{"id":32413,"date":"2023-08-10T01:27:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T07:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/philly-cristos-opened-up-last-month-and-business-has-been-booming\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:57:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:57:36","slug":"philly-cristos-opened-up-last-month-and-business-has-been-booming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/philly-cristos-opened-up-last-month-and-business-has-been-booming\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly Cristos opened up last month and business has been booming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Philly Cristos trailer at the Cortez Plaza on July 25, 2023. Colette Czarnecki\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At the Cortez Plaza\u2019s parking lot on a late July morning, the sun\u2019s heat baked outside Philly Cristos\u2019 food trailer. Meat for a couple of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches could be heard sizzling on the trailer\u2019s flat commercial grill as cheese melted on top.<\/p>\n

Owner Micah DeMars, 40, opened Philly Cristos in early July, and business has been going strong ever since.<\/p>\n

He has parked his trailer, decked out with skateboard stickers and paying homage to his old skating days, at softball games, Big R and Mancos\u2019 Fenceline Cider. He also was asked to cater to Osprey Packs\u2019 company party for about a 100 people.<\/p>\n

\"Micah
Micah DeMars cooks up an order on July 25 at the Cortez Plaza. Colette Czarnecki\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DeMars was fed up with working for other people and wanted to work for himself. Since he\u2019s had experience working in kitchens, like Blondie\u2019s and Main Street Brewery, he knew he had a creative flair that enhances the food he cooks up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always made stuff up with a twist,\u201d he said when he spoke about the Southwest Chicken Monte Cristo.<\/p>\n

The sandwich has chicken, green chiles and pepper jack cheese served on Italian white bread with mustard, black currant jelly and cayenne pepper. It\u2019s battered in eggs and fried like French toast.<\/p>\n

Ever since opening, he\u2019s been selling cheesesteaks to the community without much of a break. While at the Cortez Plaza parking lot that one July morning, a line formed during the lunch hour.<\/p>\n

\"Micah
Micah DeMars takes a customer\u2019s order \u2013 two classics on July 25 at the Cortez Plaza. Colette Czarnecki\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhat\u2019s looking good for you today, Ma\u2019am?\u201d he asked a woman who began the line. \u201cWhat\u2019s standing out the most?\u201d<\/p>\n

She needed a few minutes to decide and ended up with two classics \u2013 thinly sliced steak, veggies and American cheese grilled on a hoagie.<\/p>\n

One order usually takes eight to 10 minutes to cook.<\/p>\n

At the Montezuma County Fair, he had to turn people away since the business is mostly a one-man show, although his 16-year-old son helps out at times by taking orders.<\/p>\n

Even though he opened up last month, he started the business in August 2022. Like any business, a great deal needs to happen before the big launch: saving money, applying for a limited liability company, opening bank accounts and securing a trailer.<\/p>\n

In fact, he took a nine-day road trip to Tampa Bay where he bought the trailer and trekked it all the way back to Cortez. But he still had to wait for the inspection after he installed kitchen equipment in the mobile scullery.<\/p>\n

Once he opened up, business has been good and intense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day was a good start. The second day it was hard to keep up,\u201d he said. \u201cThe third, fourth and fifth day was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the nine-day trip, he mentioned he made up the Southwest Chicken Monte Cristo while hauling the trailer home from Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even try it for the first several days I was selling it,\u201d he said. \u201cThen one night me and my son decided to cook one and split it in half. It\u2019s really delicious, like it\u2019s so different.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his days off, which aren\u2019t many, he\u2019s a simple guy who enjoys bowling, playing horseshoes and hanging out with his kids and Dottie \u2013 his 5\u00bd-year-old pit bull.<\/p>\n

He also tries to relax as much as possible and drive in the mountains away from cellphone service where he can spot wildlife and soak in the views.<\/p>\n

\"Micah
Micah DeMars cooks up some sandwich orders on July 25 at the Cortez Plaza. Colette Czarnecki\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Although his locations differ day to day, he notifies people where he\u2019ll be on Montezuma County Food Trucks\u2019 Facebook page, where he also expresses gratitude for the strong support community members have given him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really appreciate the support from the community and from my friends,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure how it was gonna go or how it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

shares a little of his story while serving up his creations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81783,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32413\/revisions\/81783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32413"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}