Farewell to Mark's Carts, but not goodbye

We are moving on from our place at Mark's Carts. Most may be aware of that by now, as the new season is underway and we are no longer part of the courtyard. We enjoyed our time at Mark's Carts and owe a lot to the project that gave us a running start with our food cart business. Now, it's time to move on.
After a long winter of thinking hard about what our future will look like, we are excited for what is in store for Debajo del Sol. We are most certainly not going away. We are still here. We are excited to be working with E.T. Crowe and her gang at the Wolverine State Brewing Company on Stadium. We are in the process of establishing a regular schedule, so keep an eye on our schedule. As soon as we have solidified times and secured staff we will announce some regular hours.
We also are excited to announce that we will be taking the cart on the road. We are branching out to festivals, food truck rallies, and music festivals. We are excited to be a part of the Romeo 175th Anniversary Jubilee happening this Saturday, May 18, in Romeo, Michigan. In August, we will be a part of the Mo Pop Festival at Freedom Hill Amphitheater. We are adding more events to the schedule as well. We'll update the blog as we go.

Pulled pork sliders served at an event last weekend

On to the next phase

Greek philosopher Heraclitus said "The only constant is change." For Debajo del Sol that means a change of venue. We have enjoyed our time at Mark's Carts and are grateful to have been a part of the groundbreaking concept in Ann Arbor, but we are moving on. That does not mean Debajo del Sol will be gone. We are simply putting the "mobile" back in mobile cuisine. 

Our plan is to continue to be open part-time at Wolverine State Brewing, so come visit us there and enjoy the tastiest microbrewed beer in Ann Arbor paired with Chef Jay's dishes that blend the flavors of Spain with comfort foods we know and love. 

In addition to being at Wolverine, we hope to pop up at various events around Southeast Michigan. We'll keep you posted. Check out our "Events and Hours" page for our schedule at Wolverine and for any upcoming events we will be a part of.

Happy Holidays to all and Merry Eating!!!!

Jay and Cristina

Debajo del Sol

Kickstarter goal met, two weeks down, many friendly faces at the courtyard

We have met our Kickstarter goal. We are so grateful to those who helped us and look forward to seeing everyone at the cart. We do have a few more backers to mention, including Catarana Triacca, Winston Yu and Carol Souchock.

We've had an exciting first couple of weeks. We would never have gotten through the first week without the help of our moms, Mary (Jay's mom) and Maria (my mom). They helped out in Union Hall Kitchen as Jay and I figured out our groove. We are still figuring it out a bit, but we have a better handle on it now that we have a little bit of an idea of how things work. We even managed to deal with my car that decided to have issues this week.

We've enjoyed seeing our friends. Some even helped to do the dishes. Our friends Corrine, Ellen, John and Arik stopped by last weekend.





Our friend Piero has visited the cart every day.




















Our friends Steve and Jason helped Jay wash dishes yesterday.




















Can't resist putting this picture up of Jay with paella.













Well, we are resting up for the start of another week. We are expecting rain, but we'll still be down at the courtyard making some delicious fixings. See you at the courtyard.

A few thoughts, kickstarter progress and shout outs, waiting on the rain

Since my last day of work on Friday, Jay and I have been systematically checking off items on our long to-do list. We think we are close to being prepared for the day when Mark's Carts and Debajo del Sol opens. Everything is going well, with the exception of the rain. Still, it is giving me time to regroup after leaving the newspaper job I've had for the last 12 years. It was a bittersweet ending. My coworkers at the Tecumseh Herald are family. I'll miss them. I'll miss the people in the communities that I covered. I won't necessarily miss going to village council meetings and school board meetings on Monday nights, but I will miss the feature writing.
As much as I will miss my family there, it was time for a change. I want to work closer to home. I want to do something else besides write all day and then come home and write some more. Cooking with my husband is that thing. We are incredibly excited to have this opportunity. We already have made our first paella in the cart, trying to get a feel for how it will go.
We are still running our Kickstarter campaign. We are 21 percent of the way toward meeting our goal with only 18 days left in the campaign. A few thank yous are in order for those who have backed us already.

Since my last shout out the following people have backed our project:
Ashley
Mary Scott (Mom)
Chris Lord
Don Hewlett
Nancy Ross-Flanigan (Ycnan!)
Alicia Densel
Tamsyn Sweetman
Brian Steinberg
Jeffrey Holden
and John Elway (We think this may really be someone who knows that Jay holds a deep-seeded grudge against the former Denver Bronco for his hand in beating Jay's beloved Cleveland Browns in the 1987 AFC Championship game. Then again, maybe it really is Elway.)


We'll see you soon--at the cart!