Crystal Wise
Food and music have long been intertwined. No one may know this more than Derron Blackman, a musician who, with his wife Aurora, runs one of the city’s best new food trucks.
Crystal Wise
Blackman is one of 24 children fathered by Trinidadian musician Garfield Blackman, who also, in the early 1970s, fathered a style of music called “soca.” Recording and touring under the name Lord Shorty, Garfield developed his calypso style of music by combining kaiso music of West Africa with elements from East Indian music.
What his father did for music, Derron is now, in a way, doing for food, combining flavors of his homeland to offer something unique and exciting to Fort Worth diners.
Last year, Derron and Aurora launched a food truck called Sokah — named after his father’s music — dedicated to food inspired by the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost island in the Caribbean. Often parked outside the Hotel Dryce, the two offer a small menu of dishes that have caught the attention of other Caribbean expats who long for “doubles” and “roti jerk chicken,” two of the truck’s most popular items.
“Doubles,” Aurora explains, are a popular street food in Trinidad and Tobago made with flat fried dough, which Derron makes himself on the truck, and topped with curried chickpeas, chutneys, and other ingredients. For his, Derron uses a mango chutney that he makes himself.
The couple’s roti jerk chicken taco is inspired by roti, a combination of stewed meat and vegetables typically served in a wrap. Derron and Aurora put their own spin on it, serving roti tacos. Another key dish is an excellent sandwich called “bake and fish,” which Derron makes with catfish filets, cucumber chutney, coleslaw, tamarind, and bread he makes in-house, as you watch.
Their small menu also includes a jerk chicken plate, fried jerk chicken and fries, goat roti, and other dishes closely associated with West Indian cuisine.
“There’s not anywhere in Fort Worth we can think of that serves food from Trinidad and Tobago,” Derron says. “The flavors are incredible. That’s why we wanted to bring it to Fort Worth. It’s something new here.”
The couple has been married for nearly a decade, but they met in 1998 in Thailand, where Derron was performing music with his band while Aurora, who hails from Singapore, was watching him play while vacationing there. Both just 21 and with the world at their feet, they went their separate ways, until similar circumstances brought them back together — 16 years later on a different continent.
In what can only be described as fate, the two ran into each other a decade ago, at a cafe in San Diego, where, again, Derron was performing music, and Aurora just happened to be there.
“We knew something bigger than us had brought us back together, all this time and years later,” Aurora says. “We decided, pretty fast, that we were meant to be together.”
The two moved to North Carolina and then to Fort Worth, where Aurora had friends and family. Even though she and Derron have launched a food truck, she still has a day job as a regional manager for Motorola.
Crystal Wise
It was her idea to open the food truck, Derron says. “She always wanted to have her own business, and she loves to cook,” Derron says. “She did all the research, took care of all the business and permits and everything you need to open.”
Right now, the truck focuses on the food Derron knows and loves. At some point, Aurora says, she’s going to add some Singaporean dishes that pay homage to her youth.
“Maybe in the summer, I’ll add some Singaporean food,” she says. “But for now, we want people to learn about Trinidad and Tobago food. Besides, I just really love eating his food.”
Sokah is usually parked at Hotel Dryce on Saturday evenings. For its full schedule, visit its Instagram page, instagram.com/sokahfoodtruck
