Food & Drink: Crave breakfast burrito? Try Mack Shack

The Mack Shack food cart recently opened in Columbia Food Park at 108 E. Seventh St. in downtown Vancouver. Just look for the pumpkin-y orange-colored gate and the small Mack Shack sign. Breakfast burritos, breakfast tacos, and kids’ quesadillas are served here Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Owner AndraLea Mack has worked in downtown Vancouver for the last several years and noticed something was missing from the downtown food scene.

“I personally love breakfast burritos,” Andra told me, “and I wanted to do something that wasn’t here.” Andra’s family has been very helpful in getting her business set up and running. She learned a lot about operating a food business by working for her mother, Cindy Mack, at her wedding catering business, As You Wish NW.

Everything at Mack Shack is made to order. The menu includes four breakfast burritos — the traditional Couv-Delish (eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, onions, garlic, spinach and choice of rosemary steak sauce or Shack sauce), the spicy/zesty ABQ (eggs, sausage, hash browns, pepper jack, corn, onion, jalapenos, green chiles, cilantro and homemade tomatillo salsa), the unusual Bleuy Gooey (eggs, bacon, bleu cheese, sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic and arugula), and the Vegan Bean (chipotle-style black beans, quinoa, sauteed onions, garlic, red pepper, corn, and roasted red pepper hummus).

The Vegan Bean burrito begins with a grilled tortilla. One side of the tortilla is slathered with roasted red pepper hummus. Sauteed onions, garlic, red pepper, and corn are layered into the burrito with black beans and quinoa (which are seasoned with a chipotle vinaigrette). This burrito is fresh, luscious, a bit fiery, a bit tangy and satiating.