Selma Cafe chefs, and vegan cooks extraordinaire, Phillis Engelbert and Joel Panozzo are the brains, creativity and owners of one of the new food carts opening for business this spring in the latest Down Town Home and Garden project, Mark’s Carts. Their cart, called The Lunch Room will offer a wide variety of vegan options, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dishes and desserts. I recently had a chance to speak with Phillis and Joel about their latest venture, and I’m happy to share it with you here.
What gave you the inspiration to focus on vegan dishes?
We have both carefully considered questions about food and diet for a long time. Joel has been vegetarian his entire adult life. Phillis has been a vegetarian on and off since the age of sixteen. A few years ago, having given up meat again, Phillis developed a lactose intolerance and made the leap to veganism. Joel made a similar shift within the last year. We have looked at a meat-and-dairy free diet as an opportunity to explore the wonderful options of plant-based cooking.
Tell me about your experience as vegan cooks
We are both self-taught cooks, and have focused mainly on vegan dishes for the last few years. Last summer we started dreaming up a cafe where we would serve delicious vegan food. We envisioned a comfortable, inviting space that would involve music, art, gardens, greenhouses, and environmental sustainability. Lacking the financing and experience to open a cafe, we decided to take small steps. We became more adventurous cooks and attempted more complicated menus. Our friends were willing guinea pigs for experimental vegan brunches and dinners. We took their feedback and improved our recipes and skills. In the fall we joined a small group of people offering vegan specials at Selma.
In October we jumped at an opportunity to host a “pop-up” meal at a downtown retailer’s event space. That marked the beginning of a new chapter in our vegan cooking project and provided us with a crash course in cooking for large groups, marketing, business, and more.
We started with an email list of 85 of our friends. Our “Lunch Room” meals grew in popularity and by April our email list had grown to 375 people. Throughout the fall and winter we held 11 events in various locations. Each meal was five courses, everything was made from scratch, and we never repeated a dish. We had various “theme” meals, such as vegan Thanksgiving, holiday brunch, tapas dinner, Thai dinner, Valentine’s Day with heart-shaped items, and a New Year’s Eve Eve (Dec. 30th) party that included special raspberry-tiramisu-amaretto cupcakes. With each successive meal we began creating more of our own recipes and relying less on cookbooks. While we still have much to learn, we feel that we now do have experience as vegan cooks.
How did you decide to commit to a food cart?
In early February an article appeared in annarbor.com describing the vision of Mark Hodesh, owner of Downtown Home & Garden, of a food-cart courtyard where start-up food entrepreneurs would sell gourmet food out of carts, using an adjacent commercial kitchen. Several friends sent that article to us, urging us to look into it. We spoke with Mark that day and soon thereafter sent in a business plan and application. We learned that our proposal had been accepted on Valentine’s Day. We were cooking for a big dinner that night and found it hard to concentrate, we were so excited. Once we were accepted, we did not find it hard to commit. It felt right; like a logical next step for our food business.
What is your goal for bringing a vegan food cart to the community?
Our goal is to serve people delicious, satisfying food that happens to be vegan. We are not preachy. We cook and eat this way because we prefer it; we feel good about it and like how it makes our bodies feel. We are also serious eaters. Last summer I went with a friend on a canoe trip through the Boundary Waters — five days of wildnerness travel carrying all our own food and supplies — and we ate gourmet vegan meals the whole time. Cooking and eating, for us, are expressions of joy. We love to do it and share it. So you could say our goal is to make others happy by providing them with wonderful food and to make ourselves happy by doing what we love to do.
What will you serve?
We will have a pretty extensive menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, plus sides and baked goods. There will be some fairly permanent items, like homemade coconut milk yogurt with granola, fruit-yogurt smoothies, coffee cake, summer rolls with peanut sauce, curry-chickpea-potato wrap, tangy slaw, roasted potatoes, crostini with tapenade, blackstrap gingersnaps, raspberry bars, and spicy chocolate snickerdoodles. Then we will rotate in items like homemade bagels with spread, gingerbread cupcakes, apple cake, Caesar salad, barbeque seitan sandwiches, hummous with veggies on rolls, tempeh with brocolli on wild rice with wild mushroom gravy, and lemon bars. Our menu will vary with in-season produce and other factors.
What will your price range be for your offerings?
Inexpensive; probably starting at $1 for cookies. Everything will be under $10.
When will the cart be up and running?
That depends on when the courtyard construction is finished. Hopefully by mid to late April.
Will you do any vegan catering for parties and events, in addition to your cart?
This is something we are considering. People have asked us about it and we want to get our feet wet first with the cart. Then we’ll see what else we can handle. In the off-season, catering is definitely a possibility.
What are your favorite vegan dishes?
Wow, there are so many! But when we just cook for ourselves and our partners or a small group of friends, we most often go for summer rolls. They are so versatile; you can put almost anything in them. Just grill some tofu, cook some rice noodles, chop up vegetables, reach for some fresh basil and mint leaves, whip up a nice batch of spicy peanut sauce, and roll it all up in a soaked rice-paper wrapper. Voila — you have a little piece of heaven! We’ll also be coming out with a Lunch Room cookbook sometime this summer, and we will sell it at our cart. Be sure to come by!
Thanks Phillis and Joel for taking the time to share your vision, and best of luck in your new adventure.
~Lisa
