Mark’s Carts, an outdoor food courtyard, opened in Ann Arbor yesterday to sunny skies, long lines and juicy morsels of street food. The food carts are individually owned and operated and serve up creative fare. Mark Hodesh, the owner of Downtown Home and Garden, created this gathering place, a social hub of food and conversation.
Mark Hodesh of Mark's Carts (center).
Five carts were in operation on the opening day with two more slated to start soon (People’s Pierogi Collective and San Street weren’t open as of Monday.):
- Darcy’s Cart – Offering up dishes featuring local ingredients.
- Debajo del Sol – Spanish-style tapas and paella.
- eat – Hot meat on a bun.
- Humble Hogs – Slow cooked food served fast.
- The Lunch Room – High quality vegan fare.
- Peolple’s Pierogi Collective – Traditional and experimental Polish pierogies.
- San Street – Asian street food.
We perused each menu in the courtyard before making our choices. We decided to start at Darcy’s Cart, which had the longest lines.
I had two tacos, one black bean and one carnitas and my husband had the Perro Caliente, a chorizo sausage topped with sauerkraut and crema. The tacos were small but full of fresh flavor and for $2 it packed a punch. The Perro Caliente was a huge concoction of interesting tastes. The warm mushroom salad, which we didn’t order, looked amazing!
For a last small bite and to satisfy my curiosity for different takes on corndogs, we tried the chorizo corndogs from Debajo del Sol. Two individual balls of corndog goodness were served on separate sticks with an aioli for dipping. The outer shell was soft and slightly sweet which contrasted nicely with the spice of the chorizo.
For the first day, everything seemed to go rather smooth. Yes, the wait in the lines was long, there were few places to sit, and the carts started running out of food. But those are all good things! It proves that people need and want innovative, fresh and local food at a decent price.
If you’re in Ann Arbor be sure to check it out. I’d like to hear what you think.
Would I love to see something like this in Detroit? Do I dream of food trucks motoring around Detroit like they do in other major cities? Heck yeah! But that’s fodder for another post.