Eat Mobile 2014 Recap

Even though I was drenched in a downpour of sideways rain the moment I stepped off the bus onto the Burnside Bridge to walk to Eat Mobile 2014, I was not deterred. Judging by the line of a 20 people already in front of me 30 minutes before the VIP admission started, neither were many other food court lovers.

This year, this annual food cart festival was held on a Sunday rather then a Saturday, and less tickets were sold, resulting in a less crazy experience in terms of lines and crowds. Although it alternated between rain and sunshine, the attendees persevered on, and I seem to be improving in terms of my food photos at food festivals held outdoors!
Eat Mobile 2014 Eat Mobile 2014

There were about 30 food carts that participated this year. The award winners for this year included PDX Sliders for the Carty Award (judged by a select panel) for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama’s Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta

Meanwhile the People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw.
Eat Mobile 2014 - The People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw. Eat Mobile 2014 - The People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw.

Here’s my Eat Mobile 2014 Recap in photos, which is all I know you came for anyway.

My personal vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow’s Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles… YUM. Also, their cart is adorable!
Eat Mobile 2014 My vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow's Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles... YUM. Also, their cart is adorable! Eat Mobile 2014 My vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow's Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles... YUM.

My personal vote for best style went to Hungry Heart Cupcakes for their beautiful display of baked treats on silver platters. Talk about being incredibly prepared for this event but never giving up on detail!
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX
I wanted to have more than one, but respectfully only took one sample, and of all the offerings zeroed in on the “Sweet n Salty” chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX of the Sweet n Salty chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX of the Sweet n Salty chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel

The next vote for style would have been Mix and Match Creamery, who was putting on quite a show as they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap’n Crunch.
The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch

The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip’s Original Salted Honey Doughnut! They won the prize for Style Award.
The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip's Original Salted Honey Doughnut! The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip's Original Salted Honey Doughnut!

I couldn’t help but adore the deep dish pizza served up by Thick Deep Dish pizza since I am originally from Chicago.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Thick Deep Dish Pizza Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Thick Deep Dish Pizza

Also, I loved the enthusiasm of Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce.
Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce

Hapa Ramen’s Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen
Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen

I really like the ratio of the pimento cheese to crackers that Southern Belle’s served up. I also loved the intensity of flavor from the half of a chicken dumpling sample from Momo Cart, the dumpling is stuffed with chicken, garlic, onion, and Nepali spices. Gonzo also delivered on flavors and texture fun with their falafel and hummus sample.
I really like the ratio of the pimento cheese to crackers that Southern Belle's served up at Eat Mobile 2014 Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Momo Cart, nice intensity of flavor from the half of a chicken dumpling sample from Momo Cart, the dumpling is stuffed with chicken, garlic, onion, and Nepali spices Eat Mobile 2014 - Gonzo's also delivered on flavors and texture fun with their falafel and hummus.

Props to the personable service and considerate option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce was very tasty. Meanwhile, Koi Fusion previewed a taste of their just opened Division brick and mortar location via their sample of Kimchi tortilla soup and that now they can rotate and try out more Korean American fusion dishes.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Love Belizean, option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Love Belizean, option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce

Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork.
Eat Mobile 2014- Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork. Eat Mobile 2014- Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork.

Moberi also provided a healthy option with their bicycle powered kale coconut water mango pineapple mint smoothies
Eat Mobile 2014 = Moberi also provided a healthy option with their bicycle powered kale coconut water mango pineapple mint smoothies

Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos
Eat Mobile 2014 - Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos Eat Mobile 2014 - Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos

Samples of all the colors via the chicken thighs brined in Thrive Special sauce over brown rice and vegetables from Thrive Pacific NW / Khao Man Gai dish over brown rice from Kesone Asian Fusion
Eat Mobile 2014 - chicken thighs brined in Thrive Special sauce over brown rice and vegetables from Thrive Pacific NW Eat Mobile 2014 - Khao Man Gai dish bite from Kesone Asian Fusion

Two kinds of popcorn were at the festival this year, Topped IKC (kettle corn that could be topped with chocolate or caramel or both) and also a little booth for Masala Pop (mixed with Indian spices)
Eat Mobile 2014 - Topped IFC (kettle corn that could be topped with chocolate or caramel or both) "Eat

Bite from the Art Institute of Portland / a sample from Creperie du Lys / sweet taste of dessert thanks to Mildred’s Sweet Treats
"Eat Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Creperie du Lys Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Mildred's Sweet Treats

Since like before, it was held in the OMSI parking lot, OMSI had some food science demos roving around.
Eat Mobile 2014 - OMSI food science demos roving around the food cart festival

I am looking forward to the festival again next year, rain or shine!

Did you attend Eat Mobile? Did you wish you did? What taste would you have said was the best?

Signature

Photo Retrospective: Eat Mobile 2013

Eat Mobile 2013 on April 27 was the sixth annual food cart festival event, a one price but then all you can sample (but to respect the individual cart owners, one taste per cart) event for charity, sponsored by Willamette Week and OMSI, among others (for instance, I totally covet the waxy chapstick that Yelp offers, and this is why I always lean towards Vitamin Water for flavored waters). With 50 carts participating, even a small bite from each is more than filling. The general admission tickets are a steal for such a meal at $20, but since they sell a few thousand tickets, you should expect the lines… or do as I always do every year, buy the $50 pre-tasting tickets for early entrance for an hour along with complimentary beverages from Pabst Blue Ribbon and Bota Box and move fast!

I always find this worthwhile, and have it marked on my calendar every year as a must do event. I have attended previously as evidenced by my previous blog posts in 2012, in 2011 (which also included opportunities to purchase tickets for a special Friday food cart tour and a Saturday food cart tour I also participated) in conjunction with Forktown Food Tours, and in 2010. As many of you know, I don’t own a car so rely on walking or public transit which means I don’t too far (aka across the river) for unknown food explorations, and working full time in Beaverton means I miss many food cart hours that cater to lunch (sorry the after drinking/dancing late night is too late for me!). So this event is always an exciting way to be introduced to what is out there in food carts for me.

My personal picks for favorites among the tastes I had this year included…

The beautiful taste and design of Cheese & Crack‘s adorable little setup that advertised their cart wares (Portland’s second cheese food cart!) during the festival in a rustic charming way, and their taste was mapped out expertly and presented gorgeously. Cheese & Crack’s taste was Castelvetrano olive mousse, Cana De Oveja cheese, pork terrine, and a chocolate filbert ganache with rock salt all served on a handmade special edition Rustic Butter Cracker. No surprise they won the Eat Mobile 2013 Style Award.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Cheese & Crack, cheese cart Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Cheese & Crack, cheese cart Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Cheese & Crack, cheese cart

Judge’s Choice award winner La Sangucheria with their empanadas, fried fresh and worth waiting in line for. Though since I paid extra for the pre-tasting (totally worth it because if you come with the larger crowd you will inevitably spend a lot of time waiting in lines), the line was only maybe a handful of people, and later I returned and they had gotten into a better rhythm and had more laid out- though once the regular crowd of you know, thousands came in, there is no avoiding being in the weeds.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week La Sangucheria Food Truck empanadas Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week La Sangucheria Food Truck empanadas Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week La Sangucheria Food Truck empanadas Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week La Sangucheria Food Truck empanadas

Hungry Heart Cupcakes, where I turned away from the obvious choice of the “Sweet n Salty” cupcakes with creamy peanut butter frosting and Carlton Farms applewood smoked bacon to reward myself with the incredible apple panna cotta with hard cider caramel and browned butter blondies. I was surprised they didn’t win people’s choice with their sweet but savory treats.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes apple panna cotta with hard cider caramel and browned butter blondies tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes tastes Portland  Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes tastes Portland bacon cupcakes Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes tastes Portland bacon cupcakes Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Hungry Heart Cupcakes tastes Portland

But I did understand why People’s Choice award winner Garcelon’s Soup & Grilled Cheese did get votes, as the spicy crab chowder was complex in flavor and was so comforting.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Garcelon's Soup & Grilled Cheese spicy crab chowder Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Garcelon's Soup & Grilled Cheese spicy crab chowder

I liked the taste from Gamila, offering Moroccan American Cuisine, I appreciated the layering of all the flavors of sweet, salty, savory, even hints of sour, and the warm chicken with the cool sauces.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Gamila Moroccan American Cuisine Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Portland Gamila Moroccan American Cuisine

I appreciated Moberi and their super refreshing smoothies powered by bikes, and the aromas in the air that wafted from Bora Bora’s grilled chicken. I couldn’t find a website for Bora Bora so this Portland Food.org forum thread will have to suffice for you to find out more.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Moberi Smoothies Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Moberi Smoothies Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Bora Bora's grilled chicken Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Bora Bora's grilled chicken Portland

Another sweet temptation was Sugar Shop and their delectable goodies of salted caramel gooey stuffed brownies, molasses spiced cookies, and red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. Also, they had the cutest aprons!
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Sugar Shop Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Sugar Shop Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Sugar Shop

I waited in line to finish all my tastes with ice cream scoops from Scoop and Fifty Licks. I can’t decide between you two, I love you both. At Fifty Licks I had the toasted milk ice cream, while at Scoop I had both the Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan at Scoop. Sorry, you were too good to only have one taste.
Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Fifty Licks toasted milk ice cream Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Scoop Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan ice cream Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Scoop Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan ice cream Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Scoop Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan ice cream Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Scoop Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan ice cream

More photos of the bounty of this food cart festival: Ramy’s Lamb Shack with gyros and baklava, Popcorn Publishers and kettle corn, PDX 671 offering tastes of Guam, Creperie Du Lys and their buckwheat crepes, a Lettuce Wrap taste from Kesone Asian Fusion, J Mo’s Sandwich Shack offering meatballs or pulled pork tastes, Pizza Contadino with handmade sourdough crust, Fuego Portland Burritos and Bowls wisely decided to give tastes of burrito bowls, and Thrive Pacific NW gave me a chance for a healthy sustainable taste!

Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Ramy's Lamb Shack tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Ramy's Lamb Shack tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Popcorn Publishers kettle corn Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Popcorn Publishers kettle corn Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week PDX 671 representing Guam tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week PDX 671 representing Guam tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Creperie Du Lys Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Kesone Asian Fusion Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week J Mo's Sandwich Shack, offering meatballs or pulled pork tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week J Mo's Sandwich Shack, offering meatballs or pulled pork tastes Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Fuego Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Fuego Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Thrive Pacific NW taste Portland

Chez Dodo and a taste of Mauritian Paradise with this deconstructed samosa, Frank-N-Stein is rocking a little red cart, Gaufre Gourmet and their lil liege waffles you choice of a sweet or savory taste (seriously, check out their websites, it is the best I have seen for a Portland food cart, with food porntastic photos of all their menu items!).

Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Chez Dodo and a taste of Mauritian Paradise with his deconstructed samosa Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Chez Dodo and a taste of Mauritian Paradise with his deconstructed samosa Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Frank N Stein Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Frank N Stein Portland Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gaufre Gourmet Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gaufre Gourmet Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gaufre Gourmet Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gaufre Gourmet

Happy Flower Food Company offered cute little Hummingbird Cake with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, I was introduced to the interesting blend of crunch and Indian spices from Masala Pop, Hawaii was cheerfully represented by 808 Grinds and their 808 fried chicken, the Bunk Truck (the mobile truck version of Bunk Sandwiches) gave generous portions of the Cubano sandwich, Taco Pedaler managed making fresh tacos while also offering a chips and salsa bar, Gonzo was rocking some intense sauces with their chickpea fries, and Snoop helped pimp out So Cold Shaved Ice.

It was such an buffet of riches. During the evening, DJ DMoe Funk made waiting so much more fun by giving us music to dance in line or groove to. There was also a culinary stage with presentations of food demonstrations and food science sponsored by Whole Foods and OMSI but I needed to lie down to digest… well at least, after walking briskly back home (I also walked from home to OMSI/Eat Mobile… though I don’t think that burned nearly enough calories to counter what I sampled!)

Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Happy Flower Food Company Hummingbird Cake with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Masala Pop Indian spiced kettle corn popcorn Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week 808 Grinds Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week 808 Grinds Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Bunk Truck Sandwiches Cubano sandwich Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Taco Pedaler Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Taco Pedaler Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Taco Pedaler Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gonzo food cart Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week Gonzo food cart Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week So Cold Shaved Ice Snoop Eat Mobile 2013 food cart festival Willamette Week So Cold Shaved Ice Snoop

If any of these pictures intrigues you, please go out and support your local entrepreneurs and visit these food carts! These local businesses work hard to participate in this event and everyday in their food cart (mobile or not), show them that you appreciated the exposure they had at Eat Mobile and give them your money and get some yummy food! You can look up any of these food carts at Food Carts Portland to see what food carts may be in your area and what their menus might offer, and look up reviews and more photos on Yelp Portland and reviews also at Willamette Week.

Signature