Beep beep, Baton Rouge—there is another food truck on the scene.
Shortly after closing its doors in 2023, Soulshine Kitchen and Bar turned to a food truck model to keep serving the city its comfort food.
The menu at the 5-month-old food truck rotates creative meals with a Southern twist, with riffs on burgers, chili cheese dogs, mango nachos, avocado toasts, soups and more.
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From an early age, chef and owner Danny Wilson knew the culinary world was his passion. The Ponchatoula native has now been in the industry for over 30 years. He is a self-taught chef who learned in the field—he studied under many head chefs, imagining himself in their shoes one day. Now, paying homage to his childhood dreams, Wilson tells his life story though a fork and knife.
“The goal behind Soulshine is to show people the food of my life. It is like my life story on a plate, from super humble to super fine dining. I want to pick apart and take the things that were important and inspirational to me and share that with people,” Wilson says.
Though he has served as a restaurant owner, a sous chef and head chef, he says his most important titles today are chef and dad. The name Soulshine was inspired by his three daughters.
Closing his brick-and-mortar was not a difficult decision for Wilson. Food is his love language, and he was in search of a less restrictive outlet that would allow him to be more expressive in his creations and share the love with others.
“The whole love that I have for being a chef is the creative part of it. So, when I decided to close the restaurant and do the food truck it was because I wanted to be able to cook what I was feeling, what I was inspired by,” he says.
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Even though he has moved away from traditional kitchens, Wilson still dabbles in fine dining with his monthly dining pop-up event, Trust. The Trust dinner concept serves up a themed mystery dinner that asks guests to put their trust in the menu for a surprising dish. The next event will be in March at Pelican to Mars.
Catch Soulshine rolling Thursday through Monday serving dinner around 7 p.m. outside downtown’s Brickyard South bar. You can also find Soulshine at Pelican to Mars as early as 9 a.m. serving brunch Saturday and Sunday. Find Soulshine on Instagram to see daily menus, locations, and general updates.