I have been sitting with this episode since the day we recorded it. I don't say that about every conversation -- but this one was different.

Jakob Norris walked into the studio at The Beacon and I already felt like I knew him a little. Darryl and I had stopped by his food truck a couple weeks before -- I had the spicy chicken sandwich, Darryl had the smash burger, and then someone handed me a deep-fried fluffernutter that I did not expect to ruin me the way it did. I ate way more than half of it and I am not a sweets person. That should tell you everything.

But what I wasn't expecting was the conversation that followed when we sat down to record.

Jakob is the founder and CEO of Northman Food and Beverage Co. and the mind behind Wicked Tasty -- a New Hampshire food truck that has grown in four years into something much bigger: a corporate café operation, full-service catering, a licensed bar program called Wicked Thirsty, and a seasonal kitchen up at Dartmouth Skiway. The name Northman comes from his last name, Norris. Man of the north. And when you hear how he describes that -- "somebody who makes it through long, hard winters, somebody who doesn't stop" -- you understand it's not just branding.

It's personal.

Jakob grew up between Plymouth, Massachusetts and Salem, New Hampshire. He lost his dad when he was 12 -- shortly after they moved here -- and cooking was the thing that stayed constant. His dad used to take him clam digging, forage mushrooms on camping trips, dance around the kitchen with his mom. That was the foundation.

He dropped out of high school. Got his first kitchen job at Murphy's Tap Room in Manchester. And then -- like a lot of people in this industry -- life got hard in ways that didn't look hard from the outside. He was working in kitchens in Vegas, down south, all over the country. "It looked really great on Facebook," he told me. But he was cycling. Crash and burn, start over. Crash and burn again.

He turned 19 in a halfway house.

I asked him what it felt like the day he decided to get clean. I expected him to say it felt like relief. He said it felt scary.

"I didn't know what my life was going to be like without it," he told me. "I thought I was going to have to leave this career because of it. I didn't know how I could be clean and sober and still be a chef working in kitchens because it just related too much."

He went back to the 12-step program he'd been introduced to in that halfway house years before. He never looked back. This year will be ten years completely abstinent. And he told me something that I think about now when I think about my own 39 years running the Red Arrow:

"My recovery is the very core of everything that I do. I carry it with me every day."

When Jakob talks about second chances, he's not talking in the abstract. He talks about a line cook he once worked alongside who was struggling with addiction -- and the boss who wrote that person off entirely. He said he never forgot that. He said he watches who people are becoming, not just who they've been.

I told him about the halfway house that used to be up the street from the Red Arrow on Elm Street -- how they'd come introduce themselves, ask if I'd hire their residents, and how some of the best people I ever had came through that door. Not all of them. But enough. Enough to know that somebody worth writing off today might change the world tomorrow.

Jakob said: "Everybody's worth something. Who you see in front of you today doesn't mean that's who they're going to be always."

That's Northman. That's the whole thing, underneath all the food and the truck and the catering and the bar program.

Wicked Tasty runs on the philosophy of New England Classics with a twist. The 603 Smash Burger has a maple bacon onion jam that takes three to four hours to make. The garlic aioli has four different kinds of garlic. The short rib poutine braises that short rib for eight hours. The deep-fried fluffernutter -- peanut butter and fluff on white bread, rolled in egg wash and frosted corn flakes, deep fried, and finished with powdered sugar -- is not a thing you forget.

They also do a lobster roll in the summer, specialty grilled cheeses with a crispy cheddar crust, a spicy chicken with house-made honey Sriracha, and a barbecue chicken that makes you want to sit down somewhere nice.

To find them, follow Wicked Tasty on Facebook -- they post their weekly schedule and you'll typically find three to five public events per week. You can also see everything at wickedtastytrucks.com.

Beyond the truck, Northman F&B Co. now includes Wicked Thirsty -- a full bar service with a caterer's liquor license, doing 10-15 weddings a year. They handle appetizers, dinner, bar, rentals, and late-night service all under one roof. They run a corporate café out of a commissary kitchen in Chelmsford. They partner with venues like The Factory in Manchester and Mountain View Stables in Loudon. And every winter, they take over the kitchen at Dartmouth Skiway up in Lyme.

He told me they're currently in stabilization mode -- building slow, doing what they do really well, and then growing again. He has a new baby daughter, Nadia, who stands on a little stool in the kitchen and watches him cook the way he once watched his dad.

"He's watching you," I told him. And I meant it.

I asked him the question I ask everyone who's built something real: what keeps you going on the days when it's too much?

"I think that's where my recovery comes back in," he said. "I lived a life that was pretty irresponsible for a long time. I didn't stick to anything. When I was able to get clean and get a clear head, I saw myself start to stick things out. And just knowing that there's hope for another day -- that's what keeps me going."

He told me about a stretch where the food truck battery wouldn't start every single day for years. Every single day, he'd go out there and jump it. Until they figured out the permanent fix.

"If you don't quit, that's how things change," he said. "You wait it out. You push through it. If you don't quit, that's how things change."

I have been doing this for 39 years. And I think that is exactly right.

Go find Jakob. Go find Wicked Tasty. And if you get the chance -- get the fluffernutter.

-- Carol

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Follow Wicked Tasty: wickedtastytrucks.com | @wickedtastytruck

Learn about Northman F&B Co.: northmanhospitality.com

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ABOUT CAROL ERICKSON

Carol Erickson has owned Red Arrow Diner since 1987 -- four locations across New Hampshire, open 24/7. She started Beyond the Plate to tell the real stories behind the people who make New England's food and hospitality scene what it is. Not just what's on the menu. What's behind it.

Red Arrow Diner: redarrowdiner.com  | @redarrow24diner