Chef of Chairman Bao Leaves to Start His Own Mobile Food Biz, Eat Curbside

YourStPaulHome.com/2009

Ex-Chairman Bao chef Eric Rud is launching Eat Curbside, an Airstream trailer food business similar to one he operated in Minneapolis (pictured here).

​The chef of the Chairman Bao food truck has pulled out of the garage. Eric Rud has resigned from the three-month-old mobile food business, conceived and managed by Mobi Munch, to go indy. Rud's final day with Chairman Bao was last Friday; this Friday, Rud debuts his own mobile food business, Eat Curbside, at Off the Grid at Fort Mason Center.

Consider it a soft launch for Rud ― he'll be serving tuna tataki sliders from a tent this week: seared fish served up with Asian slaw and wasabi aïoli, on mini sesame rolls a Chinese bakery is making for him. Rud is currently having a 1969 Airstream trailer retrofitted, and says he has a permanent S.F. location lined up. He hopes to launch for real in five weeks.

Eat Curbside

Owner Eric Rud says he has a permanent S.F. location lined up.

​Before the 34-year-old chef moved to San Francisco to help launch Chairman Bao, Rud was in Minneapolis, where he co-owned a mobile food biz called Curbside, also out of an Airstream, for two years. Before that, Rud was chef at Nob Hill Grille in San Francisco.

Rud declined to talk specifics about his split with Mobi Munch, the company started by restaurant industry veterans (they've launched trucks in L.A., too), who don't disclose the arrangements they have with truck operators like Rud. "I would just say I'm an entrepreneur," Rud told SFoodie. "The allure of having my own truck versus working with someone else ― well, once you've worked for yourself, it's hard not to."

Check out Curbside's Minneapolis menu on its website (which will eventually be updated with information about the S.F. business), and follow Rud's progress on Twitter.