Swansea food truck park is opening its fourth restaurant on wheels, or is it wings?
Folks passing by Soulcial Kitchen in Swansea may have noticed a new addition to the 3-acre food truck park.
That new addition is a space shuttle. (Wait, what?)
Sort of.
The Space Shuttle Café, the latest food truck to join the Soulcial Kitchen fleet, has arrived.
The truck’s owner and Soulcial Kitchen founder John Michel said the plan is to open the Space Shuttle Café in early January, weather permitting, with a touchdown/landing celebration and ribbon-cutting event.
Before that happens, the truck’s systems still need to be tested and the kitchen cleaned.
Michel said the shuttle will have its own menu of “all-American, patriotic fare” that will include burgers (different from the smash burgers already available), fries and more. He will announce the menu prior to opening.
The “shuttle” itself is impressive up close and in person with plenty of great details. The American flag decals and lettering are what inspired the forthcoming all-American menu.
Some of my fellow Gen Xers may notice the Transformers decal at the front of the food truck. Makes sense. After all, there was a Transformer that transformed into a space shuttle, and there’s definitely “more than meets the eye” with the Space Shuttle Café.
A look inside the truck reveals hand-painted murals on the walls at the back end of the truck where a display case and serving window are located.
The Space Shuttle Café is larger than the average food truck and has a full kitchen. It’s equipped with a double fryer, grill, flat grill, fry warmer, three-head ice cream mixer, freezer, three-hole sink and plenty of prep table space.
Michel said that it could function as a full-serve restaurant with the ability to operate from anywhere.
The front of the truck, the cockpit, still has its original aircraft control panel (very cool!). The seats are also original and very uncomfortable, according to Michel.
There is a book on display inside the brick and mortar Restaurant & Bar documenting the history and renovation of the aircraft.
Also on display is a pack of Chesterfield Cigarettes found in the plane’s wall. The cigarettes are from a World War II C-Ration.
The Space Shuttle Café food truck is a converted DC-3 airplane that was used during World War II in 1944.
After the war, it was used as a commercial airliner on the East Coast. It’s said to have been hijacked and taken to Havana, Cuba, and “later liberated from the communist Castro regime and returned” to the U.S. in the late 1960s, according to theshuttlecafe.com.
The DC-3 was converted into its current design with specifications based on a 1990s space shuttle, according to the website.
In 2015, it was upgraded to a full commercial kitchen by the New York-based Shanghai Mobile Kitchen Solutions Group.
Aside from the pending opening party for the Space Shuttle Café, food truck season at Soulcial Kitchen is closed for the winter.
Michel said their “winter food truck,” the Soulcial Kitchen Restaurant & Bar, will remain open during the winter months. The fare from any of their food trucks can be ordered at the restaurant.
Soulcial Kitchen Food Truck Park and Restaurant & Bar are located at 127 North Belt East in Swansea. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
For food truck or catering bookings, call 618-825-9100. For more information about Soulcial Kitchen, visit soulcialkitchen.com or the Facebook page.
