Good Eats at the Beach: Celebrating 30 Years of the Ditch Witch

The arrival of summer for the locals of Ditch Plains is typically marked by a familiar sight; one that they have loved and cherished for the last three decades — the opening of Ditch Witch. This year marks the 30th anniversary for the beloved Montauk food truck — a milestone that celebrates a family’s dedication to serving delicious food and long-lasting impact one food truck has had for the Montauk community.

The Ditch Witch’s journey began in 1994 with its founder, Lili Adams. With a strong culinary background and years of experience working in various East End kitchens, Adams was inspired to start a food truck on the beach that sold healthier alternatives to the often overprocessed, fast-food concessions that used to be the norm when it came to beach food trucks. Over the years, as her business became a hit with the surfers and beachgoers in Ditch Plains, Adams’s children, Abby and Grant, began working alongside their mother in the food truck.

“My mom was way ahead of her time with the concept of starting a food truck,” Abby Monahan said. “It wasn’t even a concept then.”

Adams always planned to retire from the Ditch Witch after 20 years. When that day finally came, Abby and Grant stepped in and purchased the business from their mother, carrying on its legacy.

“My brother and I have now run the food truck independently from our mom for 10 years,” Monahan said. “We kept her vision alive for years, and then slowly started to interject our own selves into the menu by making some changes and making it more of our own.”

Drawing from their shared passion for travel, the current co-owners began infusing the menu with foods that they fell in love with on their adventures. They pride themselves on the introduction of poke bowls to the menu, which has quickly become a customer favorite. Their “Classic” bowl features Hawaiian-style ahi tuna, served over white rice with furikake seasoning and their secret poke sauce. Other notable menu items include their signature Ditch Witch wrap, which contains cheese, tomato, greens, cucumber, guacamole and balsamic dressing, as well as their Bombay salad, which includes curry chicken salad, greens, tomato, cucumber, pea shoots and peanut dressing, with over a dozen other wraps and salads available to choose from on the lunch menu, as well as fresh burritos and quesadillas.

The Ditch Witch also offers an extensive breakfast menu, including Goldberg’s bagels, egg sandwiches and wraps, avocado toast, a power burrito with eggs, cheese, black beans, guacamole and their special sauces, as well as a chia bowl and assorted pastries.

While the beach may seem like the ideal location for a food truck, it doesn’t come without its hardships. Ditch Plains is currently facing escalating erosion issues, with the Montauk coastline receding at an alarming rate. The severe winter storms that occurred this year brought massive destruction to the beaches, which left behind significant damage.

“Every year is a new challenge,” Monahan explained. “But this winter has been one of the worst storms I’ve seen in my lifetime. I’ve never seen damage like that.”

Despite these challenges, Monahan and her brother try to keep an optimistic outlook by working closely with the Town of East Hampton to navigate through the storm’s aftermath. They strive to do everything in their power so that they can continue serving the locals, with the understanding that the people they serve are at the heart of what they do with the Ditch Witch.

“There was definitely a community way before the Ditch Witch, but I think we inherited it, and then embraced it,” Monahan said.

Over the years, the Ditch Witch has not only become a staple in Montauk, but also a symbol of community for both locals and visitors alike. The children who used to hang around the food truck when it first opened are now employees, and quite a few of the regulars can say that they watched Monahan and her brother grow up. Whether you are a surfer, beachgoer, or someone in-between, Montauk’s infamous food truck is welcome to all.

Find the Ditch Witch at the end of Otis Road, open Friday through Sunday (and sometimes Monday), from mid-May until the end of September.