04.09.2024

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The cart and soul of Portland ‘fast food’

Embark on an appetizing adventure during Portland Food Cart Week

People sit at picnic tables and around a covered fire pit in a courtyard surrounded by food carts on a cloudy day.

The Hawthorne Asylum food cart pod at 1080 SE Madison St. is named after a 19th-century hospital for the mentally ill. | Photo by Cambrie Juarez, PDXtoday

Portland’s dining scene is as rich in flavors as it is in diversity, built upon an incredibly eclectic network of sit-down restaurants, walk-up windows, cafes, pop-ups, and food carts.

At the latter, you’ll often find meals prepared with as much creativity and skill as those served in award-winning restaurants. Portland’s reputation as a food cart mecca is so heartily embraced that in 2022, the mayor declared April “Food Cart Month” — which greased the griddle for the creation of Food Cart Week.

This year, Food Cart Week runs Sunday, April 14-Saturday, April 20, and is intended to promote and support the hardworking families and individuals behind your favorite food carts. From smash burgers to sushi burritos to smoothies, you can taste your way through Portland’s famous food cart culture by visiting this year’s participating cart pods. Determined to visit all 24? There’s a passport for that.

Here are a few of our favorite participating carts:

Pizza Creature | St. Johns Food & Beer Porch
Any menu item (even by-the-slice) can be made vegan — just ask.

La Mai Plate | Sellwood Corner Food Carts
Try the hearty mango curry or the signature La Mai Plate if you like herbal rice, nuts, and raisins. Portions are huge so plan on having leftovers.

A partially outdoor wooden structure with a tin roof, string lights, and a bar with a chalkboard sign of what's on draft. — St. Johns Food & Beer Porch has 16 food trucks and 12+ rotating taps of craft beer, hard cider, and kombucha.
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Photo by Cambrie Juarez, PDXtoday

Chicken and Guns | Cartopia Food Carts
Translation: chicken and potatoes. If you don’t mind a little heat, go for the carrot habanero sauce.

Le Bistro Montage Ala Cart | Hawthorne Asylum
If cheese is your love language, you’ll fall hard for the Spold Mac.

Fried Egg I’m In Love | Pioneer Courthouse Square
Made with softly toasted sourdough (read: it won’t tear up your gums) and a perfectly jammy egg, the signature Yolko Ono is a tried-and-true crowd-pleaser.

If you stumble upon a food cart that blows your mind — or introduces you to a cuisine you’ve never tried before — let us know.

Events

Tuesday, April 9

Nature Night: Conserving Coastal Birds | Tuesday, April 9 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Online | $0-$10 | Learn about resident and visiting avian species — including the challenges they face and current conservation efforts — with biologist Allison Anholt.

Wednesday, April 10

Picnic in the Park | Wednesday, April 10-Friday, May 24 | 12-2 p.m. | Director Park, 815 SW Park Ave., Portland | Free | Step outside on your lunch break for a hearty helping of music and yard games, plus a side of fresh air.

Thursday, April 11

Portland Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival | Thursday, April 11-Saturday, April 13 | Times vary | Portland Expo Center, 2060 Marine Dr. W., Portland | $10 | Shop for craft supplies, sewing, embroidery, and quilting machines, fabric, tools, DIY books, and more.
The International Booklover’s Burlesque Festival | Thursday, April 11-Sunday, April 14 | Times vary | Locations vary | $20-$140 | Local and international burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque artists will put the spice into literary works of all genres during dozens of unique acts.

Friday, April 12

Fertile Ground Festival of New Works | Friday, April 12-Sunday, April 21 | Times vary | Locations vary | $35-$75 | See new, locally created works spanning a wide range of genres “illustrating that Portland is truly fertile ground for creativity, innovation, and daring acts of performance.”

Events calendar here

Click here to have your event featured.

News Notes

Number

$1.326 billion. That was the Powerball jackpot when the winning ticket was sold last weekend in Northeast Portland. “No one in Oregon has ever won a prize on this scale,” said Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells. To the winner, if you’re reading this, we have some ideas… (KGW)

Development

A new affordable housing complex recently opened in Southeast Portland’s Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood. Rental rates for the 169 units at Canopy Apartments range from $1,224 for a one-bedroom to $1,680 for a three-bedroom. The median market rates in Portland are about $1,450 and $2,580, respectively. (KGW)

Sports

A taekwondo master from Portland will watch four of his students compete today and tomorrow at the Para-Taekwondo Pan American Qualification Tournament in the Dominican Republic. Their performance could get them a ticket to the Paris Olympics this summer to represent Haiti. (KGW)

Closed

Buffalo Wild Wings’ downtown Portland location has closed. The restaurant chain cited ongoing vandalism, security concerns, and steep declines in revenue for shuttering the outpost after 17 years. City leaders said they’re “hopeful to find a business to rent the vacant space.” (KGW)

Environment

A new season of conservation is underway at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation. The center’s first seven California condor chicks of 2024 hatched last month, pushing efforts to save the critically endangered species forward. The fuzzy chicks will eventually fly free in California and Arizona.

Eat

Sip alcohol-free craft cocktails and treat your tastebuds to Southern flavors at Worry Not! PDX’s “Let’s Go Girls”-themed pop-up on April 28 at Coopers Hall. The dining event’s “ATL-meets-PNW menu” includes fried chicken, asparagus hush puppies, and mocktails by Cliff Seminerio of Le Pigeon and Canard.

Show

Step outside the realm of common grocery store houseplants at the Oregon Orchid Society’s annual Orchid Show & Sale. Taking place April 20-21, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., at Oaks Park Dance Pavilion, the event will offer floral displays, orchid and tropical plant vendors, orchid growing classes, repotting, and more.

Sports

Back home after a seven-game, two-week road trip, the Trail Blazers are wrapping up their season. Join Locked On Blazers host Mike Richman takes a shot at how the team can leverage Deandre Ayton’s strengths as it continues to rebuild.

Home

Psst — When’s the last time you replaced your bath mat? Our favorite memory foam bath mat is on sale through the weekend.*

Active

Gotta cut loose, footloose

Take a dance lesson with a pro at Let’s Dance Weekend

A cream colored building with teal trim at an amusement park on a sunny day.

Let’s Dance Portland hosts dance lessons every Thursday at Oaks Park Dance Pavilion. | Photo by Jeff Muceus

Shimmiers, shakers, and sashay-ers — make your way to Oaks Park Dance Pavilion this weekend.

World champion dance instructor Michael Kielbasa will lead dance lessons and workshops for a range of skill levels and abilities (we’re looking at those of you who claim to have two left feet) at the Let’s Dance Weekend. Free beginner and intermediate cha-cha sessions will get the ball rolling on Thursday, April 11.

Put on your boots for country two-step lessons (for intermediate and experienced dancers) on Friday evening at Heart Of Rock Farm in Sherwood. If your feet aren’t worn out after that, swing back to Oaks Park for West Coast introductory swing sessions on Saturday. The dance floor will also be open to social and competitive partner dancing on Friday and Saturday.

Tickets to attend a workshop start at $35, or grab a partner and just go for the social dancing ($15).

The Buy

Gifts for the bride-to-be. The wedding gift guide features everything from homemade earrings for the bachelorette party to a facial roller for necessary self-care days.

Answered

Last week, we asked you to pick the next architectural style we should write about.

Over 36% of you said you wanted to learn more about styles that are uncommon in Portland (think: Second Empire and Greek Revival)
Mid-century modern was one vote shy of tying for first place

Portland's Queen Anne homes

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The Wrap

Today’s edition by:
Cambrie

From the editor

How had I never experienced Troutdale Station before now? I stopped by the food cart complex after spending some time at Glenn Otto Community Park over the weekend... and wow. There are about two dozen food vendors selling everything from sushi donuts and acai bowls to loaded mac and cheese and burgers. The space is clean and there’s a central indoor communal dining area.

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