Gloria’s Mexican Food Cart

I am always on the look out for new carts to try, especially since I stopped bringing my lunch for a while.  Exploring the area around my office is lots of fun, and one day, I noticed this cart when I was buying fruit from the fruit vendor next to her.  I thought it was a new cart, but a quick Google search shows that she’s been there for at least 3 years.  Hmm.  Interesting.  I have this huge weakness for nachos, so this really appealed to me…

The first day, I decided to go for a platter with beef, guacamole and rice.  I’m sure I could have had beef & chicken… but I need some carbs to balance this out, y’know?!  (I tried to ask for spinach, but she said she was out.  I don’t know if they ever actually have spinach, because I haven’t seen it any of the times I’ve been…) 

The beef was slightly oily, but flavored nicely.  She seems to go a little easy on the sour cream (if you’re like me and like the stuff), so I suggest asking for a little extra, she’s nice about it.  The guacamole is a little heavy with chunks of tomato and onion, but still a decent amount of avocado in there.  I mixed everything together and found it a very filling, delicious lunch for $6.50.  There’s no hot sauce on this platter, though I later found out it’s a great addition.

The next time I went back, I decided to go for a chicken quesadilla, $5.50.  This thing is ginormous.  Gloria (I assume that’s her) wraps it up expertly after grilling the tortillas on her lil grill, then cuts it up and slips it into this container perfectly. 

The chicken is white meat, and though it sits in a big bucket of oil/juices/sauce (that she quickly drains off a bit before adding it to anything), it was pretty dry.  This meal was also crazy filling, though I found it only alright overall – I think this was my first quesadilla (barring those you get at chain restaurants that college kids frequent and any that you might get at Taco Bell – I think it’s safe to not count those, right?), so maybe I just don’t like quesadillas.  The ends being a lot of tortilla put me off (so I stuck to the center, haha). 

The last time I went, I ordered the nachos, $5.50, and let her squirt some hot sauce on it (the dark streak on the bottom).  I only asked for guacamole this time, didn’t add any meat (yes, that’s ‘vegetarian’ up there).  The hot sauce added a meatiness to the chips actually, but overall, though she doesn’t seem to like to spread things out, I found this to be a really delicious lunch as well – almost a ‘naughty’ one because you’re eating chips! and for lunch! but not so bad.  I really liked it actually, with the pickled jalapenos as well, I was really full at the end and I felt satisfied with a munchy kind of lunch (sometimes I just want to eat my entire lunch with one hand… am I the only one?!). 

Oh, my coworker came with me one time and had a burrito.  It was rolled up tightly and he seemed to enjoy eating it – in fact, afterwards, he was like “I am totally full and that was good,” except he had ordered chicken so I turned my nose up at him since I said the chicken was dry (I hate dry chicken).  Hahaha. 

Yvo says: Definitely recommended.  I can’t imagine this being ‘authentic’ Mexican food, I am no expert on Mexican food or even fake Mexican food, but I can tell you it was tasty and inexpensive.  Isn’t that what’s important – how it tastes?  Tastes good.  Eat it.
recommended

Gloria’s Mexican Food Cart
Nassau Street & Cedar Street
(across from/facing Harriman Bros, next to 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza)