Hugh Schick, the chef who conceived of and helped launch the bustaurant known as Le Truc in 2010, may no longer be cooking aboard the bus, but he hasn’t stayed idle long. A rumor floated last week via Casey’s Pizza (which just launched the city’s first pizza truck) that Hugh was getting set to launch Brewtruc, which is — you guessed it — going to be the city’s first mobile brew pub/beer wagon. Grub Street contacted Hugh about the novel concept, which he says will be “aggressively, ridiculously permitted” in several different ways so that it can operate as a private limousine service; a luxe taproom for restaurant-adjacent beer gardens; and a non-profit beer education hub. But that’s not all!
Schick is also working on a separate project, a mobile mesquite-grill that he’s having custom built under the hood of a 1961 Nash Metro (pictured at right) to be called 800-lb Grilla. “One thing I never got to do at Le Truc, which I’d always planned to do, was grill outdoors. So I’m looking forward to doing that,” he says. He recently launched 800-lb Grilla at a private event to some positive response, but he’s still working on tricking out the Nash, which he hopes someday to be able to tow behind the beer truck to do tandem food-and-beer events.
As for Brewtruc, Schick thinks the launch should happen within the next couple of weeks — he’s aiming for Thelonious Monk’s birthday, October 10 — starting with a soft-launch using the limousine license. The idea is this: You pre-register, pay a flat fee per person, and go either by yourself or with a group, and ride a few miles in the Brewtruc tasting craft- and nano-brews as well as “rare casks of lembeek, gueuze, oudbeitje, and kriek” from Belgium. Schick plans to pick people up at a designated location and probably, at first, drive them to Off the Grid where they can grab food and then sit in the truck to enjoy their beer. “We won’t be doing any bachelor parties or throwing bottles out the windows,” he promises. “If that happens, I’ll just cry. And quit.” He explains that Brewtruc will have the unique ability to serve nano-brews, made by local, unlicensed brewers, under the limousine-operators’ license.
Additionally, Brewtruc is going to operate under the permit of a large, ballpark-adjacent eatery in the near future, parking adjacent to the place and setting up a beer garden there — something Schick plans to do elsewhere as well, whenever a restaurant may let him, and sharing in the profits of course.
Schick is nothing if not disgruntled about Le Truc these days, given that he says it was his “baby” and control kind of got wrested away from him, though he remains a partial owner in the business. “Le Truc can go fuck itself,” he says, going on to mention that the team there didn’t want him pursuing the Brewtruc idea, but he went ahead and did so anyway because beer is one of his primary loves.
Follow Brewtruc on Facebook and Twitter for further updates about the launch, and to find out how to pre-register for one of its maiden voyages.
Earlier: Le Truc Parks It Near Ballpark for Lunch
That Schoolbus Parked Outside the Bar? That’s Le Truc.
A Second Bustaurant Is Coming to SF
