(Not so) Whole Bowl

Rating: ***

The problem with the mono-cuisine food cart the Whole Bowl is that their bowls are nothing of the sort. The vegetarian food cart may offer a healthy alternative to burritos and samosas, but their portion sizes may leave you turning to the taco wagons for a fill-up anyway.

The menu options at the Whole Bowl are simple enough: they’ve got a bowl, and then they’ve got a slightly bigger one. The 12-ounce “bambino” bowl will set you back $5, while the 16-ounce larger size is $5.50.

That’s quite a chunk of change for what amounts to little more than rice and beans.

And though Whole Bowl lacks in dollar value per ounce, it somewhat makes up for it in flavor. The red and black beans, rice, olives and cheese are topped with avocado, cilantro, salsa and sour cream, as well as a healthy dose of the Whole Bowl’s signature “Tali” sauce.

The sauce is tangy and garlicky, and the selection of hot sauces available at the side of the cart serve to heat things up for those that like their rice bowls on the spicy side. As a whole, the layers of fresh veggies mixed with the hot bean and rice base blend well together–the combination makes for a pretty good chip dip.

There should just be more of it.

The Whole Bowl can be found in their signature tin carts on the Eastside at 4409 S.E. Hawthorne, downtown on ninth and Alder, or in the Pearl at 1100 N.W. Glisan St.