Mexican Medication!

After last nights food and drink fest (check out tomorrow's post for the best Barolo Braised Beef recipe you will ever make!), I not only am appreciating my day off, but am also very grateful to be a five minute drive from my preferred big-night recovery method, which is indulging my fetish for taco trucks/trailers/carts/whatever.

My friend Chris had clued me in to the south of the border noshes to be had at El Brasero in the burgeoning food cart mecca in the parking lot at SE 12th and SE Hawthorne here in PDX. He shares my passion for all things wrapped in corn tortillas and any accompanying bites, and has been talking up the barbacoa tacos and chicken tamales for weeks. So today, desperately in need of "Mexican medication" I drove on down. It was gloriously sunny and warm at their outdoor table, and the food was everything I could have wanted. I scarfed down the two pastor and two barbacoa tacos, perfect bites at a little under two bucks each. Okay, the pastor was a little dry, but the barbacoa scored huge. And the tamale was rocking, softly moist, yet firm to the fork, steamed to perfection in the golden corn husks. They also make their own fabulous salsa verde to add a little burn and get the head back on straight.

Pastor and barbacoa tacos, lined up for my eating pleasure!










The perfect tamale!











Man, I dig food cart love. What a great way to eat. Cheap, fast, and marginally out of control. Bring 'em on!

Czech-mate!

You may have read a couple of months ago about the incredible schnitzelwich that the Tabor cart on SW 5th Ave here in Portland cranks out. Big, deep fried, and delicious! Plus the couple who runs the cart are the maybe the nicest people you could hope to meet. So imagine my delight when I spied the Tabor cart at our local Montavilla Farmer's Market on a recent Sunday. I had raved to w about the glories of the schnitzelwich, so we stepped up to place our order. NO SCHNITZELWICH?? Damn. Quickly regrouping from this devastating hit to my tastebuds, we checked out the menu, and ordered a cup each of their chicken paprikash and Hungarian goulash. Holy shit!! This stuff is the real deal: rich, savory, intensely flavored, served with a few slices of rustic baguette. Some of the best cart food in town, hands down. You HAVE to make the Sunday trek out to SE 72nd and Stark in the next couple of weeks while the market is still happening (or hit the cart downtown during the week and get the best of all worlds!). We've been there the last two weeks for more, and there's a good chance we'll hit it this week on our way to our backpacking expedition.