Side Cart

I can recall countless discussions about how ordering a hamburger at the carts can be frustrating if you can’t have fries with it. Well, now you can.
Grabbed a quick Schnitzelwich with my pops and we both had a hankering for just a little something more. A bag of chips didn’t sound too exciting, so we ventured over to the side cart to see if we could find anything enticing. Needless to say, our goal was made far too difficult upon the realization that there were too many scrumptious options to choose from. Start out with the basic curly fries or onion straws and then move to okra bites or zucchini sticks and finally end up at cheesy tots. That’s a fried walk of shame. Or delight. I won’t even bother to mention what we ordered, because it doesn’t matter. It was delicious as everything on the menu is.
Sometimes there is nothing better than a little mix and match. (Pick 3 items for 5 bucks.) How can you go wrong with that?
Also, love the fact that our serve was playing video games on his PS2 while our side order was being cooked up. Pretty hilarious.

Best $ 2 hush puppies I have ever had. Screen Door can keep their $ 6 hp’s. I am now all about the Side Cart.
I don’t recommend them as your sole lunch meal, though. Next time, I will be hungry enough for a sandwich from DC Vegetarian, and while I am waiting the eternal wait for my healthy DCV sandwich I will go over to Side Cart to kill time and order some fried goodness.
I taste-​tested a friend’s «mac and cheese bites» and one was enough… I can’t imagine making a lunch out of those. But if you do? More power to ya!

I’d actually set out to go to Asian Station, but they were inexplicably closed. And I’d heard about this Side Cart place and knew roughly where it was, so even though it was about as different from banh mi as could be found, I decided to give it a shot.
I like it.
I had mashed potatoes with gravy, hushpuppies, and stuffing. The stuffing was Stove Top (or something very similar), but hey, I like Stove Top. The gravy on the mashed potatoes was good. And the hushpuppies, while they looked a bit uninspiring on the outside, were entirely satisfactory for this southern girl. I handed a couple out to coworkers who had unbelievably never had one, and they immediately wanted to know where I got them. They’ll probably stop by to get their own before long.
This isn’t the place to go if you want something light, or if you want a transcendent culinary food cart experience. This is pretty much stuff, fried, with a little stodge to go with it. But they do that well.
Does what it says on the tin. Thumbs up.

Tasty! The favorite lunch seemed to corn dogs and tots, but I chose the mac ‘n cheese and coleslaw to avoid the wait. Straight up goooooodness. Prices are affordable and helpings are decent. No complaints here … I will be back!

I happened to be at the 5^th and Stark pod on Side Cart’s first day. They have a lot on their menu and it seems to be a mix-​and-​match game. Like a mix of a bunch of side dishes and, uh, maybe why they chose the name Side Cart. I’m a genius!
They have more fried food offered than any other cart I’ve seen. I got the side of okra bites ($ 2) and the chicken tenders ($ 3). I love any place that has fried sweets on their menu because it’s just so ridiculous: check out the fried candy bar.
They also have a lot of comfort foods: mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, hushpuppies… the list goes on and on. It’s very interesting that their menu includes a service: bring anything edible to the cart and they’ll fry it all up for 1 – 3 bucks. Awesome and dangerous.