Good Bad Delicious, more concisely known as GBD, is the food truck offspring of husband-and-wife team Raquel and Michael Van Staden. While Raquel takes the lead on front-of-house operations, classically trained industry veteran Mikey mans the kitchen, offering a rotating selection of international fare reflecting the couple’s love of street food. And our culinary scene is better off for having them here.
With a setup that would make most brick-and-mortar restaurants jealous, GBD is clearly designed from the chef’s standpoint. The mobile kitchen’s versatility allows its operators to offer a vast culinary variety.
Pides are a hallmark, canoe-shaped Turkish flatbread pizzas found rarely found elsewhere in our Valley. Baked in-truck in a heavy-duty convection oven—which the chef also uses for breakfast sandwich bun baking for midday Saturday stints at Khoury’s Wine & Spirits on Eastern—the dough for the pides cooks up super-crisp around the edges, providing a handhold for tearing the uncut pie apart at your table. Varying options include triple cheese ($11.50), with regular shredded and buffalo mozzarella with Parmesan; a traditional cup-and-char pepperoni ($13.50); and fancier prosciutto and arugula ($14).
On the healthier side, Van Staden’s Mediterranean falafel pita ($14) is an epiphany. This might be the city’s best falafel since Rami Cohen departed the west side’s now-closed Sababa. The multitude of ingredients jammed into the pita alongside the falafel include beet hummus, vegan lemon pepper aioli, pickled sumac onions and quinoa, and that could be a muddled mess in lesser hands. But the flavors and textures blend wonderfully without overpowering the falafel, and since the wrap is already healthy enough, pay the $2 tariff and upgrade to feta fries.
Finish with a Shut the F*ckUp Cupcake ($6), a chocolate cupcake with a dulce de leche molten center topped with vanilla frosting and a sprinkling of crispy bacon bits. It’s exactly the shot of sweetness you need to close out a meal.
While the menu currently leans Mediterranean, it’s unlikely to remain that way as the Van Stadens’ culinary journey progresses. St. Patrick’s Day saw the unveiling of Reuben eggrolls and shepherd’s pie. One can only hope we’ll eventually see boerewors, a minced-meat sausage from Mikey’s homeland of South Africa.
GOOD BAD DELICIOUS @gbd702, gbdlasvegas.com.
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