Barbecue On Wheels Calls Darnestown Home On Weekends

How inclined is the average person to stop on the side of the road to pick up some barbecue? Quite inclined, if you ask Erich Hahn.

Located on Route 28 between Quince Orchard and Riffle Ford Roads, Hahn’s truck contains the finest barbecue Branded ’72 Pit Barbecue has to offer. Equipped with its own hickory-smoked oven, the truck’s food is always hot and ready to order.

This is the first year Branded ’72 has sent the truck to the Darnestown farmers market location. The restaurant usually looks for areas that are good for them and the community, meaning areas of high foot traffic or where you can’t get good barbecue, Hahn said.

Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Branded ’72 general manager sends his barbecue truck out to Darnestown, and the people have been coming out in droves. 

“On a good day, when the weather is warm, it could be anywhere from 100 to 200 people,” Hahn said.

Everything on the Branded ’72 menu is served out of the truck, Hahn said, highlighting the restaurant’s ribs, chicken, beef brisket, and pork. But with so many people to be served and no kitchen, customers sometimes find their desired items unavailable.

“[Selling out] happens, especially with the truck,” Hahn said. The restaurant usually sends four or five brisket with the truck, but if a bunch of people shows up at once, the food goes quickly, he said.

“If [the truck] is close enough to us we’ll run some back up,” Hahn said. “But running out isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It means we’re doing well.”

Operated by a man known to customers only as “Mo,” the truck arrives at its location around 11 a.m. and continues to serve customers until sundown. It attracts customers from nearby Quince Orchard High School and passers-by on the commute home from work to Branded ’72 regulars who live in the area.

Count Darnestown native Bob Sherrin amongst those who wish to see more of the truck.

“It would be nice if he’s here all year round,” Sherrin said.

Still a regular patron of the Branded ’72 restaurant off Gude Drive in Rockville, Sherrin said he started coming to the truck over the summer and has continued in the fall, primarily before a Redskins or Steelers game.

Sherrin’s ideal meal from the truck includes a rack of ribs, baked beans, and either a beef or pork sandwich, he said.

“The flavor and the way [the ribs] are cooked, the meat just falls off the bone,” Sherrin said. “It’s tremendous.”