After more than two years of hauling a mobile kitchen between festivals, bar pop-ups and private parties, chef Scott Zajork has parked his food trailer for good. Not Bad Foods now operates weekly from a fully equipped stationary trailer on the fenced patio behind Bad Moon Saloon, and Zajork says he plans to stay there long term.
The residency marks a shift for a business that started, as Zajork told Milwaukee Record, with “tent pop-ups, motorcycle shows, bar pop-ups, and parties,” serving food for friends and local businesses before growing into a full mobile dining operation. Zajork said he wanted a permanent location with an established following, and Bad Moon Saloon welcomed the trailer onto its patio, according to the same report. The trailer itself was custom built in Texas and arrived in Milwaukee less than three months before the article's publication.
A Menu Built on Two Decades in Milwaukee Kitchens
Not Bad Foods bills itself with a simple, blunt tagline: “food that doesn't suck.” The menu leans into comfort food with a twist, mixing Asian-influenced dishes, tacos and specialty hot dogs cooked on an open-flame grill built into the trailer, per the same report. Sandwiches, skewers and appetizer-sized snacks are staples, and the lineup always includes a chicken sandwich and a baguette sandwich, though Zajork plans to rotate specials and lean on seasonal ingredients as the menu evolves.
Zajork's culinary resume stretches back more than 20 years, starting at a Tumbleweed location in Waukesha County and later running kitchens in Kenosha, according to Milwaukee Record. The same report lists Goodkind, DanDan, The Vanguard, Snack Boys and Bonobo American Bistro among his restaurant experience.
The patio menu includes a fried chicken sandwich. Zajork also ran Foxfire, a food truck.
Not Bad Foods will hold its grand opening party on the patio Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring DJs, drink specials and a meat raffle, a tradition with roots in World War II-era Britain that remains a staple fundraising activity across Wisconsin taverns, as Milwaukee Record has explained.
A Fixed Location for Not Bad Foods
Not Bad Foods will operate outside Bad Moon Saloon Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and starting in October, it plans to open during Packers games from 30 minutes before kickoff through an hour after the final whistle. The stationary setup also sidesteps a regulatory fight that has rattled Milwaukee's mobile food scene: in June, a temporary restraining order halted enforcement of an ordinance with a 10 p.m. downtown closing requirement for mobile food vendors.
Not Bad Foods has moved from a mobile setup to a fixed location. South Side seafood truck El Paraíso Aguachiles opened its own storefront in August, a shift Hoodline previously reported. Zajork has said towing and driving a truck can be cumbersome.
