'Guten Tag, y’all!': New food truck brings southern German cuisine to Fayetteville
A new food truck serving German recipes made with local ingredients is taking Fayetteville by storm.
Harmon’s Deutsche Kuche, owned by Mark Harmon, 49, and his wife, Katrina Harmon, 39, — sometimes with their son Zachary, 4, in tow — started serving weekend lunch in mid-July the Lidl grocery store parking lot. Lidl is a fitting spot for the new food truck, as the German grocery came to the U.S. in 2017 after decades of serving European customers.
At first, business was slow, Mark Harmon said at the couple’s Cottonade neighborhood home on Wednesday. On the first weekend, they saw only about a dozen orders.
Then word started to spread, and by their second Sunday in business, patrons were flocking to the food truck to see what the buzz was all about, he said.
Harmon was born to a German mother and an American father in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was raised until moving to Virginia at age 5. He said they use his grandmother’s recipes for the family favorites he grew up eating.
“We want to be authentic,” he said. “A lot of German restaurants that I've tried are Americanized.”
His wife, born and raised in Roanoke Rapids about 145 miles northeast of Fayetteville, does most of the cooking, while Harmon takes orders and chats with customers.
“He has the gift of gab, as you can tell,” she joked.
The food from Harmon's native southern Germany is hearty but balanced with acidic flavors like German vinegar and mustard, both of which, Mark Harmon said, he imports from Deutschland. Meat and produce are sourced from Cumberland County area farmers, he said.
Food news: See what Fayetteville restaurants and food trucks opened or closed this summer
The menu is small — there’s a pork schnitzel platter, bratwurst burgers, bratwurst on brotchen bread roll and German meatballs known as frikadellen. Sides include fries, red cabbage, potato salad and cucumber salad.
"There are regional differences. Some German potato salads are served hot with bacon in it,” Harmon explained. “Ours is served room temperature, and it's got vinegar in it.”
Most popular by a long shot, however, is the pork schnitzel sandwich, the Harmons said. A thin, breaded and pan-fried pork loin is served on brotchen roll, topped with house-made remoulade sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion.
The rolls come from Superior Bakery, a long-running Greek-owned bakery on Hope Mills Road.
"Superior’s are as close as you can get to a real brotchen,” Harmon said.
Related: Restaurants slated for Ramsey Street development could include Whataburger, Panda Express
Harmon has worked as a server and bartender for the last two decades, while his wife has spent nearly as long on the corporate side of the medical industry. The couple, who moved to Fayetteville at the start of the year, are sticking to weekends as they gear up to make the food truck their full-time work.
Someday, they’d like to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant with a bigger menu.
Meanwhile, the Harmons heartily welcome customers to their food truck with a phrase that marries their Southern and German roots.
“Guten Tag, y’all!”
The details
On the web: harmonsdeutschekuche.com
Hours and address: Search “Harmon’s Deutsche Kuche” on Facebook for an updated schedule
Phone: 910-676-0654
Price: About $12-15 per meal
Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at [email protected]. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Harmon's Deutsche Kuche food truck is taking Fayetteville, NC by storm
