Whapping

Thanks to this food cart, I no longer miss some of the Caribbean foods I came to love in South Florida. Seriously, try the patacones, the yuca fries, and ceviche – and don’t worry about its authenticity. It’s just as good and homey as any of the stuff I ate in Miami, Honduras and Guatemala and, while the flavors might be «bland» to some folks, it’s kinda how it goes. Not all Caribbean food is spicy, so don’t expect everything to be as hot as jerk chicken; there’s a lot of milder savory dishes out there that are the backbone of criollo cuisine.

So, so good! They don’t have a vegetarian combo listed but they were more than willing to substitute. I had the number one with all kinds of goodies including the yucca fries. The tamarind sauce has a lot of flavor and it would make the blandest of dishes taste good. The owner is also very personable and you can tell he wants his customers to walk away happy and satisfied. I could go for seconds right now…

The food is fresh and unique. The sauces and quality of everything I have had has been mouth watering and leaves me full, yet wanting More!!! Thank you, Fred!!!

I commend this dude for opening up a Caribbean/​Costa Rican themed food cart in the Eugene area. But man, I really felt like his flavors were lacking big time.
Facets of his food were OK, but as a whole, I was pretty disappointed.
I wanted more assertive flavors! The cabbage salad item was a bland, under seasoned (even if it’s authentic), and a dry mess (it didn’t help that the actual cabbage was tasteless to begin with. Just leave it off.
The red beans and rice were solid. Fine.
The chicken was boneless/​skinless sadness drowned (boiled) in a generic tasting curry-​ish sauce. Give me some flavor on the bone, please.
Super gentrified and super pandering to a white-​bread boring palate.
I wanted more!

This place is absolutely delicious. The guy who runs it is such a nice welcoming gentlemen and also makes wonderful dishes. Keep up the good work!

This place is great! The yucca and plantains are GREAT. The chicken and beef are both wonderful. The sauce is really something else. You bored and wanna try something new? Go visit Fred! He’ll let you try a few things before you order.

Excellent! As a Puerto Rican living in Eugene, it’s awesome to see more Latin food popping up. This is essentially the equivalent of what is known as a «soda» in Costa Rica: a no-​fuss establishment that serves comforting Costa Rican and Caribbean staples (the sweet gospel of rice, beans, and plantains). I ordered the chicken and salsa ($ 8.50) and the patacones ($ 5). The former came with the titular chicken breast stewed in a tomato based sauce, gallo pinto (the Costa Rican take on rice and beans), maduros (fried sweet plantains), and a fresh cabbage salad. For the uninitiated, patacones (or tostones, as they are called in the Caribbean) are twice-​fried green plantains, which are starchy and savory. Think of them as the Latin variant of a french fry. Another great addition is the Salsa Lizano. This is a traditional sauce drizzled over many foods in Costa Rica that sort of resembles a sweeter, more herbaceous Worcestershire sauce. I’m glad I finally got to try it!
The food itself was delicious! The chicken was incredibly tender, and the tomato based sauce was surprisingly deep and flavorful. This perfectly accompanied the gallo pinto, where both rice and beans were cooked perfectly with the familiar inclusions of peppers, onion, and spices. Both of these were made even better with a generous drizzle of the Lizano sauce. The salad was a nice counterpoint both texturally and also in terms of the more raw, vegetal flavors. It reminded me of the typical sort if slaw that you would get if you were eating pupusas. One thing that really stood out for me though were the plantains (both the sweet maduros and the starchy patacones). For whatever reason, I haven’t had the best luck getting good versions of either of these plantain dishes in Oregon at restaurants that offer them. The plantains for maduros need to be RIPE. For patacones, they need to be super green, and when they’re fried the second time, they need to be thick enough to not completely dry out (you’re not supposed to be making plantain chips). The plantains at Whapping though, were PERFECT, and should serve as a reference as to how you;re supposed to make these dishes. The patacones were even served with refried black beans and cotija cheese, which I had never seen done before. Now though, I retroactively regret not having eaten the countless patacones of my past without this!
I’m so glad that Whapping has opened up here in Eugene. As a Latin/​Caribbean food aficionado, this place is very welcome, so be sure to check it out. ¡Pura Vida!

AMAZING food! Full of flavor that completely satisfies your palate! The Caribena chicken is to die for! I can’t stop thinking about it! Love the yuca fries and special sauce.