{"id":45699,"date":"2021-07-20T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T22:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/juicys-shanty-serves-up-jamaican-food-reggae-by-the-river\/"},"modified":"2021-07-20T22:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T22:17:00","slug":"juicys-shanty-serves-up-jamaican-food-reggae-by-the-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/juicys-shanty-serves-up-jamaican-food-reggae-by-the-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Juicy\u2019s Shanty serves up Jamaican food, reggae by the river"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alexa
Alexa Alfonsi and Chris Turner stand next to Juicy\u2019s Shanty, their Jamaican food ruck, next to the Powerhouse Science Center on July 14. The food truck opened on July 1. (Nick Gonzales\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Nick Gonzales<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDurango needs another burger or taco place like a hole in the head,\u201d said Chris Turner.<\/p>\n

For some, those may be fighting words, but they are one of the core reasons Turner and his partner, Alexa Alfonsi, opened their Jamaican food truck, Juicy\u2019s Shanty<\/a>, on July 1 outside the Powerhouse Science Center<\/a> on the Animas River Trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought the food in this town was \u2026 mediocre is kind,\u201d Turner said. \u201cAnd we wanted to fix that \u2013 give Durango a different kind of flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those not in the know, Jamaican food tends to have a sweet heat, Alfonsi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very rounded type of heat,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to burn your face off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enough to make your forehead sweat and your mouth hot, but you can\u2019t stop,\u201d Turner said. \u201cIt\u2019s savory, too. Our stewed ox tail is like a pot roast, but it\u2019s got those Jamaican notes \u2013 allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was exposed to Jamaican food from a young age, frequently traveling to the island.<\/p>\n

The name \u201cJuicy\u2019s Shanty\u201d comes from a family member in Negril, who had the nickname \u201cJuicy.\u201d He served juices, beer, snacks and Ital (vegan food celebrated by the Rastafari movement).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make the homage to him and kind of carry the torch, so we started this little island jerk shack,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n

Everything on the menu is made from scratch in the truck, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re either extreme meat or extreme vegan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ninety percent of the food is vegan, including all of the sides (except for the Mac-n-Cheese) and all of the sauces, he said.<\/p>\n

But Turner said he has also been smoking meat since he was 16 years old and has been a pit boss and a chef with classical training in French, German, Italian, Thai and Mexican cuisine.<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Turner prepares a grill inside Juicy\u2019s Shanty. Before pursuing a career in the film industry, he spent time in Jamaica and has training as a pit boss and a chef. (Nick Gonzales\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Nick Gonzales<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Turner plans to do Texas-smoked briskets, jerk-smoked brisket and applewood-smoked Carolina-style brisket out of the food truck, which \u2013 at least in the beginning with serve both Jamaican food and barbecue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea is to have the Jamaican and the barbecue truck be the same thing and then split them off eventually,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then make other trucks down the line. We want to do a Mediterranean truck \u2013 do like Lebanese spit and Greek yogurt-marinated things with rice and kebabs and all that. And we want to do something Thai down the road, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner and Alfonsi envision transforming the space outside the Powerhouse, which is also the home of The Soup Palette and Thimbleberry Smoothie Co., into a space with live music and the like.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make a space where somebody that lives here can come down and hang out,\u201d Alfonsi said. \u201cI want you to be able to come here, eat a plate of food \u2013 that you have some leftovers with \u2013 and not break the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner, an assistant director in the directors guild of America, said he and Alfonsi had been working in the television and film industry in Brooklyn, New York, for 10 years \u2013 up until they were laid off in March 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used that as our jumping off point, really,\u201d Alfonsi said. \u201cHere\u2019s a sign from the universe to get out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple had traveled to Durango and Pagosa Springs frequently over the previous decade, and Turner has worked on a pilot in Mancos. But they had both grown tired of the industry, he said.<\/p>\n

The work behind the camera paid off, partly at least, in the dichotomy that has emerged between Turner and Alfonsi, who was a set production assistant. While he takes care of the flavors, she takes care of the customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both worked with high-profile actors for a long time,\u201d he said. (\u201cPain-in-the-butt profile,\u201d she interjected.) \u201cAnd I got tired of it, honestly \u2013 I don\u2019t want to talk to people like that. She dealt with Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg on \u2018Blue Bloods\u2019 for the last three seasons, so it was like second nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just easy to be a happy camper,\u201d Alfonsi said. \u201cIt\u2019s even easier knowing that this is our world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner said he loves being part of a kids\u2019 science center, but also wants to cater to adults. He hopes to eventually get a liquor license and have a BYOB-type of situation with a corkage fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho eats jerk chicken without drinking a Guinness Extra Stout or a Red Stripe or a rum drink?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He would also like to provide cooking classes at some point, he said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The exterior of Juicy\u2019s Shanty, which is being painted by local artist Parker Ledford, will depict the shanty as though it is parked in the middle of Ice Lake. (Nick Gonzales\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Nick Gonzales<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

If the art on the truck looks familiar, it might be because it is being painted by local artist Parker Ledford, who also did the wolf mural on North Main Laundry<\/a>. The exterior of the truck will depict Ice Lake in the back with a small island in the middle with the shanty on it and the Milky Way above it. In front, the truck looks like the facade of the shanty with the reflection of the mountains around Ice lake in the water behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are wandering art now,\u201d Alfonsi said.<\/p>\n

Juicy\u2019s Shanty is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday at 1333 Camino del RIo.<\/p>\n

ngonzales@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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