Nomadic Eats returns to its roots at City Hall with new menu

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• Nomadic Eats started out as a small operation in 2015 before eventually settling into a spot at Pensacola City Hall where he built his business.
• In search of bigger commissary kitchen, he secured a spot in downtown Pensacola in 2019 where he stayed for six years.
• Now, Chef Randy Russell has dialed back his menu and scaled down his space for what he hopes will be a more sustainable future.

One of the pioneers of the Pensacola food truck scene is returning to his roots with a new lunch-only service stationed outside Pensacola City Hall.

Chef Randy Russell launched his food truck, Nomadic Eats, 10 years ago. He was inspired by his favorite little food stands he discovered during his international travels.

“It was spawned from small, little food stands and things from traveling around the world in Latin America and Southeast Asia, and places where it was just this one or two-man operation,” Russell said. “They do these one or two things really good and that’s the kind of place I love to eat at. That’s where I had some of the best food, and that’s what I wanted to be.”

A decade ago, there were only a handful of other food trucks in town, many of which have since closed or changed hands. Through the years, Russell has remained true to himself, making food from scratch without taking any shortcuts, from his signature homemade sauces that top his entrees to the brewed hibiscus iced teas.

Even initially, he didn’t go crazy with endless menu options. The flavors he did have, though, you knew you wouldn’t find anywhere else.  

After several years of operating as a popular lunch spot at City Hall in the truck’s early years, he needed more room to meet demand.

In 2019, he secured a more permanent home in downtown Pensacola, which provided him with a commissary kitchen and a convenient parking spot with outdoor tables on East Gregory Street.

While the extra room allowed for a more extensive menu, it also gave him significantly more overhead to manage.

“Eventually, we had all the space we wanted in the kitchen … but we kept doing the same amount of business,” Russell said. “All my overhead expenses went through the roof, and then really, COVID is what really kind of changed everything because all my costs went up, everything went up, and it just got really hard. So, the past few years have been just a really hard struggle managing all that overhead.”

His usual holiday break in December was prolonged over several months as he reconsidered his business model and whether he could reopen. Ultimately, he decided to consolidate his menu, give up his downtown space, and lay off his staff, which would be necessary to continue into his next chapter as a one-man food truck operation. He found the most sustainable thing he could do was return to how it all started.

“I was either going to just get out of this business and find something else to do, which I don’t know what that would be because this is what I know, it’s what I like to do. Or I was like, ‘I just need to try to go simpler again,’” he said.

He decided that handing the space over to the makers of MI SU Street Food, who opened Nolita’s Parlor & Eatery there this year, was the best decision for everyone involved, believing in their potential to grow their business there.

Even with the trials of recent years, his passion for cooking and the beloved “chit-chat” with his regular customers fueled and inspired him to keep going, leading him to open a much smaller operation back at Pensacola City Hall.

“It’s just kind of an effort to say like, ‘Alright, let’s make this worth it again,’” Russell said. “I want to be this little, small thing. I want to feed people, and I want to give people good food.”

He has revised the menu as part of the scaling back process, making it even more concise and straightforward. However, it still shows the same culinary creativity his business was built on.

He knew one item needed a solid spot on the new menu: his signature fried chicken, which he had built a reputation on, specifically because of the homemade “hot dust” that topped it.

He reimagined a way to make the chicken a star still, now using a larger piece, marinated overnight with house-made pickle brine and buttermilk marinade, then fried in rice flour in a manner comparable to Korean fried chicken.

“It has just a very particular crunch to it,” Russell said.

Then, you can top it with the “dust” of your choice, whether it be his classic hot dust or a new, milder lime and herb dust that is not spicy but packed with flavor and has already become a hit with customers.

“It’s mixing herbs with lime and dehydrating it and drying it out and grinding it into a powder, and it’s all made from scratch,” Russell said. “It’s a bit of a process … but it’s definitely worth it.”

Next, he channeled his Louisiana roots for his twist on the traditional red beans and rice reimagined as a red beans and rice chimichanga. This dish is packed with Conecuh sausage and Tillamook cheddar, fried in a thin, crispy wrap, and topped with Thai chili and garlic hot sauce, cilantro, chimichurri, queso fresco, garlic chives and pickled onion.

“I was born in New Orleans and grew up as a child in Louisiana, and I grew up around that food, and anytime I’ve done Cajun food, it always went over really well. So I wanted to try to get back to that a little bit,” Russell said.

Leaning into that inspiration, he drew from a dish his grandmother always made exceptional: stuffed peppers.

“You don’t really see it on menus much or ever, and it’s not a real, known thing, but stuffed peppers are totally a thing in Louisiana,” he said. “It’s the underdog of the menu, in my opinion.”

For his Nomadic Eats take, he reimagined the traditional, home-cooked dish as a poblano pepper stuffed with Vietnamese herbed pork, coconut jasmine rice, and vegetables, served with rice, Thai chili, garlic hot sauce, and cilantro chimichurri.

The best part is no matter what hearty entrée you choose, all three dishes are priced at $10.

The drinks are just as thoughtfully curated as the entrees, and Russell still makes his homemade horchata, Vietnamese iced coffees, hibiscus teas, and now rotating fruity aqua frescas, which he bases around seasonal produce.

His Instagram and Facebook pages are where his specials and updates, such as when he sells out, are posted. However, the menu will still be subject to change in the coming weeks.

“I’m taking feedback, I’m seeing what’s selling, what people are coming back for, and so the menu is subject to change,” Russell said. “I’ll kind of tweak some things … It’ll be for the better. I don’t think I’ll go backward with anything.”

While he realizes there is plenty of changes from Nomadic that the Pensacola community has come to know and love over the past decade, he encourages the community to give it a try.

“It’s such a huge change, and I knew that was going to be, but it was very, very nerve-wracking up until opening day,” Russell said. “I have a proven formula of what worked, and I just completely turned that upside down …. (but) I was at the position where I was like, ‘I’m either going to close this thing down permanently, or I’m going to just try something different.’

“I like what I do, and I do feel like survival is adaptation,” he added. “No matter what your business is, things change. You either adapt, or you go out of business. So, I’m adapting.”

Nomadic Eats is open from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. (or until sold out) from Tuesday through Friday at 222 West Main St.

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