SAVOR ENCORE
Feeding Their Passion
Pachamama owners take travel-inspired food to the streets LISA MACKINDER
Brian Powers
by
20 | ENCORE NOVEMBER 2018
Pachamama Street Food and are now serving the Bruce Lee Bahn Mi and other internationally inspired dishes to the greater Kalamazoo community. “An old friend of my parents was the one who introduced me to that dish when I was a kid,” says Shepard of the sandwich, which is one of Pachamama’s top sellers. “If people haven’t tried this food before, that’s the one
Clockwise from above: A customer shows off the Bruce Lee Bahn Mi sandwich from Pachamama Street Food; Pachamama owners Amanda Castro (left) and Shyam Shepard; an order of their popular Castro’s Crab Rangoons.
Brian Powers
S
hyam Shepard has been making his Bruce Lee Bahn Mi — a Korean BBQ beef sandwich topped with pickled vegetables, cilantro, jalapenos and Sriracha sauce — for friends and family for more than a decade. But last year he decided it was time to take the sandwich public. So Shepard and his wife, Amanda Castro, purchased a food cart, named their business
that’s going to bring them in and really turn them on to those flavors.” “It’s like a sweet and savory beef. It’s really tender, and having it with the bahn mi