Brazilian Connection!

I love the little Brazilian community of Portland. Actually, many Portuguese speakers, but not too many Brazilians. They are a very supportive bunch, and they organized a get together in the cart last week. Of course, I had to make Coxinhas (fried potato dumplings filled with chicken), and Empadinha de Palmito (hearts of palm mini biscuits). Brazilians are crazy about their snacks, that's for sure.

I mastered  the art of making both of them, and I have to tell you, my Coxinhas and Empadinhas are the best I've had in a while. The Brazilians invaded the D-Street Noshery, and it was so much fun. They were very happy to be here, and they loved the food! There is nothing quite as awesome as hearing a Brazilian tell me that my feijoada is the best they have ever had!

Success!

The Sack has been open now for a little over 2 months. I feel like I know all about food carts now! I am sure there is more to learn... Make sure you grey water dispenser is easy to open. Mine is very hard, and every day is extremely frustrating. Several things didn't work inside the cart, but I don't want to focus on that. We are making it work, and if you need references about the people who built my cart, feel free to contact me and I will give you many tips.

Our food seems to be a success. The feijoada, of course is he show-stopper. We have customers who come back several times per week to eat it! Nick and Evan so far are the winning regulars. Jonas eats here pretty regularly as well, but he is a friend, so it might not count. I love to hear when customers come back ans say that they "can't stop thinking about the food" and they just had to come back.

We decided to add the Fish Muqueca to our regular menu as well. Muqueca is a typical dish from the north of Brazil, and it is also known as Brazilian Fish Stew. Sauteed fish with peppers, tomatoes, onions, and Dende oil, topped with shrimp and coconut milk. We serve it over rice and farofa (toasted yucca flour).

We are open for business!

We passed the inspection on March 3rd, and we opened On March 5th! Erin has been great, she was there through the whole process. When we opened, some pipes were leaking and the gas wasn't coming out, but she showed up within 30 minutes of my call and saved the day.

My first fear was that we were not going to sell anything... but we did! Tons of feijoada! Our crepe machine is still not working and I am angry about that, but I think we can fix it for the upcoming weekend. The acai was a huge success, and so was the feijoada. People were very open to try it even when they were not totally sure what it was.

I also realized that we need to be more clear with the type of food that we are selling. I guess "samba" and the statue of Jesus don't really scream Brazil as I thought it woul. Hope to see you there sometime soon!

It's almost Show Time!

My head is pounding, and my body is aching. We just parked our cart in the D-Street Noshery. We spent the day looking for n alternative for my crepe machine, which comes from Brazil and it's not set up for propane tanks. No one knows how to figure it out so far.

I discovered Rose's restaurant supply. They have used and new restaurant supplies. Pretty much everything you'll ever need for a food cart. I also discovered Curtis trailer supplies. They have everything for trailers. That's where I bought the cables to connect the electricity.

D-Street requires liability insurance, which is great, but I wasn't expecting the extra $85 dollars per month. They also require compostable disposables. I am happy about that. There are about 600 food carts in Portland right now. Just imagine the amount of waste they produce if they are not composting. At least I am part of the solution, and not the problem.

We have our pre-opening inspection today, and Erin is going to be there. There are still several things that need to be in place, such as a thermometer, and a sanitizing kit. Mostly discovering as we go. I am a bit scared now that we are finally parked and ready to blow up. 

SHACK-STATUS

SAMBA SHACK does NOT like the rain.
SAMBA SHACK's new door frame is swelling more and more.
SAMBA SHACK is dripping water ever so slightly from her ceiling vent
SAMBA SHACK's windows and interior walls are nice and clean
SAMBA SHACK is having gas issues, and BEANO is not helping
SAMBA SHACK is very sad that her more successful and popular cousin, RADIO, has not called to wish her good luck :-(

We found a home!

We are now moving to the D-Street Noshery and it seems like the downtown fiasco worked out for the better. After Al told us to look for another spot, we went desperately looking for something else that would be reasonable and we wouldn't be just feeding 3 people per day. We went to the D-Street Noshery on 32nd and Division and it turned out that I knew the guy who was managing the lot, Michael. He is a friend of a friend of a friend... who I met when he was running his cart on Alberta. The lot was pretty much full, but Michael said that he would take my cart because it's Brazilian food, and because I was a friend of Phil.

The pot has some famous carts, which is good and bad, and a heated area in the middle. Besides that, there is a beer cart too! I know, everything is falling into place, and this spot seems to be much better than downtown.

Erin dropped off our cart today, and the water heater is not working. She said that she is dropping one off tomorrow. Our inspection is scheduled for Tuesday, so everything has to be ready to go. I am glad Erin wants to be there when we park the cart to make sure everything is working and to walk us through any sort of trouble shooting and what-nots.

We need a spot!

What a bummer! I just spoke to Al from the City Center parking lots, which dominate all the lots in downtown, and he does not like our trailer. He thinks it looks too old and rusty to put in one of his lots. I am a little hurt because of all the love that we have put into our little Shasta. He told me he knows I did not spend too much money on my trailer, and it's not fair to park next to someone who spent 40K to build their trailer. Does anyone really spends that much money building a food cart? If so, I guess I really don't belong in the fancy part of town, because I might as well buy a restaurant for that amount of money...

Feelings aside, I found out that Star Park is another company that manages some of the lots in downtown, and I contacted them today. Their number is 503.223.4128. The lady said that she would check with their customers (the owners of the lots) and call us back to let us know if anything is available. We are know frantically desperate to find a spot and I am very afraid of having to settle for a pot that is not successful. Downtown is sort of guaranteed, so that is why I am sticking with it for now.

Apparently Guarana soda is worth its weight in gold. We cannot find that anywhere. Even the only Brazilian restaurant in town does not carry it anymore. They told me that the only distributor who used to sell Brazilian products went bankrupt and does not sell it anymore. I am almost giving up, but it would be sooo great to carry Guarana soda. For the ones who are not familiar, Guarana is a soda made with guarana, which is a fruit that is only found in the Amazon forest. It's an energy fruit, and healthy for you.

We received the response from the county and our plan is approved. Yey! Now we have to call them one week before we open and make an appointment. We pay the last part of the fee, and they will inspect everything. There is a list of things we must have in order to pass the health inspection. It doesn't sound very hard.

After a long and difficult search for environmentally friendly to go containers and flatware, I found a place right around my house. I looked everywhere, and asked several people, and the deals online just weren't great. Finally, I had the brilliant idea of asking my friend Katie who also owns a food cart. The place is called Cash & Carry and they have most of the things one might need for a food cart, even food. Although their food is not cheaper then Costco, so we are going with Costco for that.

Painting

I have the greatest friends I could ask for. I asked Jonas and Smiley if they wanted to help me paint and they didn't even hesitate, they both jumped at the opportunity. They came with me and Adam, and Jonas figured out that we should file the trailer first, so we did that. Hopefully the paint will stick.

We still have not received a response from Multnomah County for our license. I am glad we sent it in early enough. Our cart was supposed to be ready on the 11th, but there seems to be some delays. Erin is having a hard time finding all the equipment. We are still missing a fresh water tank, we got the gray. We found a stove and a refrigerator that run on propane. We want to be ready to go to festivals with no generators, just propane.

We just submitted our plan review to Multnomah County, on Powell and 34th, which happens to be like 2 blocks from our house. We printed the plan review package from the website http://web.multco.us/health/food-carts-mobile-food-units and Erin helped us fill it out. The only part that was not easy was drawing the cart with all the measurements, explaining where everything is going. Again Erin rocked it out and  drew it all up. It looked good! We also had to list the food items, including all ingredients and where we are going to purchase them.

If you don't have an address yet to park the cart, which is our case, you can leave that page blank. The first stage is $290. The second stage whi is the license is $340.  After that, we will schedule for the health department, but we don't know anything about it yet.

Now the greatest part of all if the paint job. Our artist's website is http://www.cryofthewolf.com/ and he charged us a very reasonable amount. We gave him a general idea of what he wanted and he just ran with it. I am super excited to have this thing on the streets!

Progress...

We went to check out our trailer this week. She is a beauty... We are getting anxious now because we want to open up in the middle of February, but the process is going slower than we thought. Adam and I are not very handy, and we cannot build things, so we have to just patiently wait for it. The counters are in, and so is the stove and service window, but it's still missing a whole lot.

We have an awesome artist painting the outside of our trailer next week. That is a big step because when we try to get a spot in downtown or in any "food cart pot," the first thing the landlord asks for is a picture of the trailer. Apparently, the trailer doesn't only have to be aesthetically pleasing, but it also has to match with the other carts in the pod, as far as the funkiness level. We are hoping for a funky painting, but we are not so concerned with it, because that's one thing that is easy to change.

There is one guy who manages all the City Center lots in downtown, and his name is Al. I am not going to publish his cell phone number here, but if you call their main number, they will provide Al's number. Once our cart is ready on the outside, we email him a picture and he will email us the lots that are available. Most of them are $500 monthly with no contract. Some lots come with electricity on each spot, but some don't. We might need to get an electrician to pull the wires.

FEIJOADA

Feijoada originally came from Portugal, and today it is considered the national dish of Brazil. Brazilian cuisine is very diverse depending on the region, but feijoada is common ground. The stew recipe includes pork, beef, jerked beef (or cured beef), and black beans. The side dishes vary, but the most common ones are white rice, sauteed collard greens, pork rind, farofa (cassava flour), and oranges.

According to the legend, feijoada used to be the food of the slaves because it was cheap and made with scraps, such as pig feet, tongue and other parts not so commonly used today. One batch of feijoada usually feeds many people. However, some historians will argue that the Brazilian feijoada is just another version of other European stews.

Because feijoada is such a heavy food, most restaurants in Brazil only offer it for lunch. Some restaurants have special days of the week that they serve feijoada, the most typical being Sunday. The feijoada is usually washed down with a good "caipirinha" or a beer. The most typical restaurants also have a samba band playing in the background, and the eaters can join the dance floor, or pick up an instrument, if they can stand up after the feast. To be clear, feijoada on Sundays is the Brazilian version of "brunch."

Opening the Business

Before we start looking for a location, we will have to get all our permits in place. So first things first... I went to the bank and got a business account. In order to get a business account, I had to register my business with the state of Oregon. Anyone can do it online http://www.filinginoregon.com/ it only takes a few minutes, and it costs $100. After that, you have to register an employer account with IRS, for tax purposes.
My banker explained to me the difference between a corporation and an LLC, although I don't quite get it... I did understand that by being either of those, as opposed to an individual, you avoid being sued as an individual, keeping your finances separate. Corporations have almost the same rights as a human being, but not as much responsibilities, I guess I can take advantage of that ;-)

Birth

I met this girl, Erin Halton, on Craigslist that said she would build me a food cart for $5,000, excluding the permits, of course. I said, wow! That's a great price! Let's go for it!
I had been thinking about building a food cart since I came to visit Portland, when I lived in Miami. The first reason was because I didn't see any Brazilian carts anywhere, second reason is because I believe to be a great cook myself (don't we all?). I got a job before moving to Portland, so the idea was kind of pushed aside, then Adam also got a job, that he hates with extreme passion. I decided to invest all of my little savings in the food cart idea, and let Adam run with it, what the hell?
He is not too fond of the kitchen, but since we started materializing the food cart idea, he started to gain some love for art of cooking. Hopefully, our fellow Portlanders will love our food, and I can quit my cubicle job and we can dedicate all of our time to the Samba Shack!
Erin finally found us an old Shasta trailer that she is using to build our cart. It's very small, but Adam can stand up inside, which is good. Next week we should be able to see some more and add some pictures of it.