Every year there is some shuffling of food cart locations from campus to the Square and vice versa, as vendors seek a better match between cuisine and customer. FIB's and Santa Fe Trailer pulled up roots from Library Mall and headed to MLK, while the Dandelion headed for campus. And Good Food, previously ensconced in front of the Education Sciences building on West Johnson, is now holding down the corner of East Main and South Pinckney most weekdays.
The cart's four-item menu is effectively doubled as each entree is available either as a salad or as a wrap; more variations come with the addition of baked basil tofu or local organic chicken or homemade hummus. Given the choice, I usually order a wrap.
Specials crop up from time to time, like the most refreshing "Strawberry Love" salad, a generous serving of fresh mixed greens, fresh strawberries, almonds, feta cheese and a slightly sweet balsamic vinaigrette.
From the standard menu, I like the Thai chili wrap, based on fresh greens, tomato, cukes, red onions and matchstick carrots with a sweet Thai-chili sauce made with local organic Yumbutter peanut butter; I like to add in the baked basil tofu. The soft whole-grain tortilla wrap goes especially well with this combo. The sauce is the one weak point here; the balance is too far away from the peanut butter and leaning toward the merely sweet.
Another fine pick is the "Gourmet Greek" salad, as a wrap, with the addition of hummus. It's simple and satisfying, comes with plenty of feta and black olives and homemade vinaigrette, although the sun-dried tomatoes are too chewy.
Also on the menu is a turkey club with bacon and the organic chicken as the star of its own show with the usual assortment of vegetables and your choice of sauces (mayo, vinaigrette, honey mustard, ranch or buffalo).
The natural and healthy theme is carried through in the beverage selection, which includes sparkling water, kombucha, Naked Juice and orange juice.
There is something about food cart culture that seems to favor the indulgent and the fried - ballpark and carnival midway food - or ethnic cuisines. Good Food's menu is more like that healthy sandwich or salad you mean to bring with you to work but don't, because you have no vegetables on hand, no baked basil tofu and someone forgot to close the tortilla bag so they have aged to shoe leather. That Good Food's uncomplicated menu is never boring is a feather in its cap.
