Food Carts Heat Up Denver Streets

By Cherie Courtade on April 5, 2010

Breakfast burrito from Oasis Burritos

I began VendrTV’s $10 A Day Challenge with a breakfast burrito at Oasis Burritos. For two dollars, I got one stuffed with beef, green chili, egg, and hot sauce. Green chili peppers are ubiquitous in Denver, especially when cooked with pork in a stew, which locals call green chili or chile verde.

Hickory Smoked & Exotic Meats Sign (Top), Rabbit Sausage (Left), Mountain Man with a Mountain Man Sausage (Elk & Venison)

Lunchtime eventually rolled by and I decided to hit up the Armenian shish kabab cart on 16th St. Mall & Market St. with a friend. In addition to shish kabab, the cart features sausages like caribou, rattlesnake, and buffalo. For $3.75, I went for the rabbit sausage. Far from your average hot dog, this meal-in-a-bun contains rabbit and pheasant flecked with fresh herbs. As you can imagine, the meat packs plenty of flavor on its own. Still, I can’t resist the Armmix, an Armenian topping made with pickled vegetables and hot peppers.

Unrestricted by a $10 spending limit and driven by hunger, my street cart companion chose the $4.75 “Mattwurst.” This crazy sandwich includes the Mountain Man sausage made with game, like elk and venison, and topped with gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, and sumac. Like me, he poured on the delicious Armmix. This is not a sandwich for the timid, nor for those with cholesterol issues!

Elotes (Left) & Tacos al Pastor (Right)

With less than $5 left for dinner, I rallied some friends and headed to South Federal Boulevard, a strip dotted with street vendors which feature Mexican specialties.

Our first stop? The intersection of Florida and Federal in the parking lot of Avanza Market. There we found a blue tent, under which sat a tiny cart and a sign that read Burros Elotes. They offer one thing here: Cups of roasted corn cut fresh from the cob and served with mayo, butter, cream, grated parmesan, red chili powder, and fresh lime juice for $2.50. The roasted corn was sweet, the lime was tart, and the chili – spicy. Throw in all that dairy and the result is a rich, decadent soup.

After Burros Elotes, I still had some cash left so my group headed to Primavera Tacos (Dakota & Federal). Tacos are sold four to a plate here for $6, so I used my group spending power to grab a taco al pastor loaded with spit-grilled pork and topped with onion, cilantro, and hot sauce for just $1.50.

Total For The Day: $9.75

Editor’s Note: Turns out there’s plenty of burn in Denver street food, like Armmix. Any idea where I can find that stuff in New York? And what other foods can I put it on? Lastly, if you’d like to take our $10 A Day Challenge, email me at amy@vendr.tv!

About the author:

Cherie has lived in five states and has sampled the street food in twice as many. Her favorite food trucks are Kogi BBQ and Wafels & Dinges. She currently lives in Denver.