Windsor’s first shipping container restaurant to hold grand opening this weekend

Frate Street Food, Windsor’s first shipping container eatery, officially opens. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

Chef Rob Nesbitt said his love of travel served as inspiration for a unique new eatery in Ford City – Windsor’s first restaurant based out of a shipping container.

“I wanted to bring something unique to Windsor,” he said. “Essentially, if you didn’t go away on vacation and you wanted to get away, this is the place.”

Frate Street Food’s pink shipping container is located in the greenspace beside Pressure Drop on Drouillard Road.

Nesbitt said a Cinco de Mayo themed grand opening is planned for the weekend ahead, after they soft launched the establishment earlier in the spring.

“We took advantage of some nice weather in the beginning of April and it went great,” he said.

For the rest of spring, Frate Street Food will be open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Fridays from 3 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Nesbitt plans to expand hours in the summer.

He said the menu will rotate every two weeks, offering up different globally-inspired street food options all the time.

For now, he said the lamb tacos, and overall atmosphere, have been big hits.

“It’s almost like you’re in your friend’s backyard on a Caribbean island,” he said.