Stoke Pizza from Pueblo won the coveted Governor’s Plate award at the 5th annual Governor’s Plate competition at the Colorado State Fair. This year, Chef Brother Luck served as the judge in the Governor’s absence, and chose the winner for the Governor’s Plate. Additionally, MC2 Ice Cream Truck from Arvada won the People’s Choice Award.
The competition included four food trucks from Pueblo and one from Arvada. The rules: each dish had to be created by local chefs using Colorado Proud ingredients. This year, the dishes were required to include either honey produced in Colorado or sweet corn from the Centennial State.
Stoke Pizza’s winning dish was a wood-fired pie made with ingredients from local Colorado farmers, including local meat, green chile, and Colorado honey. Stoke Pizza is a returning champion, having been named the 2024 People’s Choice winner and the 2023 Governor’s Plate winner.
Brother Luck, a celebrity chef who has appeared on Top Chef and who owns three Colorado Springs restaurants, chose it as his favorite after sampling dishes ranging from enchiladas to corn dip to ice cream at each of the five food trucks.
“Everyone had their own personality and stayed true to who they were as a food truck,” Luck said. “I think it’s so important when you're cooking a dish to be authentic to who you are.”
The People’s Choice Award, voted on by the attendees of the event, went to Arvada’s MC2 Ice Cream Truck, which served a honey-cheesecake ice cream swirled with freeze-dried corn streusel, served in a honey cornbread cone and finished with shattered pine nut brittle and bing cherry pearls.
For Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, this year’s competition highlighted both superior produce and great talent.
"The imagination and creativity of food truck chefs from across Colorado never ceases to amaze me," Greenberg said. "This year we were treated to amazing showcases of the sweet and savory options that could only be produced here in Colorado."
The food trucks that participated this year were:
- Mother Smothers (Pueblo) is serving a Pueblo green chile cheesy and creamy corn dip served with corn chips.
- Stoke Pizza (Pueblo) is creating a wood-fired pizza made with ingredients from local Colorado farmers, including Colorado Proud honey.
- MunchKings (Pueblo) will be making an enchilada featuring corn tortillas topped with an award-winning green chile.
- Mollie & Co (Pueblo) will enter the competition with a honey-sweetened green chile and peach ice cream served with dark chocolate.
- MC2 Ice Cream Truck (Arvada) is making a honey-goat cheese cheesecake ice cream swirled with freeze-dried corn streusel, served in a honey cornbread cone and finished with shattered Pine Nut brittle and Bing cherry pearls.
The Governor’s Plate competition was created in 2021 to highlight Colorado’s diverse and unbeatable agricultural products and chefs. Competing trucks must be registered as Colorado Proud, which means they utilize any food or agricultural product that has been grown, raised or processed in Colorado.