THE BLUE SPOON

Heart and soul food.

They were working at one of Pittsburg’s largest companies, making good money, raising a family. Crushing it. 

For Brenda Davis and Christina Oberle, the pull-behind food trailer they took out on the weekends was a way to make a little extra cash. Maybe for the kids’ college fund, maybe to buy a car. A little extra in the bank never hurts. 

“We were Miller’s lifers,” Davis said. “We never intended to leave our jobs there. The Blue Spoon was just something we were doing on the side. I love to cook, so it was a way to do that and maybe make some extra money here and there.”

Not only does she enjoy cooking, Davis is damn good at it. So it’s no surprise that The Blue Spoon became fairly popular quickly after opening in 2017. 

And then more popular. And then more popular. Did we mention Brenda can really cook? 

“It got to a point where people were calling me while I’m at work wanting to know where we’d be next,” said Oberle, who manages the business side of things. “I was turning down many more requests than I was accepting. We just didn’t have time for them all.”

At that time, The Blue Spoon trailer was going out about 20 days a year. Financially, it was doing well. 

“Just going out 20 days a year, the trailer was making about the same as one of us made at Miller’s,” Davis said. “So of course we started crunching some numbers to see where we’d be if we went out 40 days a year, 60 days a year.”

(Ok, so we’re gonna jump ahead a bit here. We’ll circle back.)

In early 2022, about a year after the partners left their jobs to become full-time Spooners, they moved into their first brick-and-mortar location in Downtown Pittsburg. The move was necessary, as operating a commissary kitchen from a rental home was no longer working. They needed more space.

Their current location at 618 N. Broadway is a 1930s building that formerly housed a computer repair shop and travel planning office. Before walking in to scope it out, Davis and Oberle agreed to be patient in this search for a new home. Keep calm, and do not make any rash decisions.

“As soon as we got in the car,” Davis said, “I told Christina that we’re buying this building.”

Well ok then. 

Oberle, who admits she didn’t quite “see it” at first, said she knew her partner had a vision, and she was all about making it happen. 

“When we first walked in, I kinda thought there was no way this would work,” she said, “but I could tell that Brenda saw something. I love making visions happen. I may not have the vision like she does, but I love helping to execute things. And here we are.”

It really did work out quite nicely. The bulk of the space houses their huge kitchen, where Brenda and her team work their culinary magic. Up front is a few cases filled with salads, take-and-bake dishes, and some amazing handmade desserts.

“I never wanted to have a restaurant,” Davis said, “so there’s no tables or chairs in here. But what I did want was to be able to offer up some of our items so that people could just pop in and get a salad or some of our dishes they can take home.”

While they never intended to set up shop downtown, Oberle said they now wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Being in Downtown Pittsburg right now is just special,” she said. “When I moved here in 2002, there wasn’t really a reason to come downtown. You kinda just avoided it. Now there is all this energy and excitement. I will often just drive through downtown to see what other cool stuff is happening.”

Their downtown spot is the latest evolution of The Blue Spoon, and it comes two years after the business bought the popular food truck that is seen at seemingly every big event in the area. 

“We bought the large food truck in 2020, and had planned to debut it at the ArtWalk that spring,” Oberle said. “Well, then Covid happened and the ArtWalk was canceled.”

Now what?

“So we just started going around to different towns and doing pop-ups,” she said. “The Covid shutdown was such a weird thing and made it hard on everyone. We saw our food truck as a way of helping people get through the tough times with some really good food.”

The response locally was overwhelming.

“I often say that Pittsburg chose us,” Davis said. “When Covid hit, we didn’t know what was going to happen with the business. Nobody knew what would happen. But it was actually during that time when this community rallied and supported their local small businesses. We were very busy during the shutdown, and really the business grew tremendously during that time.

“The love and support that the Pittsburg community showed us during that time is really why we’re here today.”

It was through that experience and now being downtown that The Blue Spoon really became integrated into the local business community.

“Business owners here in Pittsburg are very supportive of one another,” Davis said. “We certainly saw that during Covid, and now being downtown, we see it even more. Everyone is reaching out to see if we need anything, how they can help.

“I have such tremendous respect for everyone here who is working hard and trying things,” she said. “When you put your heart and soul into something, you really learn to appreciate those who are doing the same. I think that’s what is happening now in Pittsburg and why it will keep growing. People here really care and are working hard to build a better community.”

FUN FACTS:

The Blue Spoon doesn’t operate off a set menu.

“We do custom catering. We don’t have a set menu. We want to know what you want. What do you like? We don’t want anyone to be limited by just what we offer. If there is something you want, we’ll figure out how to make it.” 

The name was inspired by Baskin Robbins. Sort of.

“You know how Baskin Robbins always had those little pink spoons? I loved that as a kid. You always knew it was from there when you saw those spoons. It’s the same with Starbucks with the green straws. I liked the idea of having a thing where you’d always know that this dish is from us because we’d serve it with a blue spoon. It sounded good together, the logo was great, so we went with it.”

The famous Mac and Cheese was Brenda’s dad’s idea.

“I was with my family talking about things, and I wondered out loud what we could serve that would always require a spoon. My dad said mac and cheese. I didn’t know how to make cheese sauce from scratch, but I learned and it just blew up. People loved it. And we always serve it with a blue spoon.”

Coming soon: Airbnb

“There are three apartments upstairs that were really in good shape structurally. They just needed some TLC. So we’re working on those and will eventually offer them up on Airbnb.”