Having grown up in a rural town in southern Missouri, Chloe Yates has fond memories of her maternal grandmother cooking everything from scratch, while her paternal grandfather was a whiz at baking. She still remembers driving the red dirt roads near her childhood home and seeing the farms and farm stands dotting the landscape.
Today, Southern-inspired cooking with local, sustainable ingredients still informs Yates’ life. When she and her business partner, chef Ben McArthur, were brainstorming a final name for their food truck, those memories came flooding back to Yates. When their truck, Red Dirt Revival, finally hit the streets of St. Louis last month, it was a homecoming for Yates in more ways than one.
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“I think that our food is kind of like a story; we talk a lot about what food means to us, what it means to feed people, and where our food comes from,” Yates says. “When I drive home, I see the places where we get our pecan wood to smoke our cauliflower, where we get our produce, and where we get meat. We wanted to really pay homage to where our food is actually coming from, which is off red dirt roads, and the revival is just really bringing back Southern food in a new way.”
Yates and McArthur have been working together since last summer, when the pair purchased the Frankly Sausages food truck from former owners Bill and Jamie Cawthon. They had a successful summer with the truck. Last fall, the business partners announced that their truck would be called Honest to Goodness and would debut in spring 2020.
A lot has changed since then, though, including a different landscape for new restaurants and businesses opening amid the COVID-19 virus. Yates and McArthur also renamed the truck, which was wrapped with a rustic and vintage look last month. So far, Red Dirt Revival has mostly been parking in Oakville on Mondays, often near OSP Tap Haus, where Yates got her start as a chef, serving its spin on Southern fare while adhering to responsible social distancing.
The current menu offers something for diners of all tastes, including a Southern Smash Burger with two patties, bacon-bourbon jam, pimento cheese, Comeback Sauce, and house pickles, as well as Pecan Wood-Smoked Cauliflower that’s rubbed with sumac and served with a pecan gremolata and Comeback Sauce. Nashville Hot Chicken Tacos, Southern Achiote Pork Nachos, and the Southern Farmer Lettuce Salad round out the savory dishes.
The menu is a collaboration between the partners, although Yates is quick to say that she’s learned a lot from McArthur. “The cool thing about the truck is it gives us a way to do things fast casual, essentially,” Yates says. “Like with our chicken, we sous vide the chicken for our fried chicken sandwiches (pictured below), because not only does it make for a better piece of chicken, but it also cuts the time to fry that chicken in less than half. It’s a chance to talk to people who come up to the truck about different ways of cooking.”
When the truck is parked, customers can either have their meals delivered to their car windows or approach the truck, where painter’s tape in the parking lot directs people to stand 6 feet apart. Red Dirt Revival has also been delivering orders, including its family-style meals, which serve four of the aforementioned menu items for $45, including tax and four drinks.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Red Dirt Revival has developed special menu items and packages. Highlights include small and large pastry boxes (including Yates’ signature toaster pastries), brunch boxes, two quiche options, and brunch-meet-lunch meals. Orders are currently being accepted for the meals (through noon on Saturday), and Red Dirt Revival will be offering similar options for Father’s Day. Yates says meals for both special occasions will delivered by Red Dirt personnel.
“We’re going to do sausages on the [Father’s Day menu], pulling from our Frankly days,” Yates says. “We’ll be doing some sausages with Six Mile Bridge Beer, and people can just finish them on the grill. We’ll have some of our house ground burger mix and some different vegetable packs—grilling packs, really.”
Initially, Yates and McArthur were unsure about debuting Red Dirt Revival during a global pandemic, of course, but they also wanted to be of service to the community during this uncertain time. For every 10 meals purchased, Red Dirt Revival is currently donating one meal to people in need, as well as frontline health care workers.
“We’ve already fed about 200 people so far in donations,” Yates says. “It’s amazing to me that as small as we are, we have had enough people want to patronize us so that we can donate. That is something that is really important to us: to give back.”
Eventually, Yates says, she and McArthur would like to expand Red Dirt Revival into a brick-and-mortar spot, in addition to considering other future concepts. For now, though, they’re excited to reintroduce the St. Louis area to their food.
“My goal is just to feed people,” Yates says. “I just want to love on people through my food and make someone’s day.”
