A twist on the classic cinnamon bun and Mexican street tacos will soon be available in the Salt City Market in downtown Syracuse, but three vendors will be moving out.
SinBun, set to open in February, is known for putting a twist on the classic cinnamon bun by incorporating different ingredients — and excluding cinnamon. They were chosen to be a new vendor through a competitive selection process held throughout the summer.
“They were just well-branded, detail-oriented, smooth and upbeat. It looked like they had been doing this for years at a major marketplace,” market manager Adam Sudmann said.
SinBun, owned by Bri and Jake Lastrina, will replace Miss Prissy’s as the soul food eatery prepares to open a brick-and-mortar location on South Warren Street. SinBun will open another location at McCarthy Mercantile on South Salina Street in the coming month.
The Lastrinas started SinBun out of the Salt City Test Kitchen, but they are looking forward to pushing innovation with the opening of the two new locations.
“We see the Mercantile as being our innovation hub where we’ll just continue to test new recipes, come up with new buns, and always have a rotating menu,” Lastrina said.
Both locations will feature some of the best sellers such as the coffee cake bun, apple crisp bun and their savory cheeseburger bun.
“In the test kitchen, we also had a chicken, bacon, ranch bun and steak and cheese bun. Those were definitely some of our best sellers,” Lastrina said.
Sudmann said market visitors have been asking for a place that sells tacos, which led them to bring ElleRae’s into the fold.
“We kicked off with Birria tacos, and then started bringing in street tacos, and street corn,” said Danielle Jackson, the owner of ElleRae’s, which now pop -ups around Central New York but began in her home.
Jackson, originally from San Jose, California, said she wanted to bring some flavors of home to Syracuse when she started making food.
“When I moved out here eight years ago, there wasn’t really a taco scene here or anything like that, she said. "I wanted to bring some of that here, and let everyone expand their palate a little bit.”
ElleRae’s will fill the spot that is currently occupied by Big in Burma, which will be moving out of the market at the end of April.
The market asks vendors to let them know six to eight months ahead if they plan to leave the market, so Big in Burma is determining their next steps, Sudmann said. The intention of the market is to help restaurants get a start in the industry with a lower overhead risk.
“Once you leave this building, you’re no longer in the magnet of the market, so we want to help build up your marketing practices, give you some help in real estate, operations and legal. Those are the four main pillars where we try to be supportive,” Sudmann said.
Farm Girl Juicery will close Nov. 12, leaving one spot open at the market that Sudmann said they hope to fill soon.
