BILLINGS — One Billings man is sharing his culinary skills and his story.
You actually might recognize him. He’s become quite popular for making unique, prize-winning tacos at festivals and events in the Billings area.
“I have a couple people, I call them my stalkers. They’ll come to every spot that I’m at,” Crazy Taco MT owner Kaj Clarke said.
He posts on his truck's Facebook page to let people know where he will be and shares more than just good food with his customers.
“I’m an open book. You can ask my customers. They all know my story, and they’re all there to support me, and that’s the amazing beautiful thing about it,” Clarke said.
The friendship he’s found at the serving counter showed him who he is in the eyes of others, even when how he sees himself isn’t always quite as kind.
“I found safety and comfort in drinking to escape childhood traumas, abandonment, never having a dad growing up, things like that. Being a part of a community gave me so much self-worth. That’s the biggest thing I had to work on is, I didn’t think I was good enough for any of this. I didn’t think I could amount to anything because I hadn’t yet,” Clarke said.
Clarke spent much of his life struggling with alcoholism.
July 8, 2023, marked two years of sobriety. His customers – now friends – helping him carry the heavy burden of recovery.
“Sometimes you just need someone to listen. I never had that because I always isolated. When I finally found people that would listen and knew that I wasn’t the only one who had gone through the stuff that I went through, it became easier and easier and easier through the process to go through every day, to fight it, to get better,” Clarke said.
His family is now back in the picture too. His two uncles came to help him work a Fourth of July event this summer.
“That’s something really special. I haven’t seen them in six years,” Clarke said.
His uncle, Kren Rasmussen, said he watched years of struggle.
“When he would see things going right, he would say he’s not worthy of that, right. And then such…he would sabotage it. That would happen over and over and over again. And I don’t think there was anything more challenging for the family,” said Rasmussen.
Seeing his nephew now, Rasmussen said he’s proud of Clarke.
“I don’t think that the family could be any prouder. It's just incredible,” Rasmussen said.
Clarke has one more roadblock ahead. In 2021, he got a felony DUI and was sentenced to prison.
Now, two years after that DUI, his past might be catching up with him.
“The consequences of my actions, I have to own. Obviously, my addictions and my DUI and everything that happened. I do. I’m paying for it every day,” Clarke said.
Clarke may find out at his next court hearing, as soon as this week, that he has to go serve his time, putting his life, and his business, on hold.
“‘I’m going to continue my sobriety, and continue my journey, and continue my story. It's not written yet,” Clarke said.
