Falling in Love with the Portland Food Carts

By: Julie Blakley | April 13 2010
Posted in Portland - Find It - Portland

I first fell in love with the Portland food carts when I was working downtown at a job I hated. With more than 80 food carts located in downtown Portland alone, they were an obvious choice for quick, cheap lunchtime eats.

But the food carts quickly became a lot more than a place where I could cheaply fill my belly—they actually started to become the reason I’d drag myself to the office every morning. As I sat on the bus on the way to work, I’d think about the new cart I wanted to try that day, or daydream about the giant salad rolls with peanut sauce from Swasadee (SW 9th and Alder).

Photo: Julie Blakley

Unlike most cities, where food trucks are truly mobile, about 90% of Portland’s nearly 500 carts never leave their spaces. Instead, pods of food carts are nestled side by side in parking lots all over the city—where hungry patrons are often faced with a United Nations-like bevy of culinary choices from Thai to Cajun to Italian to Japanese.

Combine this booming food cart culture with the Portland foodie scene and you get amazingly delicious food at unbelievably low prices. Many of Portland’s food carts have an obsession with craft and flavor that rivals top restaurant chefs. What's impressive is how these cooks are sourcing farm-fresh ingredients just like the city's best chefs. Sure, you might find yourself sitting next to a fire hydrant in the rain instead of in a new swanky space, but after one bite you won’t care (your wallet will be happy, too).

The $5.50 Duck Confit sandwich on a crisp baguette from Addy’s or a heaping spoonful of straight-from-the-streets-of-Bangkok khao man gai from Nong’s (both located on SW 10th between Alder and Washington) are sure to make you a cart convert.

(Check out foodcartsportland.com for info on all of the Rose City’s mobile food options)

Tell me your favorite cart so I can check it out!