WILMINGTON — The Cargo West Food Court at Queen and 15th streets will have a new eatery among its tenants, as Burger Street is launching at the former Shepard BBQ/Mochi Bear and Birdbox locations.
Dustin Smith of Fork ‘N’ Cork and Smoke on the Water is opening Burger Street with his business partners: his mom, Diane, and his head chef Tomas Virgil. The goal is to have the restaurant open by the end of September.
The inspiration came from his brother James Smith’s original food truck Patty Wagon, which helped launch the food truck movement in Wilmington in 2011 and led to the city adopting rules in 2013. James Smith went on to open Fork ‘N’ Cork and Smoke on the Water; his family took over the establishments after his untimely death in 2023.
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“The menu will be smash burgers and dogs,” his brother Dustin Smith said, “with menu names consisting of streets in the area.”
Dustin imagines around eight styles to offer both burgers and dogs for a 16-deep menu. For example, the Queen Street may be Italian-inspired.
“Most of what came from the Patty Wagon food truck was named either after customers or something to do with the streets we were on,” Dustin said.
Burger Street customers can choose the setup and make it either a smashburger — single, double and triple patties offered — or a hot dog. The group wants variations of dogs, too — kosher, kielbasa, and Wisconsin brats, included. For instance, the latter would be cooked in beer and topped with grilled onions, sauerkraut, cheese curds, and mustard on a pretzel bun.
Though the menu isn’t fully fleshed out, the restaurateurs are offering specials at Fork ‘N’ Cork currently to do a little research and development on what works and what doesn’t.
They also want to appeal to vegetarians and vegans but are unsure what that will look like. Cargo West has a no-menu overlap policy since it houses around 10 small, independent restaurants, all in their shipping containers. Conversations with Burger Street’s neighbor, Mike’s Vegan Grill, will take place first, Dustin assured.
Burger Street is going into a shipping container previously occupied by Elizabeth and Brandon Shepard, who ran Shepard’s BBQ for a year before switching concepts to Mochi Bear earlier this summer; it served boba tea and mochi donuts but is now closed.
Next door, they also ran Birdbox, known for its fried chicken sandwiches; it opened last September and also closed recently.
The Shepards, who started their popular barbecue establishment in Emerald Isle, told Port City Daily the restaurant market has been challenging in the last year.
“As a small-owned restaurant group, margins are extremely tight right now and meaningful development takes time,” they wrote in a joint statement, noting a small fire at Birdbox also created an “unexpected setback.” “Without being able to accurately gauge food traffic and adjust our PARs and operations appropriately at Mochi Bear, the timing simply wasn’t ideal for us.”
However, they praised the Cargo District and its regulars, and remain supportive and excited about the development’s continued expansion. Cargo District developer Leslie Smith has plans to soon construct a bar on the second story of the food court, with offices taking up the third story.
To serve bar patrons, Dustin said he plans to add appetizers to Burger Street’s menu as well. Smothered tots, cheese curds and some fried mozzarella will appear, items likely to be featured on one of the menu’s handhelds, too.
Dustin said he and his partners have considered opening a few new concepts in the last six months. A steak and seafood place is being weighed for 7Bridge — another 37-acre mixed-use Riverlights development under construction — but first they hoped to launch a quick, casual dining option. They even scouted a space at the new Refuel on River Road, which has a restaurant area off to the side; the goal was to find something “simple and turnkey.”
When the Cargo District space was presented by Dustin’s realtor, Andrea Arth, he said it made sense to start there. He pointed to the many offices and neighborhoods nearby, not to mention the hospital and medical businesses less than a mile away.
Upon being asked whether he feared Burger Street would compete against Fork ‘N’ Cork, located only 2 miles from downtown, Dustin said no.
“I don’t plan to have anything that’s the same on the menu,” he said. “And over at Fork ‘N’ Cork, we’re dealing with half-pound burgers — not smashburgers.”
Though the crew is a little hesitant to expand the menu too much, such as with desserts, they are thinking about taking advantage of the fryers in the containers; funnel cakes, for one, are being considered. And there will be a donut burger, for those who want to tackle a sweet-and-savory bite in one.
The overhead isn’t expected to be much, as two people will likely operate the container per shift, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., open seven days a week. Dustin said before hiring more people, he would first offer extra shifts to his crewbase already in place at Fork ‘N’ Cork and Smoke on the Water.
Price points will be between $11 and $14 and Burger Street also will utilize third-party delivery apps so the food will be mobile anywhere.
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