Portland: Food Carts

When most people think about Portland's food scene, they probably think of the city's plethora of food carts clustered together downtown and in surrounding neighborhood, wrapping around an entire block in some cases.



With about 20 or more in number, these Portland food cart "pods" (the name given to groups of food trucks) are wildly popular, even though they the locals are so over the hype. In fact, while we were in Portland this June, a local weekly rag, the Portland Mercury, could not help but have a cover story on Portland's food cart pods, even though they admitted that the entire city is tired of hearing about the subject.



Those who are looking for a good resource on Portland's food carts should check out the sites Food Carts Portland and Portland Food Cart Directory. I particularly found the Google Map made by Food Carts Portland very helpful (saved it to "my places" and accessed it through my phone) in locating pods.

The first pod we hit up was one of the larger pods downtown at 5th and Oak. The downtown pods cater to the downtown worker lunch crowd, and are disproportionately heavy on Asian and Mexican cuisine, compared to the pods in outlying neighborhoods which try to curate their food truck tenants to be more varied and "gourmet." First up in our food cart adventures was a Korean tofu taco from the Korean Twist - Boolkogi Taco cart at the 5th and Oak pod. Ugh, uncooked and unseasoned tofu! It doesn't matter how much slaw and spicy sauce you pile on bland tofu, it's just not tasty. Besides being bland, and also watery, this taco was instantly forgettable. Later, we heard from our friend that the burrito is the way to go. Oh, well. We then walked a few blocks over to the 9th and Alder pod, where I had my eye on Choza's Peruvian Food, because how often do you run across a food cart serving Peruvian street food?

I ordered the vegetarian Lomo Saltado, which is a classic Peruvian dish of sautéd vegetables, and French fries served over rice. Thank goodness for the garlicy green sauce in the little container to pour over this large container of mishmashed food, because there was nothing compelling about the sauteed vegetables (they were cooked well and fresh, though). The French fries were limp, soggy and grainy. Throw out the French fries (or top with good, crisp, handmade fries) and this dish would have been doable, but as it was, I only ate a few bites. I was saving room in my belly for banana pudding at A Little Bit of Smoke, a cart at 9th and Alder serving Carolina barbecue and sides.

Hot dang! We finally hit a winner. This was real-deal banana pudding made with homemade vanilla pudding, layers of banana slices and Nilla Wafers. Unfortunately, the whipped cream on the top was deflated by the time I was served this premade dessert, but A Little Bit of Smoke knew enough about banana pudding that you had to top it with Nilla Wafers right before serving so you can enjoy both soggy wafers (ones layered in the pudding) and crunchy wafers (ones on top). Couldn't have made it better myself!The next day, we did lunch north of the city at the Mississippi Marketplace food cart pod. This is one of the more carefully curated and "gourmet" pods with ten or so carts, which also happens to have a large tent (it often rains in Portland!) and dining area adjacent to the German pub, Prost!.One of the carts at the Mississippi Marketplace we decided to try was Garden State, a chrome trailer serving Sicilian-style street food.

Garden State's chickpea sandwich is a beast with a fried chickpea patty, roasted zucchini, lettuce, shredded carrots, and lemon aioli on a chewy ciabatta roll. The chickpea patty was too greasy for me, but this was the boy's meal and he could deal. Hot out of the fryer, the saffron risotto, mozzarella, and vegetable arancini was delectable. I had heard good things about Native Bowl, a cart at Mississippi Marketplace by blogger and cookbook author, Julie Hasson, that makes various types of vegan fusion rice bowls, so I knew I was eating here.

Oh man, am I a sucker for barbecue sauce and coleslaw! Native Bowl's Mississippi Bowl with barbecue Soy Curls, barbecue sauce, coleslaw, scallions and jasmine rice had my name written all over it. And I loved it! So much so, that when I got home I made a similar rice bowl.



You probably need a few years and some serious dedication to eat your way around Portland's food carts. I so dearly wanted to hit up Wiffies for their fried hand pies, as well as stop at the Potato Champion cart for their vegan poutine, and make it to one of the three FlavourSpot carts for a veggie sausage and maple syrup waffle sandwich. Unfortunately, I only had two days and a small stomach. Look's like I'll just have to visit Portland again!