Fort Worth chef and cookbook author Scotty Scott dreamed of opening a cafe, but had trouble finding the right space.
As he was scouting locations, he met fellow small business owner Liz Mears, who runs The Holly Natural Wine Bar and Bottle Shop in the city’s Near Southside neighborhood.
“She was like, ‘We can’t build out (a kitchen) on the property, but we can have a food truck here. Would you be open to doing that?’” Scott recalled. “I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it, but it seemed like a great opportunity. I couldn’t pass it up.”
Now his food truck, named Cheezy Does It, is serving up gourmet grilled cheeses at The Holly Thursdays through Sundays.
“For us, it’s kind of a dream come true to have Scotty. We knew his food was just incredible and creative and something that’s been missing in the neighborhood,” Mears said. “We were happy to give him that space and let him do his thing.”
Scott was coming off the release of his cookbook “Fix Me a Plate,” which he anticipated might garner some attention with local and statewide media outlets.
But he soon found himself being invited on NPR and to host cooking demos on NBC’s Today show and at the LA Times Festival of Books.
“(It) kind of just came out of nowhere, but it was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I was hoping to put out a quality product and make my publisher and family proud. (It’s) been fairly overwhelming, to be honest with you, but it’s a good thing.”
Cheezy Does It has duck fat fries and three different sandwiches on the menu, all of which have a suggested wine pairing from The Holly.
So far, the “Goud Butt” sandwich is the fan favorite with gouda cheese, truffle butter, apple and mint sandwiched between sourdough bread.
“I like grilled cheese because it’s kind of a blank canvas,” he said. “I’m always trying to remix stuff, put my spin on it and make it a little funky.”
Scott will keep the three main sandwiches as staples on the menu, and plans to add rotating specials and brunch offerings soon.
He still hopes to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant one day, but plans to have his truck at The Holly for the foreseeable future.
“It’s one of those things where you just never know what opportunities are going to come your way,” he said. “You just going to have to be ready for it.”
Marcheta Fornoff covers the arts for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org or on Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.