A new food truck has opened in the Bangor area, and its owners Zac and Anna LaPierre are going all in on a cuisine they both know and love: barbecue.
This Lil Piggy, which had its inaugural weekend last Saturday at the Brewer Auditorium, will offer up smoked barbecue alongside baked goods at locations around the Bangor area, as well as catering for events.
The LaPierres met while both were working at Texas Roadhouse, where Zac, 32 — originally from Milford — was a broil cook and later kitchen manager, and Anna, 25 — who hails from Dedham — was a server and bartender. They were drawn to each other’s work ethic, and soon fell in love.
“Busy restaurants tend to separate the wheat from the chaff rather quickly,” Zac LaPierre said. “It takes a special kind of person to endure feeding 1,000 people with a smile on their face, and we are both those kinds of people.”
After COVID hit and things like takeout and outdoor dining became more and more commonplace in the restaurant industry, they realized they would be in a good position to strike out on their own and capitalize on those changes.
“The food truck idea really got launched with COVID,” Anna LaPierre said. “As people became more accustomed to different food delivery methods, we realized that we could undertake this venture with just the two of us.”
While Anna is the baker, concocting an array of cookies, brownies and other sweet treats, Zac is the pitmaster. After years working in a meat-centric kitchen like the one at Texas Roadhouse, he knows his way around a cut of meat.
“It’s a labor of love,” Zac LaPierre said. “Our brisket takes 14 hours, start to finish, and every knife stroke in the trimming process, every spritz and rotation of the meat during cooking, and thickness of every slice before we sell affects the finished product.”
The couple began building out their food truck late last year, and were finally ready to open This Lil Piggy last weekend.
The main attraction is, of course, the barbecue, with brisket, ribs, pulled pork and burnt ends always on the menu, available as a platter or in sandwiches. Sides include mac and cheese, cornbread, coleslaw, collard greens and fries. Anna’s fresh baked brownies, cake pops and cookies round out the menu.
This Lil Piggy will be at the Brewer Auditorium parking lot starting at 11 a.m. on April 9 and 23, until all food is sold out. The truck will also be at Circle 2 Disc Golf in Bradford starting at noon on April 16, and at Vibes Cannabis in Bangor starting at noon on April 20. More consistent dates will come later on in the summer.
Pre-orders and catering inquiries can be made on the This Lil Piggy website.