Good Taste: The Best Truck Stop Food

Food news and views on the Bay Area's most surprising flavors.

At Truck on Folsom Street in San Francisco, the reigning motto is, "When it rains, we pour two cocktails for the price of one."

On March 12, the glorious gay bar will be home to Truck Stop Cafe, a dinner event that has adopted its own credo from composer Stephen Sondheim: "If you're going to make a mistake, make it a huge one."

But this isn't your typical rest stop fare. An inventive menu ($3-12) includes snacks such as made to order duck fat Chex Mix, chicken liver with blood orange and salt and pepper, and peanuts spiked with Chinese five spice; large plates including grilled cheese with brisket and tomato jam, chicken and rice hash with fried egg and pickled mustard seeds, and a meatball sandwich with broccoli rabe and mozzarella; and desserts like a bourbon and Coke float with chocolate chip cookies. Service begins at 6 p.m. and runs until "whenever we run out of food (or we give up)." This might be the only time Truck Stop Cafe happens, or it could be the beginning of something. Wait and see.

It's a bit of a mystery how Truck Stop cook Jake Godby, who daylights as proprietor of the Humphry Slocombe ice cream empire, has the time to push himself with extra-curricular projects like this, between doing photo shoots for Vogue, filming wonderful teaser trailers for Humphry Slocombe's forthcoming tell-all on Chronicle Books, and, you know, actually running a business and planning a second one. What is clear, though, is this chef's passion for playing with food.

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