Where is Joe's Barbecue? Food truck now makes monthly visits to North Water Brewing in Kent

Ice cold brews and hot barbecue are truly a match made in heaven.

And thanks to a new partnership between popular food truck Joe’s Barbecue and North Water Brewing Company , now customers can experience their own little slice of heaven in Kent.

Owner Joe Menendez’s southern comfort cuisine has routinely drawn customers from throughout the region to a corner lot at state Route 43 and Tallmadge Road in Brimfield, but now he will be serving pulled pork, beef brisket, bourbon banana pudding and more at North Water Brewing Company each month.

What does North Water Brewing bring to the table? Unique brews like Mastermind, a peach cobbler tart ale, or Staring at the Sun, a west coast hazy pale ale with Ube, coconut and pineapple.

North Water Brewing hosts other local food trucks, events and live music on a regular basis, but true to form, a steady line of people showed up for Joe’s Barbecue Tuesday.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Menendez said. “I cooked a little less today because I wasn’t sure how it was going to be.”

North Water Brewing General Manager Derek Salustro was no stranger to Joe’s Barbecue when Menendez reached out in February. He has eaten from Joe’s trailer plenty of times over the years.

“Joe, he's a connoisseur of beer and he just came on through and we kind of hit it off right away,” Salustro said. “The first time we met, we talked for like two hours. He told me what was going on and of course I’m all about supporting local small businesses when possible.”

Don’t worry, Menendez still plans to be at his regular spot Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until he sells out of food. And no, the temporary moves won’t impact how many pork chops, brisket burgers and ribs he’s able to make on a weekly basis.

Joe’s Barbecue controversy

The partnership was forged after licensing issues, new zoning laws and complaints threatened to put the brakes on Menendez’s business earlier this year. Visiting North Water Brewing allows Joe's Barbecue to meet the Ohio Revised Code's requirement that mobile food trucks move every 40 days .

Joe’s Barbecue closed for five days in early March after Summit County Public Health declined to renew his mobile food service operation license, which expired March 1. At the same time, Menendez was fighting efforts by some in the township to enact stricter rules for food trucks and other pop-up businesses.

Menendez was so determined to reverse Brimfield’s zoning laws and stay in business, he even resorted to giving his food away for a voluntary donation for a few weeks. But things started looking up for the food truck and its fans at the end of March, when Portage County Combined Health District issued it a mobile food license.

Brimfield zoning commission hiring

At a March zoning commission meeting, Mogadore resident Clyde Pierson, who is an alternate on the zoning board, identified himself as the complaining resident Menendez said is partially responsible for his zoning and health department troubles.

During the March 4 zoning commission meeting , Pierson raised concerns about letting more food trucks adopt the Joe's Barbecue business model in the future. He has contacted Portage County Combined Health District and Summit County Public Health about Joe’s Barbecue multiple times within the last year.

Though he was slated to serve as an alternate to the zoning commission until December, Pierson has resigned, and the township is taking applications to fill his position.

The future of temporary vendors in Brimfield

In March, Brimfield’s zoning inspector and economic development director Michael Hlad said that the zoning commission is looking into creating a specific street for temporary vendors or mobile food vendors where they would have water and sewer hookup.

According to Holly Woods, the township’s business manager, the idea is going through the steps for consideration. Conceptual drawings of where the vendor space may be located were recently created for review. In the end, Hlad explained, it’s the board of trustees that would decide where the designated street would land, not the zoning commission.

At the March 20 board of trustees meeting, Brimfield trustee Nic Coia made a motion asking the zoning commission to review the permit and consider expanding it to six months with consecutive renewals.

Coia’s motion is making its way through the Portage County Regional Planning Commission. Hlad said regional planning is pulling together a spreadsheet of the temporary vendor permit details of every other community in the county.

“Townships work a lot different than a city,” Hlad said. “The zoning commission here is only one step of the process. The bulk of the work for all these laws comes in through regional planning.”

Got a story recommendation? Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans. And follow her adventures on TikTok @akronbeaconjournal.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Where is Joe's Barbecue? Food truck now makes monthly visits to North Water Brewing in Kent