocolate balls, and chocolate covered cookie dough all crafted by Viar. Witte said a big highlight on the menu is the “Not So Pad Thai Fries.”
”They’re super delicious. Right before we ended our term at the {Commercial} taphouse, April brought those on the menu and they did extremely well,” he said. “People still ask about them so it’s pretty exciting. It’s pretty much Pad Thai with French fries instead of noodles.”
As for Witte, well he isn’t vegan or vegetarian just yet, but he said he’s starting to lean more and more in that direction.
“I eat less and less meat as I age, and to get down to it, vegan cuisine is far from what it used to be it’s not a microwaved Morning Star, there’s so many options,” he said. “I eat vegan a lot of the time especially when I’m out on the road.”
To get the ball rolling on their business, Viar and Witte decided to test the waters in the local food truck game by entering Richmond’s first Vegan Macdown competition in February, a challenge to see who could make the best vegan mac and cheese. And as if a sign from the metal gods or foodie gods (whichever you choose to believe), they took home first place in both categories, “People’s Choice” and “Judge’s Choice.”
“It was a nice confidence booster,” Witte said of the competition.
Go Go Vegan Go had their first event at the Cask Café a few weeks ago which Witte said was a great success.
“We had a very limited menu, we took over their kitchen and we ended up selling everything out and had a tremendous response,” he said.
The two plan to take the truck to breweries and other spots all over town.
“The list is growing, a lot of people are getting in touch so we’re working on that right now,” he said. “We’ll be at Ardent a lot, I’m sure well be at Hardywood, The Veil has invited us. There are some other places that aren’t brewery-related that we’re working on as well.”
Viar will be wheeling around town without Witte just for the summer while he is on tour with Municipal Waste, who have booked a stint on Warper Tour which just kicked off last week and runs through August.
You can catch Go Go Vegan Go at the Richmond Vegetarian Festival this Sat. June 24 (Rain date 7/8) and at the following locations below and follow the truck’s adventures on their Facebook here.
June
Fri 30th The Veil 4-9pm
July
Sat 1st Vinyl Conflict
Wed 5th Vegan Pop Up at Hardywood
Sun 9th Ardent Craft Ales
Thurs 20th Ardent Craft Ales
Sun 23rd Ardent Craft Ales
August
Wed 2nd Vegan Pop Up at Hardywood
Sun 13th Ardent Craft Ales
Thurs 17th The Veil
Sun 20th Ardent Craft Ales
For bookings: gogovegango@gmail.com.
Photos by Go Go Vegan Go
