Our employees rock! This pic is from our outdoor staff holiday party that included trivia and a white elephant gift exchange.
I started writing this blog in April 2020 as a way to chronicle life during this special period. For a while my posts were more frequent; over time they have slowed. Maybe that’s because I’ve become less certain what to write; things change so quickly. It’s impossible to know if conditions are returning to normal, if they’re getting farther from normal, or what normal even means anymore.
My head spins; yours probably does too. We have been through nearly two years of a pandemic and all the accompanying stress. There was the final year of Trump, January 6th, police shootings and a vibrant Black Lives Matter movement and subsequent backlash. Climate change is proceeding at an alarming rate, evidenced by a spate of extreme weather events (when did the term “atmospheric river” enter our lexicon anyways?). A woman’s right to choose is in serious jeopardy. Pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers dig in and square off in increasingly hostile confrontations. Half of our country has outlawed pandemic-related mandates. Health care workers are crying for help and teachers are burning out from the stress of the youth mental health crisis and fears of COVID and school shootings.
And yet in some ways “normal” life proceeds. People get married, have babies, change jobs, and pursue their educational goals. We continue on with our daily routines – some altered more than others – and determine our level of risk comfortability associated with various activities. News photos of packed bars appear on the same sites as photos of overflowing emergency rooms. The contrast in realities is hard to reconcile.
A close friend recently told me that the key to a good yearly family newsletter is to talk about not just events, but feelings. I’m not sure if he would say the same about a blog post, but here goes. My feelings have been and continue to be a rollercoaster. I’m an activist, a news junkie, a mom, a business owner, and a participant. I care about people I know and people I don’t know. I take seriously my role in our democracy and probably have an over-inflated sense of my own power to effect change. I also believe in civility and listening to all viewpoints, and am deeply saddened about how polarized we have become and how viciously we attack those with whom we disagree. It bothers me that people will flirt with COVID and take unnecessary risks, expecting that our health care workers will fix us if we fall ill. My level of frustration with our current reality varies by the day.
There are things I can fix more easily than others. As much as I’d like to steer society in a different direction, my main sphere of influence is my business. I take seriously my job of safeguarding the special bubble in which 50 of us (between Detroit Street Filling Station and The Lunch Room Bakery & Cafe) spend our work lives. I do my best to keep everyone safe and healthy and employed, and to provide a safe experience for our customers. My goal is to not add even a single case to our overburdened health care system. I also want to note that our sphere of influence informally includes our neighbors, the staff Community High. We keep in touch and cheer them up from time to time. Give a big thanks to the healthcare workers and teachers in your life!
It’s a jungle in here! Plants help with our well-being.
Our staff is 100% vaccinated and boosted!
In addition, we are all masked at work (to date we have spent about $1,000 on KN95 masks). No one works if they have so much as a sniffle. Our employees are paid to stay home instead. There have been several close calls and scares, especially recently as COVID is surging, but so far only one staffer this year has had COVID – and it was a mild breakthrough infection. I am pleased to announce that our 13 employees in recovery (from substance abuse disorders) are doing well. We are defying the odds even as overdose deaths are at a record high nationally.
We recently closed our dining patio
As you probably know, we have not opened for indoor dining since the start of the pandemic. Throughout the warm weather our patio and sidewalk seating was very popular and several times a week we had a waiting list. Outdoor dining felt safe and enjoyable. We continued outdoor dining through mid-December on our semi-enclosed, heated patio. But with the emergence of Omicron locally we became less convinced of the safety of that arrangement and shut down the patio. It is our hope that conditions will improve quickly so we can welcome you back to our little triangle of happiness.
Our survival strategy this winter includes wowing you with specials.
Check our online menu and social media pages daily to learn when we have: chili mac, pierogies, Korean Fried Chik’n (or other flavors of) cauliflower wings, roasted vegetable linguine, savory galettes, mouth-watering sweets and more. What will we think of next?
Pierogies have been a HIT!
Supporting healthcare workers
As the holidays approached and the spotlight turned to the plight of burnt-out and overworked health care workers, we sought ways to support those in our community. The single best way to support health care workers is by taking precautions so as NOT to contribute to their workload. Additionally, we wanted to let them know that we care and are here for them.
This full page ad ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week.
On December 23rd we posted on social media an offer of free $50 egift cards to local health care workers. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Emails poured in with contact information for individuals and stories about what they are facing at work (**see below for a summary of responses). In all, we distributed 135 e-gift cards totalling $6750. During that campaign came a request to do something for U-M’s internal medicine residents. A house officer wrote: “our internal medicine residents would benefit from your generous offer. They have been truly shouldering the burden of the pandemic, with their training disrupted, and giving tirelessly to care of those in our hospital and ICUs.” That message led to our donation yesterday of lunch – pasta, salad and brownies – for 85 residents.
Bruce & Kim, two of our kitchen wizards, prepared the lunch donation for U-M internal medicine residents.
A note of hope for 2022: Construction on the North Star Lounge is coming along.
I don’t have an opening date – that depends as much on COVID as it does our builders – but suffice it to say that some day in the hopefully not too distant future we will open an extraordinarily cool small venue for jazz, bluegrass, blues, folk, boogie-woogie piano and special events. And it’s located right next door to Detroit Street Filling Station! Here is a prototype of the neon sign for the exterior
Here’s hoping for all the best for 2022. Thanks for being the best community a vegan restaurant could dream of!
Peace & love to everyone in the new year.
Phillis Engelbert, proprietor of this fine business
**A Summary of Responses to our Health Care E-gift Card Giveaway
- I saw your post on Instagram about honoring health care workers and Ashley is a mental health and substance use therapist. During these times she has been flooded with people requesting mental health services and as the overdose rates skyrocket because of the pandemic, she is working 60+ hours a week to try and assist as many people as she can. She is the definition of selfless.
- First off, I really appreciate how your restaurant is handling the pandemic. Detroit Street Filling Station is one of the few restaurants that my partner and I feel safe getting take out from still. We also love how you are supporting the community and minority groups.I would like to nominate my mother-in-law Darla. She's a pediatric nurse who has been going into work during this entire pandemic. She continues to provide support to families who are unsure about their children's safety during these unprecedented times, working short staffed and handling endless phone calls from concerned parents. Not only has she held it together as a nurse at work, but she has been the strongest support for her family.
- I’m nominating my older sister Kylie who is a pediatrician at Mott Children's Hospital. Thank you so much for this awesome opportunity to honor local healthcare heroes.
- I would like to nominate Auda, MA in the outpatient specialty clinics at Mott. She has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and has had to cover her floor with extreme staff shortages due to the pandemic. She still keeps everything running smoothly, is so accommodating and kind to patients, and does it all with a smile. She also keeps the staff in line with Covid precautions and has had many frontline exposures. Pediatric specialty care has to continue even in the most difficult times of the pandemic and Auda makes sure that happens!
- My best friend Cassie, whose favorite restaurant ever is DSFS…seriously. You might remember her, she’s really tall and always orders too much sauce (if there is such a thing). She has been going to work through the entire pandemic, she’s always tired because they’re short staffed, and I think this would be a nice little pick me up. She works for eye surgeons and the patient load remains the same despite the pandemic and not having enough help. She cries to me sometimes because the stress level is SO high.
- This is such a wonderful gift. My parents are both doctors, one at U of M and one at St. Joe’s. I order often from you and love it every time. My grandma passed away last May and in the end she wasn’t very interested in eating. However, she did enjoy sweets so I brought her one of my favorite cookies from Detroit Street, the snickerdoodle. We both ate one and it will always be a special memory I have. Thank you for all you do.
- My mom works in the NICU at St Joe’s and has been working extra covid hours. She’s also had to go through chemo and radiation during 2020 and worked in the beginning of her treatments.
- My husband works for the Community Mental Health Crisis team and has been working out in the field helping people who are in mental health crisis get much needed treatment.
- My sister is a nurse who worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital right when Covid hit. She is a single mom of three, and lives in Adrian, so she had to commute an hour to work each day. She works so hard to help others. She has been vegan for 6 years and would love a special meal from your wonderful establishment.
- My mom is an infectious disease doctor and is definitely burnt out, this is such a nice gift!
- Emergency department physician assistant who would love to enjoy the $50 e-gift. I’m a longtime customer and it’s this kind of support for the community (and vegan food!) that keeps my family coming back pretty much every week!
- I would like my close friend Jessica to receive the gift card offer. She is a U of M alum, finishing up her last year of grad school to be a Nurse Practitioner, while working full time as a nurse! She does so much for others and I’d like for her to have a gift to show some appreciation for all her hard work.
- Gita is a doctor at St. Joseph Mercy hospital in Ann Arbor. She has been caring for patients on the frontlines. She eats at Detroit Filling Station a lot and loves it!
- I work for Community Living Services, Inc. in my Wayne, MI working as a social worker. I have worked through the entire pandemic until now and I am still working. I work with persons' who have intellectual development disorders and we go into their homes to service them. With caseloads increasing every month and staff leaving it has been hard to work through this pandemic. Now that I am pregnant it is hard at times as well and we are still required to go into home with the numbers on the rise. This gift card would be amazing to fulfill my cravings and now that I'm on a vegan journey this would be amazing.
- Thank so much for all you do for the community, and for always being so mindful of how to protect your patrons and community during this pandemic.
- I’d like to request a gift card for my amazing friend and colleague. She's been working tirelessly during this pandemic treating patients while raising two young kids.
- [Upon receiving a gift card] This is the best surprise ever!!!! Thank you so much. My friend told me to check my email for a surprise and this is amazing. thanks for all you do for your community!!!! Best restaurant. Love my burrito bowl. Love you forever!
- Big DSFS fan here — I’d like to nominate Majd. He’s a resident physician at Michigan Medicine who has worked nonstop throughout the pandemic.
- Please send Mary an e-card. She has been busting her butt all year at the VA hospital.
- Please send this lovely medical laboratory scientist a gift card (they do the covid testing!)
- Firstly, you guys rock to recognize healthcare workers; this has been a difficult time for everyone but healthcare hasn’t been the most fun the past two years. I appreciate it and you all for thinking of us! I was graciously recognized for this which I’m pumped about (especially to eat!) but wanted to also recognize Brytany; she works with me and has truly fought hard to ensure organ and tissue donation moves forward…it’s hard enough to try and meet the needs of the community who need life saving organs and tissues, but the pandemic has made it incredibly challenging. Her and I couldn’t have done much without detroit street filling station filling our bellies.
- I’d like to nominate my very brave, hard working, and selfless girlfriend Lauren for your healthcare appreciation. Lauren works as a CRNA at St Joe’s Ann Arbor. The burden on her and her colleagues has been tremendous. She often cares for covid patients and recently recovered from being infected herself; certainly a job hazard that all of them face daily. She lives nearby and loves the filling station!
- Thanks so much for your generous donation to healthcare workers. My friend Christina is a nurse at the Beaumont Dearborn Emergency Department and she loves your restaurant. She’s been working really hard on the night shift for the past few months and I know that this would brighten her day.
- My mom is a nurse and the CNO (chief nursing officer) at DMC in Detroit. She’s a vegan and really loves your restaurant and is going THROUGH IT with caring for patients and keeping the hospital running right now.
- My sister has been on the front lines of covid since the beginning and your place is her favorite.
- Linda has been vaxxing folks left and right and would love to put her In the mix.
- I’d like to nominate my wife who has been a psychotherapist at Michigan Medicine for the duration of COVID. She has helped so many through the emotional toll of the pandemic over the last two years, doing so during two pregnancies to boot.
- Casey is a healthcare hero! He treated COVID-19 patients at Michigan Medicine from right at the start of the crisis in 2020 before there was much understanding of the symptoms and how to treat it. You are such a thoughtful and caring restaurant!! Thank you for all you do!
- First off I just want to say you guys are my favorite AA restaurant. During the pandemic our special outing was going to the dog park and then Detroit filling station for a treat. If you're still giving out gift cards I'd like to nominate the nurse at my dialysis clinic, Dawn. She has gone above and beyond making sure our dialysis patients get treatment when we've been so short staffed, even working 6 days a week often.
- [upon receiving a gift card] Thank you so much! This is a wonderful way to kick off Christmas Eve. I really appreciate this gesture and all you continue to do to keep your restaurant and employees safe during this time (while serving awesome food)! Thank you for thinking of me!
- My sister Susannah is a nurse at U of M and works an insane amount. She normally works nights but recently has been working both nights and days.
- My mom is a local nurse at the U of M hospital and she (a vegan) absolutely loves your restaurant! Thanks so much for this generous offer.
- I have a friend, Kris, who is a nurse who came out of retirement to help with vaccinations. She has been working tirelessly since the roll-out of the vaccines to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Currently she is working on giving booster doses and vaccinating kids. Her favorite part is how happy and grateful the parents are when they are able to provide this protection to their children.
- My friend Stephen works on a COVID floor at St Johns and has been an absolute legend throughout the pandemic.
