Yarp?!

It was a cold Wednesday evening, where my belly was grumbly and I had nothing better to do than to drive all the way across town to try Yarp?!.
I was a bit disappointed with the selection available and even more disappointed by the flavor of the dish. I ordered the chicken mushroom marsala in butter sauce. Next to the other items we got that night (potato champion, pyro pizza, and whiffies) the pasta just tasted bland. Maybe they have more to offer on weekends. I’ll have to come back to reassess.

Delicious and acceptably inexpensive, but beware the shit out of that habanero butter sauce.
I’m a fan of that delicious, delicious heat, but that was the upper end of what I can tolerate. There were dime-​sized chunks of habanero pepper in there, which I had to thoughtfully set aside.

With the rise of the fusion food trucks in L.A., it would be good to look to the food trucks of a different location, one that I had a lot of fun with. I speak of course of Portland. Their love for food carts and food stands knows no bounds.
We come to Yarp?!. Which oddly enough sounds a lot like Unilocal.At least the Y. I mean, there’s not many words that have the Y in the start. But anyhow, this is one of the many Portland food carts/​stands that just makes their stand in a regular parking lot and offers a great meal at a cheap price… Strike that. an AMAZING meal at a dirt cheap price. You also get to be out there with a slew of other food carts that
They self proclaimed world famous spot is at least famous to this foodie in Los Angeles. For providing me some delicious spaghetti and meat balls that was out of sight.
Wait time wasn’t much at all. Toss in the fact that it’s like a food court but outdoors here and you have yourself a winning combination where you can come in a group and it can serve everyone up.
I sort of wish that Los Angeles would take note on how it’s done in Portland. Empty small parking lots that have trucks positioned there always making good food. I’m sure for the cash, but more so for the good honest, down home cooking and very moderately priced at that.
The folks in the cart were really helpful and really cheerful. Gave an out of towner a couple of interesting tips on spots to check out. And I have to give them extra points for the compostable container. These fine folks in portland sure know how to go green and actually pull it off without coming off as smug.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Yarp?! but somehow always seem to miss it when I venture out to the 12^th & Hawthorne carts. Either I’m craving some fries or a delicious pie, or I happen to hit it on a night they’re closed. Well, the other day the stars aligned (or at least I have to assume so, it was too cloudy to know for sure…) and I was able to finally «get my Yarp on» as a few reviewers have put it.
From what I’ve heard, it seems that if there is a complaint to be filed it’s the wait time. For me, that was not too much of a factor. I waited in a short line (just 1 person in front of me at the time) and waited perhaps 10 minutes at most for my food. Granted, 10 minutes is longer than most carts take, but I was ok with the wait — it’s a late night cart, I’m in no hurry. Plus, it was easy to see they’re working hard to keep up with demand, so a few extra minutes was just fine with me. Once my food arrived — the chicken & broccoli fettuccine — I was ready to dig in. The sauce was delicious, the noodles cooked just right, and the side of garlic bread the perfect compliment! The broccoli was a little on the crisp side (some prefer it to be cooked more) but I found it only enhanced the «fresh» feel of the meal. And at $ 8 you’re getting just the right amount of bang for your buck.
Definitely check Yarp?! out. Be forewarned that there may be a wait, but in the end I felt it was more than worth it! I’ll definitely be back.

Man, let me tell you, I ain’t buying it. I’d heard lovely things about the Yarp?! food cart at the Hawthorne «pod». I stood in line, ordered what seemed like a reasonable enough dish. A simple fettuccine with cream sauce and broccoli. I waited outside that food cart for over 45 minutes. When my food was ready, it was bland.
I don’t have any grand ideas when it comes to food cart consumption. I know better than to expect culinary wizardry from a airstream trailer.
But I’ve gotta tell you what really got under my skin.
Outside the order window sat a dry erase board on which was written a theoretical conversation between a cart employee and a customer.
The dry-​erase customer asked «why is my food taking so long?»
The dry erase cart employee replied «have you ever made a cream reduction?, have you ever cooked a perfect al dente pasta, do you know what it’s like to, have you ever, blah blah etc»
And I was offended.
Because i have worked many a kitchen line, and made many a reduction sauce. And I have never in my professional career served anyone a bland, gummy pasta after keeping them waiting for 45 minutes. Seriously.
In a city with no less than 4 culinary schools/​programs, you dare ask US if we’ve ever reduced a cream sauce?
Put your snarky attitude away and go explore fresh herbs and spices, a little salt and pepper, alright?
I get that it’s a food cart, and the space is limited, and I did not expect fine dining, that would be ridiculous! But that dry erase board tirade was just an insult, bratty, cocky and condescending.
Well, those fries over potato champion were pretty rad. So the night wasn’t a total loss.

Ok, Yarp. I think I’m finally ready. I’ve waited and waited and waited for your delicious meals for months now. Tried many things. But it’s tricky to know where to begin. So, I’ll start with the pastas…
Spicy Soba Noodles: delicious. A big container filled with piping hot, spicy, saucy noodles, assorted fresh veggies (or add choice of protein — my friend opted for pig heart last night. PIG HEART. You show me another cart in town that offers something like that…) will fill you up, I promise. Starting at $ 7 (more for meat), that’s a solid dinner.
Mac And 6 Cheese: they don’t offer this all the time, but if you’re there and it’s on the board, go for it. It’s really, really good. I added broccoli to mine, and the steaming dish of smooth and creamy sauce and noodles served with a huge piece of garlic bread was better than most restaurant mac and cheese I’ve ever had.
Spaghetti: classic, and at $ 4 is your best bet for the cheapest meal at Yarp?!, tied with Whiffies for the cheapest meal on the block. Also comes with garlic bread, which you will need to soak up the remaining tomato «gravy» (their descriptor, though it’s really more of a stew, IMO).
Vegan Burger: HOLY geez, that thing is HUGE and for $ 5 is less than you’ll pay for a pre-​fab veggie burger anywhere. I mean, HUGE. It’s a house-​made (like everything at this cart) patty that I am certain they use no less than 400 cloves of garlic in each batch. You will likely not be making out with anyone after this monster burger, or at least, you probably shouldn’t. Option to add cheese or more garlic (yikes) for a buck. They have vegan cheese available, too. Comes with coleslaw.
I’ve seen others tackle the beef burger, too, and it’s almost scandalous how big those things are for five smackers. Pretty sure no one needs that much cow in one sitting, but holy hell that’s a bargain. I’ve tried a few other things from this cart, no complaints about any of the dishes.
The only drawback outside of the weird politics of this cart, erratic hours at times, and money troubles they’ve had is the wait. You will wait. And wait. While I think it’s great they truly make each dish to order, from scratch, it seriously would behoove them to make a few things up ahead of time since it is a really popular cart. Kudos for sticking to high standards of food prep, but really, the delay might make a person crazy. I waited more than 30 minutes last night for a burger. That’s excessive. In all fairness, the cook was alone, left to prepare food and take orders at once, and he remained chipper and continued to hand over food to each hunger-​crazed patron with a smile.

«Anarchy killed the Corporate Whore»
Well this corporate whore can’t get enough of Yarp?!
Piping hot, never overcooked pasta served up in large quantities with fresh garlic bread, what’s not to love? Ingredients are fresh; veggies are crispy; chicken is moist and bursting with savory flavor.
Their sauces, by the way, are fucking amazing. I’m currently crushing hard on the garlic cream sauce, complete with whole roasted cloves of soft, melt-​in-​your-​mouth garlic. My friend Wendy had red sauce last night and said it was savory, herby, garlicky, and delicious. One of the best pasta dishes she’s had in a long time. And she’s straight up Sicilian, so I trust her opinion on all things pasta.
I’ve got a crap winter full of way too many work hours in my immediate future. It may be just a bit brighter knowing I can grab some tasty noodles on my way home too late at night. Yarp may just get this corporate whore through a winter of discontent.

How good was last Wednesday’s Rigatoni Bolognese?
I stopped in again Sunday night.
While it was Penne instead, still delicious, still al dente, still a bargain at eight bucks (there’s enough for most people to share, but I usually don’t).
Love Yarp?!‘s «new» ninja paint job (
).
White table cloth or black box? Pathetic pasta or perfect pasta? Eighteen bucks or Eight? Most over priced mediocre PDX Italian joints or Yarp?!?
Pass me the recycled container, the night air’s cool, the pasta’s hot, and the choice is easy.

After enjoying a great P.T. Anderson flick at a local theater pub, I was starving and craving some more food cart action. It was considerably packed at Hawthorne and it took me a while to decide what I wanted. I noticed Yarp had no line so I placed my order for the spicy soba noodle dish with chicken. I did read the FAQ board and knew the dish would take a while to be freshly prepared.
I do not mind having my food take a while to be cooked. I much rather have it cooked to order rather than just dished up from a heating container of some sort. The people working at the cart were super friendly. I noticed they were in fact sauteeing the vegetables preparing the other items. Once the food was ready, they gave me chopsticks, packaged carbs, and napkin. I was bashful but did ask for a fork since I’m not a pro with the chopsticks.
I enjoyed my dish greatly. There was plenty of chicken with each bite. The vegetables were crisp and not soggy even with the sauce added in. The noodles were al dente and edible. I managed to eat 90% of it before hitting the game over switch. It was not too spicy but gave it enough kick to my liking. It had a great after taste as I was driving home. Then something happened… the garlic kicked in and oh boy, before I knew it, the whole house was scented with garlic.
The dish I had was certainly a «garlic bomb». Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed it although my family gave me a crap for it when they asked me why I was reeking of garlic. Oh well, next time I would just have the garlic be reduced in future dishes.

I’ve gotten my Yarp?! on several times now and often it’s been out of necessity (i.e. I was starving; I need to carbo-​load; etc.) and I am definitely a big fan. So much so that when they were closed for-​freakin-​ever several weeks ago– (effin’ heatwave…)– I was jonesin’ like a crack addict.
My go-​to these days is their signature Spaghetti & Meatballs. The sauce has a taste that is at once mellow and aggressive. Combined with the deliciously spiced meatballs and the dish is heaven in a bowl. And, although I try not to eat everything in one sitting– thinking I can take some home for later consumption– I end up literally inhaling the stuff. Top it off with the flavorful and perfectly-​toasted garlic bread, and you’ll be eatin’ good in this Southeast neighborhood.
I could try some of the vegetarian stuff since I’m thinking of going vegetarian again (*cough* nevergonnahappen *cough*) but they do their meatballs really well. «I love their meatballs!» © 2009
Be prepared to wait, though, as they make-​to-​order as much as possible. So, if you have quite a few people ahead of you, it could be a while.
But, at under $ 10USD for good grub made fresh, it’s worth the wait.

I like food, I like eating late, I’ve heard good things about Yarp. Over the past few weeks I’ve made four separate trips just to try this reportedly tasty food cart with its mystery menu. Each time the Yarp trailer has been deserted. I know I’m going on the right nights; the last couple times I even checked their blog and twitter page, for fucks sake. I can’t say I didn’t give them a chance. The only reason I even signed up for Unilocal and posted this is because I was so disappointed after going there for a fourth time and walking away hungry.
Thankfully the other carts on 12^th and Hawthorne aren’t run by anarchists.

This place deserves all the hype it’s been receiving; the food served came with a lot of thought behind it. The sign tonight said they were out of meat spaghetti because the store ran out of local organic meat — good to know they’re sticking to their standards.
I got the pasta dish with linguinca, dill, and roasted garlic (among other ingredients). This dish should have stopped before it added cheddar (I believe) because it really overpowered the dish. Otherwise it was quite amazing.
The menu seems to be more expensive than what I’m typically looking for in a cart, but it offers many items at prices carts should abide by: dragon burger and several Asian noodle bowls for around $ 5, give or take. Those are where the deals are.
Edit: I got a message from Jeremy at Yarp?! and there’s no cheddar in my dish. I forgot that there was dijon listed on the dish, which is the strong flavor — how I got that wrong, I don’t know.

I’ll tell you what, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better way to end a night of drinking and debauching (yeah, I made that word up, who are you Merriam-​Webster or sumptin?) than with some tasty grub from Yarp!
Like a total rookie I began imbibing (
) on an empty stomach, so by the time I’d hoofed it to SE 12^th/​Hawthorne I was straight up ravenous!
My «Portland Cool Kids» card was about to be revoked, as I had never before been to the Hawthorne Cart Commune, so there were almost too many well-​loved, highly regarded options to choose from — but in truth I already knew I’d have to try Yarp first, no matter how tempting crepes, fried pies, or cheese curd-​topped taters may have sounded.
I was not disappointed. I gather they change up their menu fairly often, and there were a few items that piqued the curiosity of my taste buds — including Pork medallions with sliced veggies and rice — but I have a hard time justifying trading too much $$$ for grub at a cart, no matter how tasty it may be.
With that in mind I opted for the Spicy Soba noodles ($ 6) — and did kick in the extra $ 2 to sub in chicken rather than tofu. His Yarpness seemed to be working solo, and notified me that there were about 4 – 5 orders ahead of me, so I prepared myself for a bit of a wait… but it seemed like no time before he was handing me chopsticks and a heavy tub full o’ goodness!
The veggies (broccoli, bells, onion) were obviously fresh, tender but still satisfyingly firm. The tomato-​based sauce was tasty and had a little zip, but calling it «spicy» might be over-​selling it a bit. Yarp seemed to be out of any spicy/​chili condiments, so I snagged a few squirts of what appeared to be a homemade chili-​garlic sauce from a nearby cart and that did the trick perfectly. In fact, a little garlicky goodness really complimented the rest of the sauce very nicely!
The noodles themselves were super good, and the whole meal was very satisfying and perfectly ample to quell my hunger. While it was still a decent value, I think next time I’d save 25% of the total cost by forgoing the chicken and just going with the tofu. That’s what my vegetarian friend did, and she quite enjoyed it.
I’ll definitely be back, for some fresh, inspired, tasty, food cooked up with skill.
A side note: the Yarp blog (see their website above) is a bit of a trip. It’s sorta like reality TV, in that you get a little too much information while at the same time peeking behind the cart at the man’s business and personal life. Here’s hoping Yarp keeps on growing and further establishing itself as one of the most gourmet, yet totally unpretentious food carts in the city!

Dearest Yarp?!, please forgive me for previously making fun of your rickety old shack. Your gourmet food is so exquisite and so very special, I would eat there even if the cart pod were on fire… in fact I would gladly do the stop, drop and roll, through the flames, to get to your window, to feed my body, soul and spirit with your finely-​honed delicious-​ness…
Why isn’t there a line wrapping around the block for this place? I was afraid at first, yes, but now I worship at your temple. I’m not really worthy of consuming food this fine, and yet you offer it to me at the best value I’ve seen anywhere for gourmet food.
My last meal there included abundant, beautiful fresh veggies sauted with linguini in a wonderful white wine and butter sauce, with a generous two-​inch slice of grilled buttery, herb-​y bread and parm sprinkled over it all.
$ 7.
Unilocalers probably think I mis-​typed the price. You’re GOLD.

Yarp?! cooked up a find dinner for us on Friday. The service was friendly and quick enough to calm our growling stomachs. Our dinner consisted of Mushrooms with Fettuccine in Pear Wine Sauce and Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin. The Pear Wine Sauce was subtle, yet flavorful to provide balance for the delicate mix of mushrooms. A slice of garlic bread accompanied the pasta. The pork was tender and cooked perfectly, but we wished the flavor was a bit more bold. We highly recommend Yarp?! Seriously delicious food for the laid back crowd. Someone get a line going in front of Yarp?!

Can you say Yarp?!
Can you pronounce it correctly?
How about yummy spicy sausage linguini?
Can you say that?
Yes you can!
Eight dollah will make you hollah and wish that you have another bottle of water. It’s spicy, fresh, and hot. It took a while to get my food, but it’s so worth it. The portion was huge, I had to share with my sister, her boyfriend, and my other sister’s boyfriend.
I will come back to Yarp?! with a hungry belly, hopefully on a less busy night. Yarp?! you are so awesome!

I love living not too far from this corner of Hawthorne. Ok, it isn’t in my neighborhood, but close enough. Decided I wanted some eats after work this evening and since most places seem to close so early, I decided to get my food on over here.
Mmmmmmmmmm. What else can I say about the food at this cart? So good. I ordered the prawns and veggies in a lemon dill cream sauce with cheese tortellini. Everything is made to order so it took some time from the time I ordered until I got it. That’s Ok. I’m full of patience. Plus the corner where this cart is located is a good place to people watch, especially on a Saturday night.
Took the food home with me. On first look, I wasn’t impressed with the size of the meal, but as I ate all those thoughts quickly left my brain. Full of prawns (10, maybe more) and all kinds of veggie goodness like red peppers, carrots, cabbage (?), cloves of garlic and the hits just keep on coming. The cream sauce wasn’t too heavy, which is a good thing and there was also a nice big piece of garlic bread included.
I just finished eating and I already miss it. If one could stop time. That is my Unilocal on Yarp?!. Sorry, it was begging to be said.

Stuffed, herb-​crusted and roasted pork loin cooked in a balsamic-​style reduction with fresh garlic and veggies, paired with angel hair w/​fresh grated parm and basil, accompanied by some brussels braised with pork.
$ 10
Served up hot and fast.
5-​stars all around. I am REALLY starting to like this cart a lot.

Ok, ok. I’m a five star giving floozy.
Sure I’ve already told you the menu has great standards every night, with a rotation of weirdness and sophistication. The Italian dishes are as good as any other «nice» place in town. For half the money and twice the pasta on your plate! I haven’t ventured over to the asian side of the menu, but the spicy noodle bowl is a-​calling and next opportunity I get, I’m going to order it.
I was over here this weekend trying the crêpe place and a special on their menu caught my eye; prawns over three cheese tortellini, covered in a creamy pesto sauce. And oh man, was I ever so mad that I’d already eaten dinner! I asked if they’d have it again Sunday (oh, did you know they’re the only cart on this corner open Sunday’s?), and sure enough… I got the last one come Sunday night. Oh GOODNESS, it was so good.
I heart you guys, Yarp! Check out the pics I added, you can see Chad in the cart working on my dinner!

Of all the late-​night food carts, I stumble onto this one. Yarp promises– and delivers– delicious pasta dishes. The other night, I got spaghetti and meatballs. Y’know, the usual pasta dish one thinks of when you hear the word «pasta.»
Yarp’s spaghetti and meatballs is very good. Sure, it took a while for them to make it, but it was worth the wait. HUGE meatballs and enough noodles to feed two people. And it was cheap to boot. A few days, later, I had the same dish at a locally-​owned Italian chain and it wasn’t as good. Cart wins!