Silver Moon Brewing has reinvented itself with a courtyard and patio that includes The Office, a food -truck pod. For some restaurant owners, the pandemic offered inspiration to create new outdoor concepts, with a window of time to complete the projects. The five carts in the Office pod opened in May — Rush’s Squares, Chicken Strut, The Bob, Whappos and Luckey’s Woodsman — offering the kinds of food that beg to be paired with beer.

Steve Augustyn, one of Silver Moon’s owners, told me that the patio and food lot didn’t just come about because of the pandemic.

“It’s always been the plan, but we were having a hard time trying to execute it as busy as we were,” Augustyn said. “We are trying to create something that is pandemic-proof.”

Augustyn and his partners came up with the idea of a compound space after acquiring the building’s former boxing gym space two years ago. By bringing food carts, they could use the indoor space for more than dining.

The expanded indoor area will be a casual game room space called the Green Room. It is almost ready to open, and it has a pool table, shuffleboard, foosball and a couple dart bays. The original taproom/restaurant area will concentrate on beer education and specialty craft cocktails. It will have a whiskey bar ambiance and feature Silver Moon’s signature brand of whiskey. Diners can bring food indoors as well as eat on the patio and pod.

Augustyn hand-picked each food cart for The Office. The owners of both Chicken Strut and Rush’s Squares have trucks in other local pods. Silver Moon had worked with Jackson “Rooster” Higdon to establish the Luckey’s Woodsman cart on Mt. Bachelor. The Bob has a couple event food carts. And Whappos is a new food truck.

Chicken Strut

Chicken Strut owner John Morris also owns Southern Accent at the 9th Street Village lot. His classic Southern cooking recipes come from chefs in New Orleans and from his family when he was growing up in Mobile, Alabama. When I tried Southern Accent, Morris told me that his chicken sandwich was his bestseller, which inspired him to open the chicken truck at the Office.

Morris puts a lot of thought into his chicken. It is marinated for 24 hours before it is dipped in buttermilk and double breaded. This creates a chicken that is moist inside and crunchy outside, even when smothered in one of his house-made Southern sauces.

The fried chicken breast on the LA Sandwich was huge, moist and extra crunchy. It sat on a massive pile of Cajun slaw and was topped with pickles. This sandwich comes with Strut sauce, the mildest of the Cajun sauces.

Along with sandwiches, the menu includes salads, wraps, chicken wings and baskets of fried chicken. Although covered in Nashville sauce, the chicken remained crispy. Be prepared: This Cajun sauce is spicy, and it bites back.

The Bob

The Bob isn’t a typical Middle Eastern cart. The Bob refers to kebabs. It’s modeled on the carts that owner Dan Bruton frequented when he traveled through Germany. Germany’s immigration policy brought in many Middle Easterners, who cooked on vertical rotisseries and made authentic meals from their home country. The lamb kebab came as a generous serving of shaved lamb, lettuce, red cabbage, onions and tomatoes overstuffed into a “flatilla” — a cross between a tortilla and pita bread. It was topped with a white garlic sauce and a hint of chili sauce. The flavors danced in harmony. Juicy and mouth-watering, it’s a wrap to order again.

The falafel balls were homemade. Bigger than a ping-pong ball, they were crunchy outside and bursting with seasoning and flavor. Za’atar French fries were a bit soft and could have used a bigger hit of the Middle Eastern za’atar seasoning.

Rush’s Squares

Scott Rush of Rush’s Squares came from Pine Marten Pizza at The Lot in Tumalo. While Pine Marten is known for its thin-crust pizza, Rush wanted to do Sicilian-style thick -crust pizza. His crust has high hydration as it is made with olive oil and honey. Each 8-inch-square pan pizza is cut into four pieces that might be big enough to share. The menu includes topping recommendations (combos), or you can build your own.

The Bendite combo comes with red sauce, cheese blend, salami, chèvre, fresh basil and Mama Lil’s red peppers. The combination of ingredients made for a mellow, slightly sweet and fresh pizza, but I felt the peppers hijacked the flavor profile. I enjoyed it thoroughly once I picked off many of the peppers.

Rush’s Caprese Salad is a food truck version of the cheese, tomato and basil staple. It is made with halved grape tomatoes (instead of the usual heirloom tomatoes), fresh basil and small burrata cheese balls that reminded me of mini marshmallows. This simplified version had all the balsamic, fresh flavors of a Caprese salad and was satisfying.

Whappos

The Whappos Caribbean Vibe cart colorfully livens up the pod with palm fronds and flowers. Owner David Smith was a veteran looking to transition into a civilian-based business. As a teenager, he and his friends would go to the bodegas (Spanish stores) in New York City. The owners would often call them “guapos” (handsome), which was the basis of the name Whappos. The cart serves many of the Caribbean foods Smith loved in his youth.

On my first visit, I had the Mojo Roast Pork Bowl. Mojo pork is marinated in sour citrus and spices that infuse the meat and keep it moist. The Whappos version had none of the garlicky sour juiciness (although I could taste a hint of the flavor when I microwaved the leftovers the next day). The bowl was made up of meat, jalapenos and cheeses with coconut rice and black beans that had no seasoning (not even salt). I was happy for the delicious tostones (twice-fried plantain bananas) and a dollop of sour cream that brought a sweet flavor and moistened the bowl.

It seemed like the meat might have cooked too long or the staff was having an off -day. I went back to taste the mojo pork and rice and beans again. This time I ordered the Cuban sandwich and a side of rice and beans. This was a traditional Cuban sandwich with pork, ham, lettuce, tomato, onion and Swiss cheese on an authentic pressed-Cuban roll. While it wasn’t the kind of sandwich that I would sit and savor, I can imagine eating it, drinking a Silver Moon beer and laughing with a group of friends. It came with thick fries with a slightly spicy adobo seasoning.

In contrast with the beans and rice in the bowl, the side of beans was bursting with a cumin flavor along with paprika and garlic. It was an unexpected flavor for the black beans and probably faithful to the New York City bodegas.

Whether you choose a rice bowl, chicken sandwich, wings, pizza, kebab or Cuban sandwich, if you mix it with some good music and fun times, the food will fit right in. When your significant other tells you they were spending time at “the office,” you might want to ask if they were at work or Silver Moon.