CHAMBER
story by eli hoelscher
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photography by janene rothwell
DISCOVER EUDORA
Bring on the Brûlée Torched Goodness hit the brakes on Main Street to serve Eudora real meals.
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orched Goodness owner Julia Ireland spent most of her life living on the coasts—in Los Angeles and New York—before moving inland to Phoenix, Arizona. There, she founded the city’s first gourmet food truck in 2010, which was an immediate success. The next logical step—Eudora, Kansas. A decade later, Ireland is eager for Torched Goodness’ 6th year based here. “Moving to Eudora was a beautiful fluke,” she says. “I was ready to have seasons again, and the only place I had not lived was the Midwest.” The area also caught her eye thanks to its combination of small town charm and proximity to Kansas City. The food truck is best-known for its crème brûlée, a decadent dish of custard topped with caramelized sugar, torched to perfection just before serving. It’s just as popular here as it was in Phoenix: in 2019, The Food Network listed Torched Goodness as the best food truck in Kansas. When Ireland started the business, she wanted to make this luxurious treat accessible to anyone. “It was something high-end, only from a fancy restaurant. You can’t just go in and ask for a crème brûlée—you’re going to be in for a $50 meal just to get to dessert,” she explains. So she bought a truck and brought it to the streets. The torching process also adds a touch of visual and olfactory spectacle to the events Ireland serves. “I had the thought of weddings in the back of my head … You don’t get to enjoy the process in a restaurant, to see someone standing there torching it.” With food truck season running from April through October in the Midwest, Ireland and her partner, Andrew Sexton, had to branch into new ways to serve her sweet and savory goods year round. The catering side of Torched Goodness expanded quickly. “We serve lots of weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, and yearly galas,” Ireland says. She’s also forged relationships with many local groups with her catering services, often providing food for the City of Eudora, the school district, the fire department, the Eudora Chamber of Commerce, and other community pillars. “That’s what makes this fun for me; it’s different every day,” Ireland says. Having extra time in the offseason also spurred her to plan a fixed location for Torched Goodness in addition to the food truck—but she had to wait to make it a reality. “I kept looking at 826 Main Street, thinking that would be perfect, and I missed it the first time.” In 2017, she finally got her chance to lease the building.
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cityofeudoraks.gov
It Takes Two to Torch The allure of freshly caramelized crème brûlée is enough to keep the team behind Torched Goodness busy year after year, but they’re not ready to rest on their laurels. Owner Julia Ireland’s partner, Andrew Sexton, innovates to keep to the business moving forward. “Andrew takes what I already do and makes it better. He is a whiz at techie stuff and does the Torched Goodness website, marketing, design of promotional materials, and is an integral part of building out the new food truck,” Ireland says. Together, they’ve dreamed up more novel ways to have dessert, such as the donut wall and build-your-own s’mores station, which Sexton built last winter. The donut wall is an aesthetically pleasing display of donuts, offering a nice decorative touch without sparing any sugar output. The s’mores station has everything for a hands-on s’mores-building experience. “It has a nostalgia to it—guys love it,” Ireland says.
SPRING/SUMMER 2020
