ETCAM #10- GiGi's Soul Food Cart Platter

It took me 1.5 years to find out about the GiGi's cart (thx a lot for telling me so soon, co-workers...buncha ASSholes lol) but I'm glad I did. A few weeks back, I got wind that a home cooked type meal was a mere 1-stop train ride away. Tales of fried fish, chicken, greens and other traditional colored cuisine (greens, yams, cornbread, y'all know thee drill) were exchanged from floor to floor. It was less a lunch cart than a urban legend. I had to find out for myself.

After a short El ride, I got off at 30th street and scouted out for the pink truck I had heard so much about. It was about 3 degrees colder than a mafucka, but a black man will do strange things for fried foods. (Not THAT strange...get your mind out of the gutter, at least set it on the curb like you got some sense) I finally saw it and walked over to it. A large, cheerful African looking woman popped her whole upper body out the cart window like a jack-in-the-box before asking anybody in earshot "Whaaafooddoyoulike!?" (That's "can I take your order" in foreignerese...I understood...) It was very encouraging that the cook was big...obviously she got high on her own supply, which means it was prolly pretty good.

After a little consideration, I went with the fried fish, red beans and rice and mac and cheese. I was wary of soul food from a cart, and thought those were the hardest things to actually fuck up. (Besides, as I've told y'all before, I hate vegetables...) She took my order with a smile, and before I knew it, she extended an open platter out of the window for inspection. "Thiswhayoulike? Itgoodforyou?" I looked at it, saw it was both what I ordered and way more than I expected. I don't think the picture captures the full heap effect...that was a lot of fuckin food. "Uh...yeah, that's good." She looked like I had just given her a compliment. "Yesgood...it7dollar,yeah?"

I hadn't even bothered lookin at the menu prices, but did expect to pay more than $7. (I mean hell, a Happy Meal is damn near 7 dollars in 2009...) I quickly handed over the money before she changed her mind. She gave me an enthusiastic wave and told me to havehniiiceday. I returned the well wishes, accent and all. I got back on the train where the smell of the food was KILLIING me. I smelled the bag over and over again...I musta looked like I was huffing glue on the train stop. I didn't care...the aroma was rich and intoxicating...damn near felt like I was eating (couldn't have told my stomach that tho). I noticed negroes around me sniffing the air and looking hungrily at my lunch... I guarded my bag like a posessive boyfriend...

After a long train ride (it was the same distance as the one there...just seemed like it took forever cuz I was famished like a mafucka) I got to my desk after absorbing about 56 jealous stares on the way back (including 14 on the elevator) at my bag as the aroma wafted out. I opened the food and took a picture, then grabbed 2 forks and dug in. (I'm exaggerating...but only slightly...) I went for the red beans and rice 1st. For some reason, Popeye's makes my favorite...but these were damn close. As you can see, she used about a whole bag of rice, so there was no way in hell I was eatin all that. I moved on to the mac n cheese. A pet peeve of mine is bland mac n cheese. Nothing worse than expecting a mouthful of cheesy goodness and biting into a sponge instead. No such problem here...there was plenty of cheese and spices I couldn't identify and didn't really care to identify. The shit was bangin, and that's good enough for me...

My favorite part, of course, was the fish. 4 long fried filets, generously seasoned and fried to a golden brown perfection, it rivaled fried fish made by people's grandmoms. (I know, I know...yours makes the best food, but everybody says that, we'll be here all day arguing.) The fish was the only thing I ate all of...which ain't a shot at the sides, just an indication of the raw volume of food in that styrofoam platter. The shit was great to come off a cart, and pretty damn good in general. For 7 bucks, you can't beat it. I highly recommend if you're ever around 30th street station that you look for the pink cart and the jolly African lady. Yuwonbeedisappointeeed...