El Cubanito De Palma

Yummy pupusas… freshly made masa — The best your gonna get in a trailer.

Made the trek up to this cart today, and i wasn’t disappointed. Had the pan con cerdo asado (marinated pork sandwich), and it was delicious. The pork was juicy, really juicy, and full of flavor. The little container of sauce (wish it was bigger!) that came with gave the sandwich a nice spicy kick. I ate in their little sitting area — a picnic table underneath an awning — and got to enjoy both my sandwich and the sunshine.

On a sunny Friday lunch hour I ventured out once again to 102^nd and SE Stark in search of some more of this delicious, smoky chicken. I had to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming last time I tried it. I grabbed some cash and headed over to Cubanito, smile on my face
Then it happened. She told me «No chicken today.»
That smile turned upside down to a frown… or at least a set of lips pursed in consternation.
And then I ordered some pork fricassee (cooked with onions and olives) over beans/​rice and served alongside french fries and a half-​assed salad. This, as well as the last combo I had, both reminded me of island food from the Caribbean. French fries are omnipresent, the salad is always an afterthought (and tomatoes are fairly atrocious), and then it’s about the meat + starch. While sometimes it’s awesome to have food that’s true to form, in a land with good tomatoes, you can easily up your salad game. At least.
The salad was really kind of a waste. The fries were decent… nothing special. Again, the rice/​beans mix (cooked together with some meat) was fairly bland. Regardless, this venture was all about the meat anyway. And the meat was very tasty. Pork sliced thin and cooked in a salty, tangy (probably from the olives) sauce with onions. The flavor was definitely there, and very unique for the Portland/​NW palate. I liked it, but with the disappointment of no chicken, and the mediocre sides, I have to drop my overall rating down to just A-​OK.
Without that chicken to look forward to, my return trips to Cubanito will be when I have the adventurous desire to check out some other Cuban meat offerings. They can hold the rest (and since the combo is $ 7, that would hopefully save on some $$!).
The one remaining thing that intrigues me on the menu is a marinated and broiled pork (cerdo asado), that in photos at least looks divine. I’ll definitely be back to try this… some time… with no sides.