Food Carts - Portland, Oregon

Before I go to any city, I always do research to see what the food scene is. Where should I eat. What is the hottest thing. What is cheap. Well, when I went online, apparently Portland is food cart capital. In the city alone there are over 200 food carts! Oh my! Best part, they are stationary! They stay in one place, and they don't move all over the place. Generally they are on the exterior borders of parking lots. Amazing! Instead of doing a post on individual food carts, I thought I'd do one giant post, and tell you the location of several carts. Panda and I tried to go to many food carts as possible, we traveled far, we traveled wide, and when we arrived if we weren't hungry, we'd make space in our tummies! There were so many options, it was difficult to figure out which one to go eat. So we'd walk up and down the food carts, look at menus and go from there. It was an adventure! Common food carts were Thai, Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwiches) and Mexican. It was difficult to find something truly unique, but when I saw it, I was sold immediately.

SW 4th and Hall

carts closed since it was only 9am, only some were open for breakfast, mostly food carts are open for lunch for the lunch rush. unlike food trucks we know in la and sf, it's not open late at night for after-bar-goers

f

found our place for breakfast! waffle wrap!!

Meat and Cheese (see above for ingredients)

o.m.g. probably one of the BEST food carts we had in Portland. the waffle was freshly made, then the guy made an omelet with bacon and cheese. then, he put it in the waffle, but before wrapping it he drizzled it with syrup. it was the perfect balance of savory and sweet. definitely huge portions, and enough to share with two people. 

SW 3rd and Ash

SW Stark and 3rd

Lychee Limeade

homemade from Happy Grillmore. really good and refreshing. i could really taste the lychee flavor

Just Thai

this food cart was highly recommended. each dish is only $5, and it can feed 2-3 people. food is hot and the thai ice tea is only $1! what a deal!

 

Pad See Ew

huge amount. fresh noodles. good flavor. fresh veggies. 

 

SE 12th and Hawthorne

Poutin Fries

[french fries w. gravy and cheese curds]

french fries were good, nothing amazing. had better belgian fries in nyc. there wasn't enough gravy, and i guess i would have liked it more if the cheese curds were more melted. just ok. a little bland.

Pesto Mayo & Rosemarry Truffle Ketchup 

ketchup was so-so, but the pesto mayo was good

 

Whiffie

[fried pie]

BBQ Beef and Mozarella

nothing spectacular. i thought it would be great, something different a fried pie! but i just didn't like it, i think it's cause i don't care for bbq flavors. but that was the best option available that day. oh wells. the crush was flaky. 

 

SW Adler and 11th

DUMPLING TRUCK!!

so sad didn't get to eat here. closed just as we got there! this is different! this is unique! and we were leaving the next day....couldn't try. next time!

t

there's cheese burger dumpling! bahhhh. he hand makes them!