If you’ve walked through downtown Durango around lunchtime between October and May, you’ve probably noticed the cheesesteak guy.
Tom Corrado’s stand, located these days in the parking lot of the Elks Lodge on Ninth Street and East Second Avenue, might not look like anything to write home about. But fans of regional fast foods may beg to differ.
Corrado grew up in Philadelphia and realized once he moved to Durango that he couldn’t find a proper cheesesteak, he said. So he decided to make them himself, starting his food cart, Good on the Bun, eight years ago.
“I thought it was something I could bring to the community and they would enjoy,” he says.
Corrado goes out of his way to recreate an authentic experience with his sandwiches.
“The bread is key,” he says, which is why he has his hoagie rolls sent all the way from home. Getting the correct cut of beef is also important, and the Cheez Whiz he slathers over it recreates a South Philly tradition. (His lack of a griddle with which to melt American or provolone cheese contributes to his choice on the latter.)
[image:2,half]Outside of the cheesesteaks for which he is famous, Corrado also serves two other rotating sandwich specials, such as meatball, chicken parm, Italian roast pork, and chicken cutlet sandwiches; bratwursts and hot dogs; and homemade soups, of which he is especially proud.
Corrado makes his own broths, and his soups are always gluten-free (if there’s, say, noodles, they’re on the side and added last). He always has one meat-laden soup and one vegetarian soup.
Everything at Good on the Bun is homemade and made from scratch, he says. “It’s a little taste of where I grew up.”
Corrado’s choice to run his food cart through the winter seems chilly and counterintuitive, but there’s a method to his madness. He works for a company that caters food backstage at music festivals during the summer, leaving him free to make cheesesteaks the rest of the year.
The stand is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Nick Gonzales
