A Progressive Meal on Alberta Highlights: Grilled Cheese Grill, Mash Tun Brew Pub

I finally made it to the Grilled Cheese Grill, a cart that also has a bus so you can eat your melted cheese and bread inside the toasty school bus if you don’t want to sit on the benches. The bus has lots of interesting art to look at on the ceiling, and Trivia Pursuit cards on the table, that is if you aren’t already having fun looking at all the old school photos that are printed on the table and bar. The photos I took were parts of the ceiling by our booth that particularly caught my eye: panda mailbox with panda-man, a hummingbird with an owl with horns visiting on its lap while pet mice crawl around it, striped bear-things and no-faces.

Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, busGrilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

I greedily ordered two sandwiches and ate half of each. First was “The Hot Brie”: Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough.  This turned out more greasy then I liked, with the brie and red peppers getting mushy and squishing out of the sandwich.

The Hot Brie, Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus
The second sandwich, the “BABs”: bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye. A great mix of melty cheese with crunchy bacon and apples, I would get this again.
BABs, bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

The next stop of our progressive eating (it started and ended at the Kennedy School, which is where we stayed for the weekend) was Alberta Co-op for snacks, and then Mash Tun Brew pub for a bacon bloody mary and some local beers. Our snack while we had our beverages was a pretty tasty “Tempeh Things”- fried tempeh, served buffalo or barbecue style (we asked for half and half as they weren’t too busy) with house-made veganaise. Both sauces were flavorful but in different ways- the spicy slightly drier buffalo, and the smokier, more sticky barbecue, and the crisp texture of the tempeh was a great vehicle, better then the traditional chicken wing since we could bite right in. The veganaise was not as good as a traditional ranch offering though, offering some of the creaminess but little more than that. Still, we were impressed how vegetarian friendly this brewpub was in providing a dozen decent options that weren’t just salads or hummus or a frozen veggie burger (they make their own veggie burger in fact here), and we wouldn’t mind coming back for a second visit to try a full meal.

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Deschutes Street Fare 2010

Deschutes Street Fare was a street festival event that featured sampler size street fare from ten food carts, paired with Deschutes beer tasters, to benefit Morrison Child and Family Services. It's just getting summer-like hot in the past day or so, which meant that when the gates opened at 5pm there was full on sunshine and sweat as everyone seemed to come directly from work. Within a few hours, it started to calm down so everyone was no longer elbow to elbow, and half the street started to get some shade as the sun went on its way down.

Except for the crowd (which was a good thing for Morrison, but meant that when the space got full it was very uncomfortable and they even limited admission for a while because of reaching capacity… not sure how you calculate capacity on a street but I'm sure there must be an algorithm), I have no real complaints. Obviously, they were not sure what the turn-out was going to be, and since they had only set aside the outside block between Deschutes and Armory and no space inside Deschutes itself there wasn't a lot of space to go to. As comparison, the Beer n Burgers Event had also only been a block and that space had been fine (not even included the sidewalk), though they also only had 5 stands, not 10, and no musicians or stages.

I got a sampler pass, which got me in the door and also 7 tokens for $25, allowing me to sample 7 out of the 10 pairings. I carefully tried to plan my calories for the day based on this. When I arrived, the line for prepaid vs at the door was the same, so apparently the only advantage was that online you could pay with a credit card while at the door was cash only, and even those who had already decided what to buy got to enjoy everyone at the door reading through how many carts there were and trying to guesstimate how many tokens to get. I wish there were more reward for those who plan ahead and guarantee a paid sale before the event, but I also had the advantage of already knowing my cart visit order.

First was Slow & Low, for their cantonese pork belly Bahn Mi with housemade kimchi, kimchi mayo, cilantro, iceburg lettuce, and fennel pickle, paired with Cascade Ale. This was very satisfying, though there was a little too much bread competing with that tasty pork belly. Needed less doughy bread, or more belly (fat and all, as I would expect from a traditioanl bahn mi). Cascade went so naturally with this I didn't even think about it.

Next was a stop at Grilled Cheese Grill, which has been on my wishlist for a while, and still is after this tasty example of a jalapeno popper sandwich of roasted jalapeno peppers with colby jack cheese, cream cheese, crumbled corn tortilla chips on grilled sourdough bread. It was matched with a green lakes organic ale to try to cool the spice. Extra love for them because they gave out branded frisbees, which were great for balancing food and drink while standing. I saw that some thought this had too much heat and couldn't finish it, but I had no problems.

Garden State came with their famous meatball parmesan sliders with all natural beef and pork in a big meatball covered with mozzarella and marinara, paired with Mt St Hellens keller beer. It is as seriously filling as it appears. 

Mum's Kitchen offered a South African influenced Indian spicy garlic pork curry with fresh squeezed IPA, a pairing which just didn't work for me.

My palatte was immediately refreshed and cheered by Flavour Spot's sausage&maple dutch taco (waffle sandwich) and their maple pecan version, both paired with maiboc. Extra shoutout for providing their branded wet naps for sticky finger cleanup, so thoughtful.

 

Potato Champion's poutine from Spudnik, paired with alma NWPA, met expectations. Really though, getting the real deal from the cart at SE 12th and Hawthorne after a few drinks where it is more loaded with gravy and chunks of rogue cheese can't compare to a sampler.

The excellent finish was Oregon Ice Works strawberry gelato, which I had with Green Lakes Organic Ale. The strawberry was the best of the three offerings they had, the other three being peach and chocolate black butte porter.

This means I passed on Whiffie's bbq brisket and mozzarella fried pie paired with Hop in the Dark- I was tempted for the beer alone, it being the only dark beer, but I had Whiffie's already at the Bite. For similar reasons of having experienced them before, I passed on Pyro Pizza and their margherita pizza on wheat crust with Twilight ale. I also passed on Ali Baba's gluten free chicken and kabob with gluten free pale ale, though the gluten free pairing was clever.

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A Visit to the Cart Pod of SE 12th and Hawthorne: Cartopia

Ever since I moved here and saw Potato Champion, I have wanted to visit the cart pod (a group of carts- this one is also known as Cartopia) in southeast Portland.

I affectionately call Cartopia the “drunk pod” because they are near several late night establishments, thus their evening-wee morning hours, unlike the morning-lunchtime only and closing before the regular business workday hours that the downtown carts generally keep (which translates to me not being to eat at most of them since I work in Beaverton unless I get a friend to drive or have don’t go into the office). This desire to visit the SE 12th and Hawthorne food carts only got greater as I heard legends of Whiffies, and then at the Food Cart Festival heard raves about Pyro Pizza. So, after the North American Organic Brewers Festival, I was only too happy to go along for the ride.

Now, I can only be so greedy. Whiffies that night for their savory selections had a vegan pie and a chicken pot pie, neither which I was interested in (I would try BBQ or any of their pork ones). So one friend got a savory crepe from Perierra Creperie that had a sexy sounding mix of gorgonzola, pear, walnut, and honey I believe- this was ok, very light but it didn’t hit the spot for me.

Another friend got the White Truffle pizza (dough brushed with white truffle oil topped with romano cheese and a dash of black pepper) while I ordered the Caramelized onion Pizza (with  caramelized purple onions with gorgonzola and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses and pistachios) from Pyro Pizza, the latter being the specific pizza topping combo that was so raved about at the food cart festival.

 

Unfortunately, now from the original cart this latter pizza did not deliver, being more onion with some cheese and a few pistachios rather than cheese topped with caramelized onions and sprinkled with pistachios. Besides the proportions of onion to the other two topping ingredients, the important element of caramelized did not happen- the oven at the food cart festival was not what this cart had, and I wonder if the other one burned hotter because of it’s larger capacity (it was the size of the wood burning oven that Tastebud always brings to the PSU Saturday Farmer’s Market). Or maybe they got too hot in the cart.

Fortunately, the White Truffle pizza did deliver, though I think the winning element was the crunchy romano that crisped up like a frico (aka parmesan crisp). I ended up taking a box home to share with F… which actually only I ate the next day by myself. Heh.

The highlight of this food cart pod visit was from Potato Champion, with a large order of poutine, which means fries topped with gravy and cheese curds, one of the few gifts from Canada. The fries were fresh and crisp, even better then what I had at the Food Cart Festival from Spudnik (their roaming cart; Potato Champion is the original home base cart). They were more generous here with the rich gravy (I went with the meat based one not the veg one although there is one available- but look at how thick that gravy is, well flecked with seasoning), and there were nice sprinklings of squeaky chewy chunks of Rogue curd throughout.

When placing my order, I was tempted to order a cone to try their other sauces, but thankfully I didn’t because a large poutine is huge as you can see. But, so delicious and good size for sharing, and a perfect way to soak up alcohol. Want to buy my friendship? Here’s one currency to use. And yes, my friendship is for sale… for the price of taking me/bringing me deliciousness like this. If you don’t like cheese or fried foods… well, we can’t be friends anyway.

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2010 Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival: the retrospective

We were excited to pre-purchase our tickets for the 2010 Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival even before they were on sale, and so it was no surprise that we planned to show up 30 minutes early to start snacking on our 30 samplers from the 30 carts right at the opening bell. The event sold out (capped at 1200) people, and even though they spaced it over 2 1/2 blocks under the Morrison bridge it still got very difficult to navigate through lines just to get from cart location to another after just an hour after opening. Portland people do love food carts.

First stop was Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwiches, which I passed on because it’s relatively close to where I live. I’ve had their sandwiches twice: not as good as Best Baguette, but then again this is a cart not a restaurant, and they still are able to offer 8 sandwiches (Best Baguette offers about a dozen, but they also can offer freshly baked bread and other pastries since they have more space at a brick and mortar location). If you are looking for banh mi sandiwiches in the downtown area, I’m not even sure there is anywhere else in the city proper as they are pho houses that I’ve seen.

Next was Sip, a cart offering organic vegan juices and smoothies. I confess I went back for their tastings of their green smoothie with kale, spinach, and some citrus fruits like apple or orange or lemon) twice. Their location at Division and Powell in the neighborhood of the People’s Food Coop isn’t an area I go to, but they plan to have a second mobile (actually mobile like driving around) in the summer and are also adding some food to their menu, so I hope to find them again. A lot of the food carts that people seem to fawn over involve pretty unhealthy food that is often rich and savory, but it doesn’t always have to be that way and it’s great to support food carts that are also tasty but even good for you.

Micro Mercantes were cutting up their jalapeno cheese, pork, and chicken tamales for tasters, and I doused my pork one liberally with my favorite green chili and enjoyed it quickly as I was trying to move through carts quickly before the rest of the line behind us caught up. Even though I linked to their official website, there isn’t much information on it, but it does communicate one tidbit many may not know: this cart is actually a coop for Latin women to help economically empower them through their tasty tamales. Their presence is at various farmer’s markets and their cheap $2.50 homemade tamales helps them establish a community via housing, healthcare clinics, a credit union, and community centers. I’m not sure which farmer’s markets they’ll be at this year (I know they are not at the ones downtown), but I know they are at the markets closer to OHSU, one at the Pearl, and several more on the east side of Portland. How can you not want to at least get one tamale knowing this every time you see them?

Moxie was on the ball with their platters of homemade granola with greek yogurt and raspberry rhubarb compote. With all the rich food the other carts were offering, this was an incredibly tasty break for the palate, and they had the most beautiful stop in terms of setting up a feel for who they are at their station at Eat Mobile, so no wonder they wonder they were awarded Best Style of Eat Mobile. They are located at North Mississippi and North Shaver and are very well known for their homemade take on brunch (and people appreciating them, as judged by waiting in long lines) 

PBJ’s Grilled was one that I saw on the list but had not heard of- and it turns out it is because they are still at the “coming soon” state. PBJ was a surprising discovery of taste for me with their offerings of various takes on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the same vein that grilled cheese has gone gourmet- and they did it very successfully. I’m not usually a fan of pbj sandwiches, but their offerings had me coming back for 3 of these (I just wasn’t satisfied tasting just one and not knowing what the other combination’s taste profiles would turn out to be- a cruel tease)! When they do open as an official food cart (they are opening April 26 at NW 23rd and Kearney Street), I think they will do well: they were even a runner-up for best tasting food at this Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival as voted by a panel of culinary professionals.

It took a while to understand their selections though: and their write-ups on the table were not very illuminating. The more you document on a big sign the less you will have to explain! And make it big so that by the time someone comes up they already can pick out what they want instead of processing under pressure. There’s the process manager in me thinking how I would set up a cart. Although I don’t think the tasting versions had all these ingredients, the regular offerings off their future menu include the “Good Morning” had blueberry jam, apple wood smoked bacon, 100% maple syrup, PBJ’s peanut butter, while the “Wildflower” had peach jam, wild flower honey, PBJ’s peanut butter, the “Pumpkin Pie” is a sweet dessert-ty concoction of pumpkin butter, Two Tarts caramel sauce, pie crust, PBJ’s peanut butter. I still prefered the “Spicy Thai” with orange marmalade, sriracha, fresh basil, curry, PBJ’s peanut butter and the “Betty” which will be Gruyere cheese, bread and butter pickles, white pepper, sea salt, PBJ’s peanut butter. I’m going to try to make it to their opening, we’ll see if I get caught on some work call or if I can continue my investigation.
PBJ's food cart at Eat Mobile 2010

F’s favorite and his People’s Choice vote was Asaase Ital Palace, African-Carribean food that is vegan/vegetarian: I had to admit their “fish” did taste like fish. I only had a shared bite of Fat Kitty Falafel, where they were already behind in the first 20 minutes as they struggled to produce their freshly fried falafel in time to meet the crowd. But, their falafel deserves the buzz it gets. Addy’s Sandwich Bar was trying to offer 5 different types of tastings, which was quite ambitious… for what at the opening was a one woman operation. The “line caught Oregon tuna with capers, red onion, cornichon and house mayo” was good, as was the rich “country pate with dijon and cornichons) and the “duck confit with cranberry relish”. This cart is located at SW 10th and Alder, not far from the trolley line and in company of other great carts such as Nong’s Kao Man Gai, Eurodish, Zita’s Pitas, Altengartz and Savor- a very strong cart pod. I have them on my wishlist to try their consistently well reviewed ham, gruyere, and butter sandwich, which did not make the tasting menu at Eat Mobile.
Addy's Sandwich Bar at Eat MobileAddy's Sandwich Bar at Eat Mobile

After 2 weeks of pizza for lunch as leftovers, I didn’t have the heart to try Pyro Pizza, but I heard lots of rave reviews and as evidenced by the long lines every time I went by after that, they did very well. My foodie friends couldn’t say enough good things about their pizza with caramelized torpedo onions with gorgonzola and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses and pistachios. They are normally located at SE 12th and Hawthorne, neighbors to Potato Champion and Whiffies. I’m kicking myself a little for getting out of line after these foodie friends had come to be raving about Soup Cycle, which I had skipped since they can actually deliver if I wished it. I ended up getting 2 tastings of Soup Cycle that evening anyway- when I went back to drop off my glassy stone for my favorite cart (that’s how they tallied votes for the People’s Choice Award), Soup Cycle had no line, while Pyro Pizza still was 20 people in the weeds. Well, the cauliflower apple gruyere soup was still delicious both times I had it, so I don’t regret that! And I’m sure that SE 12th and Hawthorne cart will still be visited by me: now I’ll just have 3 carts that I’m aiming for, not just two.

My vote at the Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival went to Nuevo Mexico for their stuffed sopapillas (fried sweet dough that is then stuffed) and their green chili chicken stew. Both were on fire with flavor! And, I appreciated their large signage and line of preppers in their area… so I guess I was also awarding them my appreciation of a good setup. The first food picture is a look at the green chili chicken stew on the left, and on the right is the ground beef and green chili sopapilla decked out with cheese and tomatoes and beans. My choice was the carne adovada, with pork and red chili: messy but worth it, and the sopapilla was the perfect sponge for all the chili and sauce from the carne. Thank you Nuevo Mexico for bringing sopapillas to Portland (at Mississippi and Skidmore).
Nuevo Mexico food cartNuevo Mexico stuffed sopapillas Nuevo Mexico stuffed sopapillas

I kept glancing to my right at the equally long line (Pyro Pizza, Taqueria Los Gorditos, and Nuevo Mexico were all right next to each other), which was Taqueria Los Gorditos, offering Mexican vegetarian and vegan.. I wanted to run off with the giant guacamole of Taqueria Los Gorditos: I was surprised they actually let everyone help themselves to the guacamole portion, so they must have had lots ready to keep filling that pestle up! I was curious bout the blue corn beverage but didn’t try- their lines were long mainly because you had to wait for each person to guacamole-themselves up. All three still boasted the same long lines of patient people a couple hours later- but were not out of food, unlike others I had skipped then/went back later but were out, like Bombay Chaat House, Mono Malo, and Sawasdee Thai.

The Carne adovada is when my hands started getting super messy, but the People’s Pig is what sealed it. A long line that wrapped around chairs and tables hinted at what was to come: a piggy looked on as people line up for The People’s Pig offering of cuban pulled pork taco as a taster. I put down the extra $6 to get the porcetta from the People Pig… which I then carefully wrapped, put into my purse, and into tupperware to enjoy the next day!
People's Pig food cartPeople's Pig food cartPeople's Pig food cart

I was getting pretty full at this point, but still had room for Flavourspot which was just next door to People’s Pig at the Eat Mobile. Flavourspot proclaims themselves the home of the dutch taco, aka this mix of savory and sweet with the waffle wrapping cheese and maple sausage. With 3 locations across the city and also scoring runner up for the People’s Choice Award, they are proof that waffle sandwiches are a winning combination of flavor
Flavourspot cheese and maple sausage Dutch Taco

I forgot to capture the photos of Whiffies, but their bbq beef with mozzarella was pretty good- and since Nuevo Mexico’s sopapillas are a bit harder for me to get to location-wise, Whiffies is a fine substitute of fried goodness sponging up flavor, just in fried pie instead. They won the People’s Choice Award for Eat Mobile 2010. Rather then selecting one of their sweet versions of pie (like the peanut butter with chocolate chips I tried), go for fruity frozen ice-pop like offerings of Oregon Ice Works (they are working with Whiffies but will be opening their own cart soon). Their raspberry was so chunky with raspberry I had to chew it, while the lemon was like a perfect summer tart lemonade. Although I appreciate the audacity and coolness of Fifty Licks‘ offerings of hand made ice cream in flavors that include Tahitian Vanilla, Stumptown Coffee, Maple Bacon (all three of these are winning combinations!) and Red Bull Cola, I can’t help but prefer the fruity ice more as a cool clean refresher that doesn’t have the cream of Fifty Licks. I don’t want to think about how many calories I’m having…

Potato Champion‘s poutine was as good as I was expecting: and considering I’ve had my eye on this cart ever since I moved here and still haven’t made it over, my expectations were pretty high. I’ll be visiting that cart pod this year, it’s my goal!
Potato Champion, poutine

Top honors for best tasting food as judged by the culinary panel this year at the Eat Mobile food cart festival went to Garden State, offering Sicilian street snacks. I’ve heard only good things about this cart, but their location in Sellwood is inconvenient for me to get to by public transit even as they are being raved about even on a segment of Good Morning America. They also have a new Mississipi location. Garden State’s taste offering of grilled alaskan cod with vinaigrette (along with lettuce and orange slices) on a slice of baguette was a pretty healthy offering and showcased their ability to put together a clean taste profile, even as a cart (though I wasn’t sure what was the Sicilian snack part of it)

I wrapped up the last bosnian cheese pita (sirnica) that Ziba’s Pita had before they were out, then tasting seconds at Soup Cycle and Sip (which I’ve sworn I will now have to patronize twice more this summer to make up for it), and also a taste of the grilled cheese turkey, Tillamook cheddar, and truffle oil at Savor Soup House (The Grilled Cheese Grill was supposed to be at Eat Mobile but had to drop out because of an illness: I guess I’ll still have to plan on visiting their school bus), and a few blocks away, a beer at Green Dragon. There were many other carts I didn’t try- some because I’ve been to them before, others because I know I can easily get to the cart myself on my own time- but it wonderful to see so many options at this festival. It would be great to see this continue to grow. The $7 per person for all the tastings is a steal, honestly, but even if they moved to a ticketing system like Taste of Chicago does (so you can decide for yourself how many tickets to spend at each cart to get a choice of different samplings or a full size portion: in some cases if everyone wanted to taste it made sense to put tickets together to get a full size everyone could enjoy then just individual bites), I’d have no problem coming back, no hesitation, and it was even for a good cause. And, that would also make it more fair for places like PBJ where no one just wanted one little taster.

And next time, consider our groups’ two browsing strategies. I came in with a must-try list of carts, often based on what I hadn’t had before and also based on how difficult it would be for me to get to, car-less and relying only on public transit and based on their hours of operation. The second strategy was to divide up and grab samples for friends so instead of waiting in all lines, you wait in half of them- generally with the men being sent to scout for the shorter lines to bring goodies back while the ladies chatted in the longer lines patiently nesting :X Being stuffed almost like its Foodcartthanksgiving FTW.

This coming weekend we have some Chicago friends and a birthday at Rogue/Green Dragon, so I am pretty excited to get some more friend and food time in before my work project takes me on the road for two weeks again.

More on the awards and a few more pictures of Eat Mobile 2010 can be found at The Examiner’s coverage, and much better photos by ExtraMSG on Flickr. Hey, I was eating.

 

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Zita’s Pitas

I heard about this cute little cart called Zita's Pita from Fearless Critic. As they explained, the pita that Zita offers is not the Greek gyro-like pita at all, but a Bosnian pita: hand-stretched dough into sheets and brushed with butter (phyllo dough), and then filled with ingredients such as ground beef or spinach or zucchini and cheese  layered almost like filled square puff pastry. This is what drew me to it, as I hadn't had anything like this before, and without that detail I probably would have, probably like other people, kept thinking it was something in pita bread.

I remember when I finally got to the cart, it was during the first snowfall of 2009 (a few months ago). I just never had a chance to share the photos. By the time I got there it was late into the lunch hour, so I think the food wasn't as fresh. At least, the spinach wasn't. Fearless Critic had recommended the simple cheese one (Sirnica), but I went for the Zeljanica, a mix of  eggs, spinach, cottage cheese, and sour cream. But, the doughy pita and the sauce were great. This is pretty heavy food even though the taste is light, so I recommend sharing the pretty generous portion in the full plate, which you'll want since that also adds the ajvar (really balances the light flavor) and sour cream-cucumber salad to your order. The lightness of the pastry, the ajvar, and get the cheese! Or perhaps I just had an unlucky spinach batch.

Vendr's coverage of Ziba's

 

Ziba's Pita and its motherly proprietor came to mind because I looked at my calendar and I'm excited… because this Saturday is the Willamette Week's Eat Mobile Portland Food Cart Festival. They'll be offering samplings from 30 carts, including one I have been hankering ever since I first saw it: Potato Champion. I'll be there ready to burst through the gates when they open, I hope! This is appropriate since the best food I had during my Asia trip was from food carts too- and I am sure that this coming Saturday will offer a wonderfully tasty and varied experience. And yes- Ziba's Pita will be there.

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