On the Job With ... Chef Shack

These chefs take their high-class eats to the streets

By Dana Raidt
Published: July 6th, 2010 | 3:50pm

Carrie Summer and Lisa Carlson might be the most-stalked women of Minneapolis. Their daily activities are followed by office workers, hipsters, and stay-at-home moms alike, and the constant re-Tweets of their whereabouts could very well be why Twitter is always crashing. The women are the owners and chefs behind Chef Shack—and they are largely responsible for bringing beef-tongue tacos and pickled ramps into the vernacular of the upper Midwest.

Fans flock to Chef Shack’s three “shacks” in parking lots and at farmers markets to buy soft-shell crab sandwiches, vegetable curries, and hand-cut French fries. Using a taco truck, a donut truck, and a trailer (all with propane and generator-powered mini kitchens), Chef Shack’s fleet has become an outdoor empire that redefines the idea of eating out.

“The economy is calling for [street food],” Carlson explains. “People might not have a lot of money, but they still want to go out and enjoy themselves. [By eating at Chef Shack], you’re happy you’ve gone out and done something with the family and it hasn’t cost you an arm and a leg to do so.”

Chef Shack, now in its fourth year, was born not only out of a wish to provide affordable “luxury street food” (as Summer calls it), but of the chefs’ desire to do what they love and to work for themselves—and the ability to take time off when necessary. Summer explains that with minimal overhead and investment, not to mention Minnesota’s long winters that are not exactly conducive to outdoor dining, she and Carlson (who are also life partners) can put the shacks away and travel for months at a time. They’ve voyaged extensively in Asia, a place that’s inspired them through its long history of street food that has become an integral part of its culture.

“[Street food] is not new; it’s old school,” says Summer. Carlson even likens the current American street food trend to the punk rock music scene, and points out that punk-friendly cities like Portland and Austin already have thriving street food scenes.

“The beautiful thing about [the resurgence] is [food truck owners] can do whatever it is they want and be completely individual,” she says.

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Lisa Carlson and Carrie Summer

The Job: Owners and chefs, Chef Shack

Education: Carlson studied art at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Both women have apprenticed with world-renowned chefs, but neither attended culinary school. “I tried to find the best chefs [to learn from],” Summer says. If that meant moving, I moved.” Adds Carlson, “If you want to [cook] that bad, you’ll do it for free. Get into a kitchen before you sign up for school.”

Résumé: Summer is a lifelong pastry devotee (her affinity for donuts is what sparked Chef Shack’s first and signature creation, the cardamom-spiced mini donut). She began her career making biscuits at a Rochester, Minnesota KFC as a teenager, then worked in kitchens across the country before ending up in Minneapolis. Carlson, also a Minnesota native, started out driving an ice cream truck at age 18 and, like Summer, worked in an array of high-end kitchens before coming back to her hometown. She opened Café Barbette in 2001 (the women met when she hired Summer as her sous chef) and they both spent time at Minneapolis’ Spoonriver before leaving their day jobs to pursue Chef Shack full time.

Mission: To cook simple yet complex food using local, seasonal, and sustainably grown ingredients whenever possible.

Why it works: They have creative control over their food, direct interaction with their customers, and they’ve built their business to allow for plenty of travel time in the off-season. Summer also touts the benefits of working with another female chef. “We’re comrades. There’s trust, communication, compassion, and honesty,” she says of working with Carlson. “I like that dynamic.” Being a couple who works together can be trying (especially with 3 a.m. wake-up calls on farmers market mornings), but “when times are tough, we fall back on the core of what we do, which is cooking.”

Advice: Both advocate professional kitchen experience for any aspiring chef. For artisans who want to sell their wares, they recommend starting small (Carlson put up just $2,000 for Chef Shack’s initial investment, the donut truck), finding a niche market, and not being afraid to give away product. “Save your pennies and live within your means,” Carlson adds. “For years we used cars that were held together with tape!”

For more information on Chef Shack, click here

On The Job With … is a monthly column that explores interesting women with interesting jobs. We get the scoop on each lady’s working process, what makes her want to get up every day, and get advice for others looking to break into her field. The column is written by Dana Raidt who is a regular contributor for Venus Zine.