The team behind the Boo Coo Roux truck (from l.): Alex Weaver, Marissa Cavallini, Matt Satow and Louis Dourlain. [DNAinfo/Janet Rausa Fuller]
CHICAGO — Boo Coo Roux, Chicago's newest food truck, has a fine-dining French pedigree.
Matt Satow and Louis Dourlain, who rolled out the truck Downtown on Tuesday after two test runs, became friends while cooking at Everest in the Loop.
Their menu is "Cajun-centric" street food, something Satow said Chicago could use more of, with an attention to detail in keeping with their white-tablecloth roots.
They're making crawfish stock and andouille sausage from scratch for the gumbo, breading freshly shucked oysters by hand for po' boys and frying Cajun-spiced potatoes to order.
Janet Fuller says the truck could one day lead to a restaurant:
Red beans and rice will get a fried pig ear garnish. The shrimp po' boy they served Tuesday came dressed with pickled fennel and a smoked tomato remoulade.
"We have a big emphasis on from-scratch cooking," said Satow, 32, who has cooked at Sixteen and The Bristol.
"We're always trying to be better," Dourlain said. That means constantly refining and changing menu items.
Boo Coo Roux's muffuletta sandwich is stuffed with prosciutto, mortadella, cheese and olive tapenade. [DNAinfo/Janet Rausa Fuller]
"We served the muffuletta [last week], looked at it and said, 'There's not enough meat and cheese,' so we added more," Dourlain said.
The sandwich, by the way, measures 8 inches in diameter, so big they're offering it as a half-portion for $8. Whole, it's $15.
For the last few years, Satow taught culinary arts to high school students. Dourlain cooked at the acclaimed Napa Valley restaurant Auberge Du Soleil after Everest and was most recently an event chef at Kendall College.
Satow said they kept talking about starting a food truck — but in Denver, where many of their friends live.
Once they nixed moving plans, they settled on French-influenced food that would draw on their culinary training. They bought the truck, a retired FedEx vehicle, in January. Their home base is a commercial kitchen in Pilsen.
Matt Satow [l.] and Louis Dourlain cooked together at Everest before launching their food truck. [DNAinfo/Janet Rausa Fuller]
Satow's girlfriend, Marissa Cavallini, is an investor in the business. She'll handle accounting and work the window of the truck during her off months (she's a Chicago Public Schools teacher).
To prepare for the venture, Satow spent last summer working on another truck, The Fat Shallot, whose co-owner, Sam Barron, also is a former Everest cook.
Satow said stresswise, working in a Michelin-starred kitchen and on a food truck are "pretty comparable."
The Boo Coo Roux truck will run mainly on weekdays across the city, though it might pop up at festivals and for catering, Satow said. They'll post their schedule and the day's menu on Facebook.
Boo Coo Roux's shrimp po' boy is topped with a smoked tomato remoulade. [Boo Coo Roux/Facebook]
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