Transfer Station gets permanent home at Wandering Tortoise

🍺 Shay Gau spent a decade running a beer bar without a kitchen. Come Aug. 10, that era is officially over – and this time, it’s not going anywhere.

The Wandering Tortoise, the Phoenix craft beer and wine bar Gau opened in December 2016, has unveiled Transfer Station, a permanent 700-square-foot food stand parked where the bar’s old lot used to be. It’s the next chapter for a food program that started as an afterthought and grew into something Gau says the bar can’t live without.

When The Wandering Tortoise first opened near the southeast corner of Indian School and 24th Street, the plan was simple: 22 rotating beers on draft, 10 wines by the glass, a well-curated bottle and can selection – and no kitchen at all.

“One, food complicates things, and, two, we wanted to focus on beer and wine,” Gau says. “Ten years ago, bars didn’t need it. But today I don’t think you’ll survive without food.”

That shift in thinking led the bar to bring in a rotating cast of food trucks over the years, a stopgap that worked well enough until Gau decided the bar needed something with more staying power.

Enter the wagon

In October 2024, Gau introduced the Transfer Food Wagon by 2322, a 20-foot food wagon parked in the Tortoise’s lot seven days a week. It’s an offshoot of 2322, the interactive open kitchen and dining space Gau co-owns with Paul Lindsay across the street – used for private events, private dining, grab-and-go meals, and cooking classes.

The wagon’s menu of starters, burgers, sandwiches, and other rotating items found a fan base fast, helped along by the Monday night draw: the ‘‘Wagon Happy Meal,’’ a burger, a side, and a pint or glass of wine for $15, running 4-9 p.m.

The wagon’s is a nod to food history. The Transfer Station neighborhood of Union City, N.J., is where the first lunch wagon was reportedly built in 1912, a spark that helped launch New Jersey’s golden age of diner manufacturing and eventually made the state the diner capital of the world.

“After six months, I thought we needed something more permanent,” Gau said.

The permanent version

That “something” is Transfer Station: a 700-square-foot block building now standing in place of the wagon, alongside a brand-new parking lot that replaces the Tortoise’s old, beat-up one. There’s no seating – just a kitchen and a walk-up window, built for grab-it-and-go ordering with a beer or glass of wine in hand.

Gau and his team are planning a seasonally adjusted menu of around 15 core items, backed up by three to four daily specials to keep things moving throughout the year. The stand will also run later than the wagon did – open until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sundays.

“I built this for the future,” Gau says. “I see it carrying us for next 15 to 20 years. With great food, great beer, great service, great atmosphere, I think you win.”

Transfer Station is open 3-9 p.m. Monday, 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.