Bergner excited to offer Mediterranean menu with new food truck

Through the search for solidarity for his family, and a love of cooking in his heart, 2005 Holyoke High School graduate Landon Bergner has opened up a new Mediterranean-themed food truck on East Denver Street called Hearth Woodfired Kitchen.

It has been somewhat of a twisting, winding road after leaving Holyoke in 2005 to where he is now, but he said he loves what he is doing and hopes the community does too.

A winding road

After earning his teaching degree at Dartmouth College, Bergner moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he taught fifth grade and was also pursuing his master’s degree in teaching. It was during this time that he made the realization that he really didn’t like teaching enough to make it a lifelong career. 

A lover of food, and of cooking, Bergner decided to change course and dive into the restaurant business. 

Loving the many varied restaurants in Chicago, and realizing that many of the them were always short on help, Bergner decided to volunteer his time for them in exchange for real-world experience in cooking. He did this along with working a part-time job. 

His first cooking job was at a restaurant called Avec, which focused on Mediterranean food. Avec was also known for changing up their menus with the seasons, he said. 

The restaurant impressed Bergner with its different cooking techniques. He was with Avec for six months.

His next job, this time a paid one, was at a restaurant called Lula Cafe. Bergner stayed here for nearly seven years.

 Lula’s had a special feature called the Farm Dinner, where every Monday they would create a different three-course meal from what they had done the week before. The restaurant also had a consistent menu but changed things up with the different seasons and different produce available. 

The final restaurant that Bergner worked at was called The Republican. While many restaurants create different meals to complement different kinds of wine, The Republican created their menu to compliment different types of beer. The restaurant also had a great seafood menu, he said. 

One benefit of teaching

Although teaching didn’t work out for Bergner, there was one positive aspect of it in that it led him to his wife, Sarah, who currently teaches sixth grade at Holyoke. 

Once the couple had their first son, Theodore, who is now 6, they began considering if the city was a great place to raise him and decided they wanted a slower pace and the benefits of a smaller community. The couple has another son, Oliver, who is 3 years old. 

The couple did consider possibly moving to Sarah’s childhood home in Delaware. However, the fact that Landon’s mom, Gloria, owns her own day care in Holyoke sold the two on where to move. 

So, in 2018, the couple moved to Holyoke with Sarah taking a teaching job and Landon taking a cooking job at Ballyneal Golf Club, where he stayed for one year. 

He then was the culinary Director at the Haxtun Hospital for a couple of years, and then worked in the cafeteria at Holyoke schools before deciding to go into business for himself. Bergner also serves as a bus driver at the school, which he said he will continue to do this fall.

Employee frustrations lead to truck

The frustrating experiences of forever recruiting, keeping and training employees at the Haxtun Hospital inspired Bergner to look at a mobile food truck instead of a brick and mortar business, he said, with Sarah helping him when she can. 

Wanting to pursue hearth fired cooking, and really focusing on a Mediterranean menu, Bergner sought out and found a couple of companies to custom make his trailer with the hearth that reaches temperatures of 700-plus degrees, he said. 

Saturday, July 8, was Bergner’s first day open at 426 E. Denver St. The day was a huge success, he said. 

“We were so busy that we ran out of several items,” he said. “We are so thankful for everyone’s support.”

A ‘weird’ menu

Bergner admits his menu is not common to eastern Colorado but believes as people are introduced to the tasty Greek and Spanish inspired dishes, they will fall in love with the food. 

“I cook weird food,” he said. “The menu items might sound gross, but after people discover how good things are, they will love it.”

Currently on the menu are Greek salads, hummus, chorizo sausage wrapped in medjool dates and bacon served with ciabatta bread, chicken salad pitas, hearth-fired homemade pizzas, and for dessert, panna cotta, which is vanilla sweet cream topped with macerated blueberries and basil. 

Bergner continues to experiment with new recipes, including a dip made of roasted eggplant called baba ganoush that he hopes to put on the menu soon. 

Hours and locations

The food truck’s hours now are Saturday-Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Bergner will also take his truck to the Phillips County Fair and possibly the Sedgwick County Fair. He is also considering going to Haxtun and Wray at various times in the future. People can keep up with the Hearth Woodfired Kitchen on Facebook and Instagram.