Güero

Made a first time visit to Güero, the Yucatecan food cart on SW 10^th and Stark. I can confirm that the tortas are delicious. The bread is made crispy on the inside and it makes me salivate just to think about it (the bread is made at a Vancouver bakery). The carnitas has great flavor and is dressed with cabbage, avocado, onions and a sauce. I was so excited to try this that after I took the picture of my sandwich I accidentally knocked the other half of my torta on to the street. So what did I do? I dusted off the sandwich and ate it along with any street debris that escaped my hasty dusting. This looks to be a new favorite cart, I will be back!

I crave the bean torta like no other. I’m not even vegetarian and somehow they cook the beans to a masterful thing I can’t deny. They up the spice factor to your liking with roasted jalepenos, and when she tells you the spice scale is not «white people» spice you better believe it. (A four was pushing it a bit for us.) It’s a big sandwich they slice in half and it’s perfect for two for a light meal or for one if you have a beastly appetite.

So I’m embarrassed. I’ve been making elaborate plans in my head to take the bus all the way out to the original Guero location in the southeast (since it’s supposed to be one of the best food carts in town), just to find out today that there’s one in the food cart block I eat at on a weekly basis. Durr.
But I’m happy to know that they’re there now! The menu is simple (3 main items and you can customize) and easy to parse through. As far as the flavor goes, I gotta say that this seems as good as it gets. I had the basic version of the Carnitas torta, with a little carrot habanero sauce on the side, and it was fantastic. The bread was soft, thin and crispy, the pork was overflowing, and the pickled onions were bomb. A sprinkling of avocado and lettuce and you have yourself a torta! There’s a lot of extras you can add for a little price bump, like a fried egg, cotija cheese, poblano crema, and some peppers to give it a healthy kick. Meat tortas start at $ 8, but they’re pretty filling.
As far as the wait, it didn’t take long at all for me, so hopefully they’ve worked out whatever kinks they may have had before. I was the only person in line at about 1 p.m., and it took about 3 – 5 minutes for the sandwich to be wrapped up and handed out the window. Their two window system is genius too, though it could be a bit better indicated: go to the right for your order, left for your pick up. Service is good, guys are friendly, so if you can’t decide between Mexican and a sammie, por que no los dos?

This cart and its chicken/​pollo torta are so wonderful that I am proud regular here. Also, the service has consistently been nice. Alec, Michael, and other staff members have been so friendly and enthused to make amazing tortas/​Mexican sandwiches happen for lunch (or take-​for-​later dinners). Anothe reason that I am a regular: they openly list on their menu their sources for the chicken (Draper Valley) and pork. I greatly appreciate a company which respects animals too :)

Can’t believe I’m just now getting to this review. I work next to the pod and was so glad when I heard Guero was moving in to occupy a space. I’d long heard about Guero on the Eastside but had never made it to the cart.
It doesn’t matter which torta you get. I’ve tried them all and they’re damn good. I like your traditional, run-​of-​the-​mill torta, but there is something that is different about the ones at Guero. The way they toast their bread, the crema, the pickled onions and savory meat work together in such harmony. A Guero torta or a meal from Nong’s, to me, are the quintessential Portland food cart lunches. When someone comes to town and says they want to try the food carts, those are two I recommend first.
The service is a bit slow but the people that work in the cart are nice and you can tell by watching them that they believe good food takes time. If you see the way the guy piles the carnitas on the bread, making sure just enough juice is poured out before it goes on, it completely makes sense. Plus, it gives me enough time to sign up about three of my friends for Children International.

This place only does tortas and they do a good job of it. The carnitas is what they’re popular for and it’s quite good and moist. But carnitas should be grilled and a bit greasy, chewy… and these are not. More like stockpot style… Very nice gringos work here but it’s also quite slow. Much slower than other Mexican run food carts. I was 5^th in line and took 20 minutes to get my torta. They use local, organic produce including their pork from Carlton Farms. The sandwich looks beautiful and their bread is the best from any torta I’ve had. They also have a great variety of add-on’s to enhance this sandwich but it can push the price up to or even over $ 10 dollars… It’s a good place and great people that are taking it local. But for taste and value comparisons, there are better places around. Try the Mexican food cart on the corner of 3^rd and Washington for a great traditional torta.

The carnitas torta was delicious! I highly recommend this spot. The habanero sauce/​salsa was the perfect addition to the sandwich as well.

I had a pork sandwich here today. It was highly suggested from a local tour guide. This was one of the better sandwiches I’ve had lately… great flavor, perfect meat, assumed well, and fun. The carrot-​habanero sauce was perfect. Great service, too. I hope to go back and try the others.