Ready to Roll Joins Crossroads Collective

Crossroads Collective. Photo by Dave Reid.

It’s wheels up for Ready to Roll. The mobile eggroll purveyor is setting up shop at Crossroad Collective‘s Corner Pop-Up.

The pop-up space, which launched earlier this year, hosts a rotating lineup of food-related businesses for short-term stays. Tots on the Street and 4 All My Dogs previously occupied the space.

Ready to Roll is next up, with tentative plans for a grand opening on Nov. 10 at the food hall, 2238 N. Farwell Ave. Ready to Roll plans occupy the space through April 2024.

Although new to Milwaukee, Ready to Roll has been serving the streets of Chicago for more than a decade. Shatoia Robinson launched the food truck there in 2011, but returned to Milwaukee — her hometown — last year and partnered with her mother, Sandra, for the new venture.

“We’ve always spent our time together in the kitchen as a family,” Shatoia said. “We’re very passionate about food and we’re both very passionate about community, so we’ve joined forces and we’re extremely excited to share with the Milwaukee community.”

The food truck and soon-to-be pop-up offers dishes inspired by the younger Robinson’s great-grandmother — with a contemporary twist. A recipe for traditional meatloaf now presents as meatloaf cupcakes, while the matriarch’s collard greens are mixed with kale and turned into superfood egg rolls. Homey chicken casserole is transformed into a chicken Philly egg roll.

“It’s just a modern version of classic, homestyle recipes,” Shatoia said.

A menu for the pop-up restaurant will include vegan Italian beef egg rolls — an homage to Shatoia’s favorite Chicago sandwich — featuring Beyond Beef. The Southern Belle, a collard green egg roll, will also be available, along with a chicken wing-inspired roll, which will be stuffed with buffalo chicken, fried and dunked in honey lemon pepper sauce.

While the recipes are mostly inspired by family, Shatoia said her journey as a business owner and foodie has brought about new realizations.

“Throughout all of our culinary travels all around the world and all throughout Chicagoland . . . what we’ve learned more than anything is that most people in most cultures are more alike than they’re different,” she said. “And we want to kind of share that community and share that story through food.”

Shatoia spent the first 24 years of her life in Milwaukee, where she frequented the East Side with her friends, visiting Oriental Pharmacy (now home to Crossroads Collective) and Oriental Theatre. The return will be a full circle moment.

“We are grateful for the patrons of Milwaukee,” she said. “We’re very excited to share with them what we’ve been working on, and we really just want to show what the Robinson girls can do.”

Ready to Roll will enter a food hall in flux. Two vendors, The Counter and Atwood Hwy BBQ Company, recently exited the space, while another, Kawa, opened this past summer.

Crossroads recently shared plans to expand its Black Cat Rising Concert series through the fall. The weekly performance takes place in Black Cat Alley, showcasing emerging local musicians representing a broad range of genres.

“The Black Cat Rising concerts are reminiscent of underground basement shows that we all know and love,” said Hannah Gulledge, assistant general manager, in a statement. “But instead of a basement, people are able to experience that same energy in an alley turned open-air art gallery.”

Black Cat Alley features 21 murals created by artists from across the globe. Ruben Alcantar will soon add one more to that number. The East Side Business Improvement District (BID) recently selected the Milwaukee artist to paint the alley’s newest mural.

Along with the concert series, Black Cat Alley also hosts the Sound SYSTEM DJ Series, which has dates set for Oct. 28 and Nov. 25 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. A weekly open mic night, Tea Leaves, takes place Fridays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the nearby Ivanhoe Plaza.