If you’ve been craving Mediterranean food on the Western Slope, you’re in luck. Cedars Mediterranean, a new food truck run by husband-and-wife duo Sam and Georgina Joseph, is bringing fresh, authentic Lebanese flavors to towns across the region—and people can’t seem to get enough of it.

Joseph, an entrepreneur with deep roots in the restaurant world, first visited Colorado in 2020 on a fall photography tour. “I fell in love with the Western Slope and decided that I wanted to move here,” he said. In 2021, he and his family sold their home in Texas and relocated.

Joseph isn’t new to the food business. “My family’s been in the restaurant business for over 60 years, and I’ve owned restaurants before in Europe,” he said. Specializing in Lebanese, Greek, and Italian cuisine, he spent years honing his craft. He also lived in Greece for many years, where he learned the cuisine firsthand.

Sam Joseph, middle, owns Cedars Mediterranean. (Caden Kay | MBT)

After moving to the Western Slope, Joseph realized a key component was missing from the local food scene: “There’s definitely no Mediterranean and no Lebanese food.” He decided to test the waters with pop-up events, starting in Ridgway. “We did a pop-up in Ridgway every Friday, and we also did some events and festivals,” he said. “The response was overwhelmingly great.”

Word spread quickly, with some customers even driving from Durango just to try Cedars Mediterranean. The overwhelming demand convinced Joseph to take the next step, launching his mobile food trailer recently. Since then, the business has remained consistently busy. “I cannot remember a single time that we were not sold out,” he said.

Joseph takes pride in the freshness of his food. “We don’t have anything that’s frozen,” he said. “Everything is cooked fresh.” He describes Lebanese cuisine as “a fusion of Middle Eastern and French” that is “light, very tasty, and extremely healthy.”

Rather than staying in one location, Cedars Mediterranean operates as a fully mobile business. “I’m a true believer that having a food truck is a true mobile business,” Joseph said. “We want to give an opportunity for most towns around here on the Western Slope to try our food.”

The trailer recently launched in Hotchkiss, where the response was just as strong. “We sold out very quickly, and everyone has been asking us to go back,” he said. The Montrose stop this past Tuesday was equally successful, selling out before 4 p.m.

While the idea of a brick-and-mortar restaurant has been considered, Joseph prefers the flexibility of a food truck. “We might, but we’re happy with what we have now,” he said. “Ridgway is very dead in the winter, so we want to be able to offer our food in as many towns as possible.”

Cedars Mediterranean announces its schedule on its Facebook page, allowing customers to track where the food truck will be next.

“We Lebanese only know how to do two things—food and  entrepreneurship,” Joseph said.

And keep an eye out—Cedars Mediterranean will be rolling back into town Friday, March 14.