How Atlanta team won ‘The Great Food Truck Race’

It came down to the beignets.The winners of the latest season of “The Great Food Truck Race” on Food Network NOLA Creations are Louisiana bred and born, pocketing $50,000 during Sunday night’s finale.

But the trio moved to Atlanta last year to lick their wounds and regroup after a problem with a contractor in New Orleans cost them their restaurant. The couple Darrell and Anna Johnson now lives in McDonough and Terrell Gaskin resides in Lithonia.

This show was their comeback and they proved their worth.

“We’re family,” Darrell said on the final episode. “We bonded. It was hard but it was worth it.”

Their journey on the show included some big wins and a near loss when they accidentally left some old food in a fridge and an inspector fined them $600. That nearly got them eliminated week three. But they refocused and made it to the finals with a consistent vision, a fine-oiled twoman cooking duo and a great marketer in Anna.

Their menu hit the highlights of New Orleans cuisine: jambalaya, shrimp po boys, crawfishétoufféeandbeignets.

“We always had massive lines but also high expectations,” Darrell said in an interview. “We had to deliver each and every week. If you don’t, you get chewed out!”

Their final rivals Brunch Babes are home cooks who countered in the final challenge in Key West, Fla., with shrimp tacos and pork/beef burgers.Withthreechallenges for bonus cash, NOLA Creations won two, which made the difference in the end.

The final challenge was turning key lime pie ingredients into a non-pie dessert.

Brunch Babes rejiggered their signature donuts. NOLA Creations, of course, did the same with their beignets. In the end, NOLA Creations sold ninemorethanBrunchBabes, enabling them to pocket the $50,000.