‘One-woman show’ brings unique menus to Bellefonte tasting room
The tasting room at Big Spring Spirits in Bellefonte recently welcomed a new chef-in-residence. Meghan McCracken boasts a long history working in the food business, but every step of her journey has been hard-won.
“Before Big Spring, I had a food truck called Nomad Kitchen, and before that I had started a small baking-catering-personal cheffing business called Salt + Honey. I still have my food truck, though I’m no longer operating it,” McCracken said. “Since I’m a one-woman show, I can’t do all the things I’d like to.”
A single mom, McCracken purchased her food truck for $3,000 when she first started Nomad Kitchen. The truck was initially an empty contractor’s truck and McCracken built it by hand “with blood, sweat and tears,” customizing it to fit her needs and artistic vision with the help of generous friends.
“I worked hard. I worked really really hard. Stupid hard. People closest to me have witnessed how ridiculous I’ve gotten at times, seeing me through many 16-hour work days,” she said. “Some days it feels like you’re scrambling back to the starting line. But some days you feel proud as hell when you see your work making sense.”
McCracken said that she’s always been one to lead with her heart, and knows in her heart that it was all worth it.
“Some people might call that naive, but I can’t operate any other way,” she said. “I’ve tried, but it’s against my nature. I find leading with your heart is a better way to pursue any artistic venture and feel good about it, and still hold onto the integrity that got you passionate about it to begin with. It gets trickier when your art then becomes your business, when money is involved.”
McCracken was welcomed onto the Big Spring Spirits team in July 2019, where she’s brought her rustic, Mediterranean cooking style to the tasting room. She says someone once likened her food to “folk food,” with its homemade spin and international street food feel. However, she points out that labeling her food “seems limiting, so (she doesn’t) want to trip up on that.” Put simply, she says, she likes “food as food ... I want it to have crumbs and fat and color and crunch.”
Once at Big Spring Spirits, McCracken worked to uncover the needs and desires of a new clientele, though she says she was flattered that many of her Nomad Kitchen customers have followed her along her career, now coming into the tasting room to experience her unique menus. It’s clear to see that, for McCracken, the personal aspect of cooking is one of her favorites, as she builds relationships with her diners, saying “hello” and “goodbye” from the Big Springs open kitchen.
“It’s pretty exciting and fulfilling to watch people’s faces while they’re enjoying the thing you make,” she says, “though I would guess it’s like that for all ‘makers’ who are passionate about creating something for public consumption, whether it be a musician or a mural artist or a designer.”
She calls her diners “open-minded” and “adventurous,” eager to roll with her “ever-changing menu at (her) whims and fancies and excitedly order whatever (she) happens to have dreamed up from week to week.” It all goes further to supporting her goal of offering food that’s not only unique and exciting, but nourishing and flavorful as well.
The Big Spring Spirits tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday, 4-10 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; and Sunday 2-8 p.m. To try McCracken’s menus, visit Thursday through Sunday, as weekly events occur each Wednesday.
The current tasting room menu includes such international delights as a Spanish bocadillo (a Spanish sandwich with serrano ham, cheese, smoked paprika, artichoke tomato chutney and local greens on locally-made bread), pork carnitas tacos and Italian affogato (made with a shot of local coffee, Talleyrand Cream Bourbon and hand-whipped cream). Vegetarian and gluten-free menu items are available.