Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe brings gourmet grilled cheese to Dallas

People like comfort food.

Photo by Stephanie Hawkes

Ruthie's Rolling Cafe

It’s become somewhat of an American icon over the past several decades, the grilled cheese sandwich. Whether it’s the convenience with which it can be made, the comfort food factor, or the complementary components of the crisp, toasted bread with the melted cheese, the grilled cheese sandwich is familiar to just about every American household.

And if it can have pesto, turkey, Empire Bakery’s sourdough bread, and be made on the spot? Well, that’s just all the better.

“It’s classic grilled cheese sandwiches, except we have a build-your-own menu with Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, different toppings like tomatoes, pesto, grilled onions, and jalapenos, and artisan bread from Empire Bakery. You can have anything you want – well, not anything, but anything on the menu,” Robin Skinner, the marketing director for Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe, says with a laugh. “You can have a variety or you can just have plain grilled cheese.”

Ruthie’s, which was on the first wave of the Dallas Food Truck Movement of 2011, has been building momentum since Day 1, frequenting spots in Dallas such as the Dallas Arts District and Preston Commons most often. Their sandwiches, which are all made and cooked to order, can be made in what seems to be infinitely different manners, offering five different cheeses, four different breads, four meats, six sauces and spreads, and four toppings.

And the Slob Sauce.

If their sandwiches didn’t already merit special mention, then the concoction at Ruthie’s that they call Slob Sauce certainly would. It doesn’t look terribly impressive sitting in the plastic cup it’s served in, but over the past several months, Skinner has noted that Ruthie’s customers are developing a noticeably strong allegiance to the blend.

“Well, it’s a barbeque-honey-ranch combination and then with something in there they haven’t told us, so I don’t know exactly what it is, but what’s happened is that people will get it on their sandwich, and after they taste it they want to get a side of it, too,” she says. “So then not only are they dipping their sandwich in it, but they’re dipping their chips in, too! It’s so good.”

Photo by Rich Vana / Entree Dallas

Ruthie's grilled cheese and turkey

And according to Skinner, her favorite sandwich to get this particular sauce with is called the Boss Hog – yeah, the name is a good start. Though they do not have a menu with pre-assembled sandwiches on it, the Boss Hog can be ordered at Ruthie’s, and they’ll know what you’re talking about. Along with the Slob Sauce, the Boss Hog sports bacon, turkey, and cheddar cheese on sourdough bread.

But it’s not just the Boss Hog or the Slob Sauce that is drawing people to Ruthie’s, which is owned by In Any Event, a catering company in North Dallas. Their dedication to quality, friendliness, and convenience (it’s always nice when a restaurant can take itself to the customer) was recognized immediately by food truck fans, and since their first day, they have been enjoying a steady flow of customers that seems to keep growing daily.

“One of In Any Event’s biggest clients wanted us to do something special at their gala that was different than just the normal chicken dinner kind of thing – they wanted to add something to it. They said ‘what about a food truck?’ And we thought, ‘okay this food truck thing, this might catch on.’” Skinner says. “And since Day 1, it has not stopped. And I would say it’s been a roller coaster, but it hasn’t been, because it’s been all up! It’s been crazy; no one has had a chance to take a day off or even stop to take a breath for the last six or eight weeks. And that’s a great thing and we love it.”

Of course they do – it’s grilled cheese sandwiches and smorgasbord of options. What’s not to love about that?