{"id":166251,"date":"2026-02-06T05:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T05:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:19:20","slug":"the-sunsets-new-food-destination-is-a-snack-shack-with-a-wild-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166251\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sunset\u2019s new food destination is a snack shack with a wild streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick and Monqiue Osborne didn\u2019t plan on putting a smashburger taco on the menu at Ruby\u2019s, their 2-month-old counter-service spot steps from Ocean Beach. Last summer, when they were beginning to solidify plans for Ruby\u2019s \u2014\u00a0their first venture beyond Mission Rock Resort,<\/a> which Nick\u2019s family has been running for two decades \u2014\u00a0they envisioned serving wraps, soup, salads, and hot cups of bone broth out of a walk-up window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the hospitality vets will do pretty much anything to make a customer happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ANick and Monique Osborne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of folks coming in our doors early on asking if we had a burger, and, you know, Monique and I just hate using the word \u2018no\u2019 when we\u2019re talking to a customer,\u201d Nick says. \u201cSo, the smashburger taco started out as a fun little special. Then, on the days on which it was omitted from the menu, we started to get some folks coming in like, \u2018Oh, darn, they don\u2019t have the smashburger taco.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now the taco has earned a permanent place on the menu. The mashup \u2014 featuring a paper-thin patty, made from a blend of short rib and brisket, draped in American cheese and buried under a pile of shredded little gem lettuce, sliced tomato, and pickled onions, all swaddled in a palm-size flour tortilla \u2014\u00a0is like an In-N-Out burger that took a trip south of the border. Sure, it might sound like a cheap ploy to combine two distinct but reliably popular dishes, but, like most items on the Ruby\u2019s menu, it\u2019s simple, fun, and delicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eight tacos makes up the heart of the Ruby\u2019s menu \u2014 and the excellent smashburger version isn\u2019t even the most off-the-wall. That title goes to the Irish taco, with corned beef and cabbage on a corn tortilla. There are the more expected options, including a popular ribeye taco that sees thick slices of beef showered with cotija cheese, salsa, and hot-pink pickled onions. An even better order would be the Asian-inflected carnitas, inspired by a meal the Osbornes had from a street vendor in Mexico City. The first item the couple finalized for the menu, the carnitas taco features hoisin-marinated pork combined with lightly pickled cucumber, sesame seeds, and green onion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AFisherman\u2019s stew.\"AMellow marg.<\/p>\n

Initially, they were making tortillas in-house. \u201cBut we very quickly recognized that we wouldn\u2019t be able to keep up with the pace,\u201d Nick says. So they turned to a friend who runs Tortilleria El Molino in Concord. Any of the tacos can be ordered on corn tortillas \u2014 a popular option with gluten-free diners \u2014 or flour \u2014 the ideal route, being wonderfully supple and thin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the days when the fog rolls in and the Outer Sunset feels less beach and more bog, a bowl of fisherman\u2019s stew is designed to warm you from the inside out. With origins in the family recipe from Mission Rock Resort, the dish takes classic cioppino and adds some kick via green olives, bell peppers, and salsa verde, alongside a generous portion of local fish (usually rockfish, sometimes petrale) and prawns. And no conversation about Ruby\u2019s would be complete without mentioning the chicken Caesar wrap, which a local TikToker declared the best in the city (opens in new tab)<\/a>. \u201cMonique and I, we don\u2019t have TikTok,\u201d Nick says. \u201cBut long story short, someone put up a raving review about our chicken Caesar, and the next day, you know, we had a line out the door.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got our butts kicked,\u201d Monique says with a laugh. \u201cBut I will say, I am so proud of that wrap.\u201d One key difference between theirs and the sea of others is that they use crispy rice instead of croutons, so every bite gets a bit of crunch. The Caesar dressing, she adds, took months to perfect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the parents of three young kids, they stress that everything on the Ruby\u2019s menu is child-approved. And for other parents coming though with the little ones, there are alcoholic beverages, but mostly of the type intended to let you keep your wits about you. The selection includes four wines, a handful of beers on tap and by the bottle, micheladas, and sangria. There\u2019s also the \u201cmellow margarita,\u201d made with a low-ABV agave spirit, which delivers all the bright, tart, and refreshing notes of a full-octane cocktail without the full buzz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple, both native San Franciscans, say they wanted to open Ruby\u2019s in part because they had lived in the fast-changing Outer Sunset<\/a> and fell in love with it. They built Ruby\u2019s, which is named after their youngest child, to be a place where families could roll in with sandy feet after a day at the beach and young couples could pop in after an afternoon strolling Sunset Dunes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, it\u2019s the San Francisco beachside taco shack of their dreams. \u201cGoing into this, we had some rough ideas of what we wanted to achieve, but when you open your doors, you don\u2019t really know what to expect,\u201d Nick says between filling orders for cauliflower tacos and ahi poke bowls. \u201cI think for the most part, we\u2019ve stayed true to what we set out to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n