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Walking into Brick Box Brewery on the second and fourth Sunday of each month kind of feels like Disneyland.
A line weaves through the Tucson brewery as people wait for takeout containers filled to the brim with soul food, from smothered pork chops and fried catfish to collard greens and mac and cheese.
It’s been five years since Cortnie “Cort” Smith hosted her first soul food pop-up — and she hasn’t looked back.
From meal prep to pop-ups
Nearly a decade ago, Cort was no longer feeling fulfilled in her career path. While she was left to figure out what to do next, one thing was certain: she’s always loved to cook.
When a friend said her dad needed help with his catering company, Cort jumped behind the line. But then the slow season hit and she found herself back to square one — except with a little more business knowledge and a reminder of her love for feeding people.
“Then my friend hit me up and said, ‘I know this guy who needs help with meal prep. Would you be able to help him?’” Cort says.
The answer was yes — and the idea started to catch on in the community. When she started to post meal prep photos on her Instagram page, Cookin Wit Cort, more and more people reached out to order food from her.
From 2019 into early 2020, Cort was making 80-140 meals weekly from her tiny one-bedroom apartment, meeting people at gyms and other locations around Tucson to drop off their food.
“Then COVID hit and everybody was at home. I was scared too,” Cort says. “Soul food is something I grew up with — it’s comforting. I knew people during that time needed something comforting.”
At the same time every Sunday, she’d set up contactless delivery outside the Waffle House off of I-10, bringing delicious soul food to the community. Many of the people who met her in random parking lots to pick up fried chicken wings and sweet potatoes are the same people who frequent her events today.
When pandemic restrictions lifted, Cort hosted her first in-person pop-up at Solar Culture, followed by pop-ups at Soul Food Wednesday, a monthly event hosted for several years by Blax Friday where Cort served up pans of soul food favorites.
In 2025 with the help of Blax Friday’s Ashley La Russa, Cort started a pop-up of her own, bringing Soul Food Sundays to Brick Box Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd.
Cort started with one pop-up each month, but the popularity has allowed her Brick Box residency to expand to two soul food celebrations monthly. Her menu typically includes your choice of three entrees and several sides. Combos start at $18.
“It’s cool because people find out about Brick Box and they’re like, ‘This place is so cool. I never knew it was here.’ We’ve built a good thing and I’m so thankful they continue to support me. The owners Nixon and Jim are the best — they really are,” Cort says. “They’re always willing to help, even teaching me things about the business. I know how to cook, but being a business owner, you have to learn so many other things. It’s been a learning experience and I’m still learning.”
Soul Food Sundays not only include Cort’s soul food, but the events also spotlight dessert vendors and a DJ.
“I wanted to highlight dessert vendors too. I love what they make and it’s less on me to prepare desserts too,” Cort says.
A line for soul food
Soul Food Sundays typically start at noon. On one Sunday in June, people started to arrive at 11:15 a.m. — the line winded outside the building as people waited in the thick of the heat.
“Like, what? For me? I’m thankful. I’m very happy it’s grown to this,” Cort says. “Being able to introduce people to soul food — we’re not in a predominantly Black area. We’re not in an area where soul food is super accessible.”
Cort built Soul Food Sundays brick by brick, but she’s incredibly humble. She’s astonished by the number of people who wait in line, by the number of people who follow her Instagram, by the reviews that foodies post after they try her food for the first time.
“It’s overwhelming because I’m my biggest critic. I hope they like the food and everyone’s like, ‘Girl, you know they’re going to like it.’ My heart is happy,” Cort says. “I do collard greens and people say they’ve never had them before or they haven’t had them since who knows when or they say they remind them of their mom or their grandma. I feel like that’s why I’m here. This is what I’m contributing to the world.”
As you can imagine, Cort loves her customers. When a photographer visited Soul Food Sundays recently, many of the photos were of Cort hugging the community members who support her. And when the fryers went down 15 minutes before one of her pop-ups started, her customers never complained.
“Some of my customers — I remember when they were pregnant and now their kids are eating my food. People have really stuck around. It’s crazy to see the growth,” Cort says. “Since starting Cookin Wit Cort, I’ve felt community I didn’t know existed. I’m making what I need to make and people are really good at coming.”
“It’s my culture and my experience to share this with Tucson, to educate people (on the history of soul food) and give people a taste of home — to bring people together,” Cort says. “Everyone’s together because the food is good. It doesn’t matter your race or religion, it doesn’t matter. We’re all together. To see people dancing when they eat my food — it makes me so happy. I’ve had so many customers be like, ‘Can I just give you a hug?’ It’s so powerful. I never knew how powerful food could be.”
The favorite dish among customers at Soul Food Sundays tends to be the smothered pork chops — and for good reason. I also love the fried chicken wings which are crisp in the best way and the collard greens that are packed with flavor. Don’t get me started on the baked mac and cheese. (I haven’t tried the catfish but everyone around me seemed to be very happy with their order.)
Cort also hosts Taco Tuesday every first Tuesday at Harambe Cafe, 6464 E. Tanque Verde Rd., where her birria is the star of the show. I have yet to try it, but I have no doubt that it’s delicious.
“Educating people and giving people a taste of home keeps me going, but I don’t want to be boxed in either,” Cort says. “I do brunch, I do Mexican, I do other things, but I specialize in soul food because that’s the No. 1 thing lacking here. It’s Soul Food Sundays that I’m known for, but I cater too.”
On July 19, Cort hosted her first-ever plated five-course dinner in collaboration with Kneller’s Delicatessen. She hopes to do more of those in the future — elevated dinners with tabled seatings and fancy setups.
And a brick-and-mortar might be in her future one day, but not right now.
“I would eventually like a kitchen space that’s mine because I feel like I’m going to cook forever,” Cort says. “But I don’t know if a typical restaurant is what I want — maybe a couple tables, maybe a pick-up window.”
A love for food
Cort is a Tucson native but she was raised by her granny who was from East Texas. Cort grew up on the exact meals she serves to the community.
“I have been obsessed with the Food Network since I was a kid,” Cort says. “I used to sit on the end of my granny’s bed and watch the Food Network with her.”
One of Cort’s cousins was the first person to teach her how to cook — more out of survival than anything else. Cort was 9 years old when she first cooked steak and potatoes.
“I was always watching my granny in the kitchen and she would let me help with things,” Cort says. “Even looking back, my favorite book was ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ because it was about the green eggs and ham. Looking back at all the instances — in my favorite movies, my favorite scenes were always the food scenes. I’ve always been obsessed with food. I love to eat, too. Part of it is that I cook because I want to eat what I’m cooking. Everything that goes out is what I would eat and how I would eat it.”
Her granny’s family was involved in the restaurant business, too — and people would line up for her granny’s food. Soul Food Sundays are a full circle moment for Cort.
“She loved food too and in all the recipes she’d share, a lot of times they used things that were not desirable because that’s what they were given,” Cort says. “She learned how to cook to make it taste good — turning nothing into something.”
Beyond the pop-ups, Cort is always looking for ways to give back to her community. That includes hygiene drives to benefit nonprofits like I Am You 360, providing Thanksgiving meals to our unhoused neighbors and packaging plates given to people in need on the days she makes too much.
Cort started her pop-ups alone, but now she has a team of five who help her take orders, run food and prepare the dishes.
“One phrase I didn’t realize made sense was, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work,’” Cort says. “It makes so much sense now because I have such an amazing team. They care and they put their all into it. When the fryers went out that day, I was so overwhelmed. They were like, ‘We can do this. We can do that.’ They all just sprung into action and made it happen. I’m super blessed.”
“We’re all here on earth to do something and I feel like this is the piece I’m giving to the world,” Cort says. “It’s my passion and if I didn’t love it as much as I do, I don’t think it would be as good.”
🍴 Soul Food Sundays takes place every second and fourth Sunday of the month at Brick Box Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd. Cort serves food from noon until she sells out. She also hosts Taco Tuesday on the first Tuesday of the month at Harambe Cafe, 6464 E. Tanque Verde Rd., from 4:20 p.m. until 7:10 p.m. She also caters! For more information, visit her website or Instagram page. 🍴
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