Folsom Street Fair serves up Tango & Stache

Last we met our friend Joshua Wilder-Oakley, the food mastermind behind Tango & Stache, he was gearing up for the second installment of his soul food pop-up on September 9 at Asiento in the Mission.

Needless to say, he has been quite busy ever since.

With another three Stache-ups this month alone — including an appearance at Dear Mom on Monday, September 24 — the mustachioed chef has been busy serving his delectable “White Boy Slaw” and Negroni smoked pork sandwiches to a hungry public.

Now, he will take his ultimate goal of bringing” a tangible sense of culture around food,” and developing “a strong sense of community” to one of San Francisco’s most infamous attractions: This weekend’s Folsom Street Fair.

And this will be no ordinary fair-food-installment either. Tango & Stache will be taking over the kitchen at the Fondue Cowboy at Folsom and Russ. And giving proceeds from the sales those delicious Pulled-Pork Sammies to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Despite a growing schedule, the humble and always-accommodating chef took time to answer a couple questions for SFBay about the cultivation of the Folsom Street Fair pop-up and giving to a charity he’s passionate about.

 SFBay: This pop-up will be in the midst of the Folsom Street Fair. When did you decide to unleash T&S on one  of The City’s most-coveted events?

Wilder-Oakley:

“I had been thinking about it for awhile actually. My friend Dave Mur is the owner of Fondue Cowboy, and he is not normally open during the day, only dinner. I approached him with the idea of a daytime pop-up just out of the front door, as his place is one block away from the main entrance of the fair.

It was actually his idea to have the restaurant open so he could serve drink specials and I could utilize the open kitchen as a walk up food counter. Let’s face it, for as much of a food town as we are, the street fairs are the lowest on the totem pole for good food. It has only been recently that that has started to turn around.

Part of it is pride I suppose, there are so many people who come from out of town to this event, and I want to show them that good food is accessible, even at street fairs.

SFBay: Could you tell me a little bit about working with the people at Fondue Cowboy for putting this pop-up in play?

“Dave is great, we sat down over a little fondue and bubbles, and started hashing out ideas. By the end of the meeting we were both pumped and excited for what is sure to be good time.

This will be the first time that we are partnering together. He will take care of the bar and I will do the food and together we will offer a little respite from the madness of Folsom Street Fair.”

“No. In 2007 and 2008 I ran the SF Marathon, through the SF AIDS Foundation training program. I raised close to 6,000 dollars between the 2 years and had the most amazing experiences doing it. I did it because there is an entire generation missing.

A generation that is no longer around to teach my generation the things you are supposed to learn. Unfortunately I have had several injuries that have prevented me from participating in the Marathon again, but I always wanted to make sure Tango & Stache had a charitable component.

It is all about community after all.”