Fill your belly at Washington’s newest food truck
Posted on Friday, March 10, 2023 at 4:45 pm
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Jen and Tony Martin, originally from western North Carolina, both have backgrounds in the culinary industry. They moved to eastern North Carolina with their 14-year-old daughter, Sophie, because of the business opportunities, affordable housing and proximity to the beach. (Holly Morgan/WDN)
Come Back Cuban is one of Jen’s favorite dishes along with pastrami and turkey sandwiches. (Holly Morgan/WDN)
Washington’s newest deli, Big Belly Deli offers a selection of freshly made deli sandwiches.
Jennifer Lee Martin (Jen) and her husband, Tony, co-own a food truck with an area of less than 100 square meters. opportunity to serve sandwiches at events, Martin said.
Tony was a chef in western North Carolina at restaurants selling several types of sandwiches in the Highland and Cashiers areas southwest of Asheville. Jen has a background in culinary arts as well as marketing and advertising. “We put it all together and combined some really good sandwiches that you don’t see around here very often,” Jen said.
The Martins moved from one end of the state to the other because the opportunity to open a business in eastern North Carolina was better, the housing prices were attractive and they were close to the beach, which Jen liked.
The food truck originally opened in November in Chacowinity near the campground, but recently moved to the D & H Equipment Company parking lot at 1220 John Small Avenue. Within four months, Big Belly Deli had regular customers. “We have a lot of customers who keep coming back. People tried every sandwich,” Jen said.
One of Jen’s favorites is Come On Back Cuban. It’s MiFiesta’s Black Forest ham and slow-roasted pork with mojo sauce. The sandwich is generously topped with Provolone, Swiss Cheese and Sweet Gharkin pickles. Garlic mayonnaise and spicy brown mustard finish off the sandwich, which is made on French bread. Then it is squeezed and served hot.
She also likes Pastrami and Castanzi Mustard, and can’t miss Tony’s Turkey and Switzerland. When she gets a turkey sandwich, she dips it in their house-made Boom Boom sauce – a buttery buffalo and teriyaki sauce. Their garlic mayonnaise sauce is also homemade.
Serving high-quality sandwiches is important to the Martin family, so they slice all the deli meats, cheeses and vegetables in the food truck daily. She shared it The big belly of a deli has yet to receive a negative review on Google, Facebook or Yelp.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I know eventually you’re bound to get someone who doesn’t like something, but so far no negative reviews on Google or Facebook or Yelp or anything,” she said.
One thing the Martins have learned about owning and operating Big Belly Deli is that “it’s a lot of work.”
“You’re here for a few hours a day, but the preparation, event planning, shopping and paperwork is a lot of planning, but what do you do for it, there are such good people who are just there to get food from the food truck” , – said Jen. “This is their main prerogative. They are happy to see a food truck here. They love small business and we have a really big fan base that has stuck with us so much, so everyone has been really great.”
Big Belly Deli offers daily specials such as “Dance Off” on Fridays. A free drink comes with your order on Thursdays. Double Stack Saturdays come with an extra quarter pound of meat on top of the quarter pound of meat that regularly comes in the sandwich. They offer a 10% discount for both emergency services and armed forces customers.
Sandwiches come with potato chips and/or mooncake.
Big Belly Deli is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., but check their Facebook page for changes.
