by Blake Herzog
Navy cook Everett Taylor always wanted to open his own restaurant, but didn’t realize it would be on wheels until his mom told him so.
Once he retired last year, it was his mother who decided “Hey, let’s have a food truck,” he says. “Then she said, ‘I wanna do fry bread,’ and I said, ‘We can do that.’”
Native Nom Noms, based in Maricopa, joined Pinal County’s growing food truck scene in August and has been getting rave reviews for its traditional and innovative recipes with the Native American staple at their base.
Taylor is half Hopi and his mother Shannon Keith is from the Navajo Nation. The food they serve draws from their culture and other influences, Taylor says: “Navajo tacos are something we’ve always had, and with my culinary background I just kind of played with it.”
The food is made from scratch. The Navajo taco is their trademark, Taylor says, and features ground beef, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and salsa on fresh fry bread, made from a simple dough of flour, baking soda, salt and milk deep-fried in hot oil.
The truck’s variations on the fry bread theme include the Rez Reuben with pastrami, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing; the Cowboy pulled-pork sandwich; Navajo burgers with two patties, green chili, cheese, lettuce and tomato; and the island-inspired Hei Hei.
“It doesn’t make sense that it would make sense, because it’s fry bread with rice and mac salad, but all of it together is so good,” he says.
And don’t forget the desserts — fry bread topped with honey, cinnamon, Oreo crumbs, cookie batter, strawberry Dubai chocolate — the possibilities are endless. Native Nom Noms also touts its hand-shaken lemonade in several flavors.
The truck is a veteran-owned business, and Taylor and Keith come from a Gold Star family. Taylor and his three brothers all served in the military, and one, Cpl. Quinn Keith, was lost in Iraq in 2004.
The truck can be found at special events throughout the county and occasionally as far north as Chandler, and it also caters private functions. Its most regular stop is at Central Arizona College’s Maricopa campus on Tuesday nights, and it often turns up in Casa Grande and Arizona City. To keep abreast of its path and menu follow the Native Nom Noms Llc Facebook page.
