This Pensacola fan-favorite food truck is opening a restaurant
Pensacola Chef Rusty Strain is not one who can be put in a box. He can prepare a seared scallop or a panna cotta during a busy dinner service with ease, but also craft the ultimate comfort food, like his signature wagyu “Crunch Master Flex,” from the tight confines of his food truck.
After making a name for himself as an executive chef at Alice’s Restaurant, he took a risk in launching elevated A Rustyc Spoon food truck in 2022 stationed outside Emerald Republic Brewing. He quickly became a local favorite, winning “best food truck” and “best catering” in the News Journal’s 2023 Best of the Bay awards. Now he’s expanding to a brick-and-mortar location run out of Marcus Pointe Golf Club with a soft opening slated for Nov. 1.
The location will have two concepts, touching on two aspects of Strain’s career. A casual lunch service with a menu that resembles the Rustyc Spoon food truck, and a fine dining concept to be rolled out on weekends that he will be calling Common Labor. The menu focuses on more experimental dishes that change monthly with special wine pairings and will largely resemble Pensacola’s fine-dining pop-up Troubadour, that closed last fall. The Common Labor dishes are intended to give off an affordable luxury vibe, priced at about $75 to $80.
“Common Labor meaning, ‘When we cook for you — It's like brushing our teeth. It's like eating. It's like, it's what we do to live our daily lives. So, it's not labor, because it's common labor,’” Strain said. “It's approachable to the blue-collar people. I want people to understand I want everybody to eat my food. I want you to make memories over my plates.”
While Strain will be spending more time over at Marcus Pointe Golf Club, the food truck will be in good hands as his sous chef will be taking the lead while he works on reimagining Marcus Pointe’s menus. The Rustyc Spoon menu will largely carry over, known for its fan-favorite burgers, wraps and salads, but with the addition of more healthy options and custom-curated alcoholic beverages.
As far as the collaboration with Marcus Pointe, the two have a “mutual love” and vision toward growing the area, according to Strain.
The lunch will have new fresh food options, such as the truck’s signature Black Garlic Caesar Salad, along with menu additions that come with the kitchen space, such as fresh tacos and catch of the day options.
Strain has proven that he can adapt his menu into any setting, whether it be Emerald Republic’s eclectic punk scene, or Marcus Pointe’s golf green.
“You tell me I can’t do something and I’m going to take it as a personal challenge,” Strain said of rising to new challenges.
People can expect to see lots of surprises on the Common Labor menu, including unique protein choices such as bison short ribs or white tail venison.
The public has been given a taste of his intricately detailed coursed menus through A Rustyc Spoon’s monthly coursed Soil to Service dinners, which began in June. The menus showcased ingredients specifically grown for that service and were prepared from the food truck with veteran Pensacola chef and entrepreneur Matthew Brown.
“Soil to Service was a milestone that I got to cook with one of my mentors and us be on the same platform. I respect Brown more than any chef I've ever met, and I've met some great chefs, and I've worked under a ton of incredible chefs,” Strain said. “He just saw my passion. He saw my determination. He saw the things I was doing in private, and I was showing him things and he pushed me.”
Having a restaurant of his own one day is not out of the question, but he said his venture will be enough to allow him to push himself.
“I'm just very thankful for where I'm at. It hasn't been easy. But I am very thankful. And I love this city. This city supports me, and I support it,” Strain said.
More updates and information can be found on the A Rustyc Spoon Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola food truck Rustyc Spoon opening restaurant in November
