I’m a fan of food carts. As Matt Yglesias pointed out a few weeks ago, their very existence is a reflection of good city policy. And from an environmental perspective, I appreciate that they don’t appear to be very energy intensive, and that they turn out a product with less packaging than a lot of the other downtown eateries and salad bars.
I’m very impressed with DC’s newest entry on the food cart scene. Food Chain is supplying a few downtown carts with the raw materials and appliances to make jerk chicken wraps and other Caribbean-style lunch food. I stopped by the M Street cart and looked over the simple menu. I like the all the ingredients they’ve got going on: beans, coconut rice, mango salsa. And I love spicy jerk chicken.
I chose the standard medium-spicy jerk chicken wrap and eagerly brought it back to my office. The spices were great. Really top-notch, especially in comparison to the mostly bland options available to us office drones downtown. The beans were sweet, and the rice was almost creamy. My only criticism is that the wrap needed a bit of green in it. I think a few chunks of cucumber or a couple sprigs of cilantro would really brighten up the wrap. But overall, I’m really pleased with this new addition to the lunch scene.
I’ve heard there is one at 17th and I, outside of the Farragut West metro. I think I’ll have to try it today!