Gastro Cart Denver

Long has been the tradition of small food vendors on the corners of the streets of downtown. Most of the time they are simple hot dog stands with little choice and no nutrition. Not so for the Gastro Cart who resides on the corner of 18th & Curtis bringing hand crafted street food.

Gastro Cart has traded nitrites for nutrition and brings variety to an otherwise predictable bland cart menu with a special that changes about every week. They serve a gyro, two types of tacos and a special. Make it a combo and you also get the B & B Quinoa with a drink.

The tacos are a nice change to the food cart scene and not expensive at $3 each. The Veg Taco comes on a corn tortilla with a sausage like roll filled with carmelized cabbage, whole grain rice, cream cheese, duxelle and topped with a smoked jalepeno aioli. The Veg flavor is subtle and could use a bit more flavor compared to the other selections but a great offering to the non meat eaters.

The Spicy Chicken Taco seemed a far better choice for the tacos. The chicken is crisped up on the griddle and served with kim chee, caraway and topped with their own version of a 1000 island dressing. The chicken adds a nice texture to the taco and the spiciness in not too hot but tastes great together with the kim chee. It was a bit heavy on the sauce but thats what comes out of the casual street environment of cooking on a cart.

Along side the tacos I also had the B & B Quinoa. The quinoa tasted fresh and delicious with diced home made pickles. Well worth the extra $2. Get the taco combo then make it a "combo-combo" to try one of each taco.

The special of the day was the real treat. crispy prosciutto, cheddar sauce, carmelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes on a thick slice of texas toast and topped with a fried egg. The taste had a nice balance between the saltiness and sweet of the ingredients bringing harmony to my taste buds. By far a huge leap for cart cuisine. It was a bit messy to eat but well worth it.

The Gastro Cart gives downtown Denver a great choice for the lunch scene and coming in under $10 for a tasty lunch they have beat about half of what is offered in town. You can find out what the daily special is from their Facebook page or from Twitter .

Mexico City Lounge

Everyone has a favorite taco joint or a place they like to visit on a sunny Friday afternoon for lunch and Mexico City is one of those places for me. Located in a hard to miss red facade on Larimer street, Mexico City Lounge has been in Denver for over forty years and is still family owned.

Now don't get me wrong, this place isn't the kind of spot where everything is just awesome. In fact, everything on the menu isn't. If I were to direct you to visit them I would specifically tell you to order the Steak Tacos and nothing else. The other menu items I've tried are a far cry from what the Steak Tacos brings to the plate. The green chili, meh. The burritos, ick. Stay away from all the others and go with the golden fried tacos.

The Steak Tacos come with steak strips, lettuce, tomato, cheese and a slice of avocado. The avocado is the finishing touch and are missing on the other tacos. They are then deep fired, and judging by the taste, in fat that has been cooking many tacos that day. All this adds up to a golden, juicy tasty taco. Yes, juicy was a euphemism for a lot of grease. So much grease that some utilize a method called the "waterfall method" when eating and will open up one taco and eat another over it to catch all the greasy goodness.

Yes I know it sounds kind of gross but if you are walking in the door for the greasy relief of a hangover these tacos will give you the juice to get you through the day. If they are too much for your liking you can employ the "diaper method" when eating them and lay it in a napkin to soak up the extra juice.

Have some chips and salsa while waiting as they are a good warm up to the tacos. Be sure to also ask for extra napkins as you will need them.

Any place that has been here for so long must have something working for it and the steak tacos should keep Mexico City Lounge around for another forty years.