GUMBO WITH ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE,
CHICKEN, TRINITY, OKRA,
SHRIMP AND RICE. Photo by Eve Weston
Styr It Up
After three years
as a food truck,
Styr Kurbside
Kitchen brings
comfort food for
Springfield
BY HENRY HOUSTON
I
t’s 9 am on a Sunday when I walk into
Styr Kurbside Kitchen. Music is blar-
ing and NFL pregame shows are on
the TV while owner Cam Stansberry
is preparing food in the back for the
day. It’s no accident that this all comes
together to create a homey feel — it’s how
Stansberry recalls his home growing up.
“Anytime you walked into the house
or I brought friends over, the music was
blaring and something was cooking in the
kitchen,” he says.
Making people feel at home with comfort
food is what Stansberry does at Styr. Styr
opened as a food cart in 2021 and recently
found a brick and mortar location in Spring-
fi eld, where it has a menu that includes
fried chicken and waffl es, mac and cheese,
gumbo, Italian beef sandwiches — the sort
of meals that can make you forget about
any problems going on in the world (for
a moment).
Since he was about 14, Stansberry says
he’s worked in restaurants, starting as most
do: washing dishes. But his love for cook-
ing began when he was just old enough to
reach the stove and stir the pot.
The Eugene-born restaurateur cites
his mom as his culinary inspiration and
Styr Kurbside Kitchen’s menu as the sort
of food that he grew up eating over the
holidays and get-togethers.
After about 15 years of working in restau-
rants around town, Stansberry decided
to open his food cart in 2021 on a whim.
And it didn’t take long to develop a loyal
following that led to fi nding a brick and
mortar location.
“Because our menu was catfi sh, chicken,
shrimp, waffl es, fries, we would run as a
special one of our soul food sides, and
people started getting frustrated that we
didn't have their favorite side,” he says.
“And that was kind of one of the first
indicators to be like, we have to do some-
thing bigger.”
Catfi sh was the breakout dish for Styr,
Stansberry says. It was the menu item that
brought in people from the South, some
of the African American community, and
even University of Oregon Duck football
players. And it was what solidifi ed the
idea of sticking with the soul food idea.
But for people in the Pacifi c Northwest
who may have iff y feelings about catfi sh,
he assures them, “Let me cook it for you.”
Of course, Stansberry won’t divulge all
his secrets for the dish, but he says it all
comes down to seasoning.
“Some people are scared to over-season
or maybe they don’t want to spend money
on the seasoning,” he says. “It’s all about
the seasoning. We do ours spicy, and we’ve
got a little bit of fl ak for that, but people
have grown to love it.”
Stry has a menu of some Southern
staples as well as the Chicago-based Ital-
ian beef (a favorite of his). He and his wife
also work on developing specials while
at home or from the help of customers
on their social media pages. But what he
says is a big attraction for his restaurant
is the side dishes.
“I want people to feel like it's a holiday
when they come in, and it's like, you're
fi lling up a plate, because you just want a
little bit of everything,” he says. “We hear
that a lot of, ‘I want all the sides.’”
Side dishes may sound like an aside,
but Stansberry spends hours in his kitchen
preparing collard greens, mac and cheese,
red beans and rice, and gumbo.
For his gumbo, it all starts with the
roux. A good roux — consisting of oil and
fl our — means standing by the pot for an
hour, stirring frequently.
“You got to stir, stir, stir. And it's some-
thing that you can't rush. It's one of those
things where you got to turn the music
on. It's like a three-beer cook,” he laughs.
“Right when it gets just past copper penny,
you're about there. If you start smelling
burnt popcorn, you went too far.”
The gumbo is a party of fl avors, fi lled
with chunks of andouille sausage, ham and
juicy shrimp. As with catfi sh, Stansberry
doesn’t skimp on spices in the gumbo
— there just isn’t room in this dish for
hot sauce.
After being in business for more than
three years, refi ning his menu and build-
ing a fanbase in the Eugene-Springfi eld
area, Stansberry has some plans for his
business. In the short term, he’s excited to
bring out the pressure cooker deep fryer
for turkey over Thanksgiving, and looking
further ahead, he has hopes of expanding
the business as a franchise.
But about whether he’s surpassed his
mom as a cook, he laughs.
“My mom will always say she’s the
better cook,” Stansberry says. “I wouldn’t
say I’ve improved her recipes. But I’ve
done them justice.”
Styr Kurbside Kitchen is open 10 am to 7 pm
Wednesday through Sunday at 152 28th Street,
Springfi eld. Find on Facebook.
French & European
inspired PNW
farm to table cuisine,
craft cocktails, rare
wine, lots of laughs & a
whole lot of love.
S e r v i c e In du st r y Al l Nig ht
2 0 % of f e v e r y Mon d ay
Fre sh O y s te r s O n
T h e Half S h el l D ai ly
KEEP FEEDING EW!
C h e f ’s Ta s t ing Me nu & Win e
Pair ing Av ai l ab e Nig ht ly
S U P P O RT. E U G E N E W E E K LY. C O M
Hap py Ho ur M - T h 4 - 5 & 9 - 1 0
M O N - S AT 4 - 1 0 P M ◆ 1 5 3 0 W I L L A M E T T E S T ◆ 4 5 8 - 2 0 1 - 7 0 4 4
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November 21, 2024
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