Comments on: Brrrr…January Food Cart News

By: Betty47

Betty47 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:30:11 +0000

Thank you for the tips about where to take your cart food inside–I’d never thought/known about those options. Now I won’t have to smell up the whole Max car carrying it home.

By: Big Alice

Big Alice — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:23:07 +0000

The formerly-known-as-the-Russian cart at 10th & Alder has been bought by a Thai vendor and is now a Thai place with an emphasis towards the Pho.
I had the chicken dumpling soup last week and it was fabulous. I recommend the new place, and the proprietor was very friendly.

By: Linny

Linny — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:18:44 +0000

I really enjoy reading your blog, thank you for providing all of these information, they’re really good for people who just moved here

Oh, I read from Ian’s comment that ’I Love Thai Food’ cart has been sold, so today I decided to try out the new cart. The food wasn’t as good and I was sort of disappointed in them ‘I love Thai Food was one of the best Thai food cart so it’s sad to see that they sold it.

By: Cuisine Bonne Femme

Cuisine Bonne Femme — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:32:52 +0000

Thanks for reading Wade. Welcome to Portland and happy cart eating…

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:34:25 +0000

I just wanted to thank you for the great information you have provided, I have only lived in the area for about a year so I am constantly trying to find good places to eat, I’m very familiar with the taco trucks from down south but we didn’t have any carts in my town. I spend a good deal of time in the downtown area since I work in the industrial area and getting good food fairly quickly is a must for me so I will definitely be making my visit to one of the local carts very soon thanks to you, the Japanese food sounded very tempting, possibly today, thanks again, take care

By: Maquette

Maquette — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:23:20 +0000

My other half and I are getting married July 4 with a turn of the century, street carnival themed reception. (Party between 6:00-9:00 in NE) We are trying to find a food cart that would like to “cater” the outside party. Small menu offerings and we pay the bill. Interested? It will be a fun time.
Find us at: maquette7 at yahoo.com

By: hope to be a new cart owner

hope to be a new cart owner — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:40:05 +0000

Hi there Cuisine Bonne Femme, Thank you very much for all the news on the food carts. I may be moving to Portland within months. I was thinking about getting into to the food cart business. But there are a lot of them. What type of food is missing? Will keep in touch. Thank You! PS: keep up the good work!

By: Cuisine Bonne Femme

Cuisine Bonne Femme — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:57:53 +0000

Damn. I loved I love Thai and was planning on writing about them this week. I really really loved their spicy eggplant.

Soon to be cart owner guy, thanks for reading and writing in! There are a lot of carts, but if you are good, dedicated and in a proper location you should have no problem doing well. You also need to decide if you want to try to locate downtown or in one of the other emerging cart areas like Hawthorne, Sellwood or N. Mississippi neighborhood. Your hours, offerings and demand for what you sell will all be affected by these contingencies.

I can’t really answer what is needed. A really good East coast style sandwich (like what Bunk is doing in SE) would probably do great business, and I’ve heard lots of screams for a proper British chips wagon.

My advice would be to come to Portland and spend some time scouting the cart scene. Also, it’s very important that you cook and serve what you know best and what you love to cook and eat yourself.

Perhaps some readers can chime in on what they’d like to see and eat?

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:56:29 +0000

It’s further possible that not even the noodle-based dishes are veg*n, because they definitely don’t have the mushroom-based fish-sauce replacer. Asked to cut the fish oil, any shrimp pastes, any animal-based stocks and eggs for a Pad Kee Mao, I was confident from the taste that they had done so–but it pretty much just tasted like oil and noodles, unlike the complex flavors of ‘I Love Thai Food’s rendition.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:51:57 +0000

One unfortunate bit of additional news–’I Love Thai Food’ cart has been sold by its lovely original proprietors Anne & Jay, and while the new owners seem friendly at first–they’re considerably less veg-friendly, less fresh-friendly, much less friendly to suggestions, and less wallet-friendly. The change in commitment to quality is probably summed up best by the name change they’ve come up with: “I Like Thai Food”.

While originally responding that they could do any dish vegetarian, further questioning reveals (though not promptly) that in fact only the noodle-based dishes can be. Unlike ‘Love,’ they only have chicken stock for their soups and curries–and so far don’t seem to understand that this makes them non-vegetarian; nor do they seem interested in procuring a veg. alternative, despite being told that doing so would behoove them financially here in Portland (perhaps they’re just hoping most people will take them at their initial word, “yes, we can do vegetarian”). They also raised the prices of the dishes to $6, decreased portion sizes, reduced the number of ingredients in the dishes (no more winter squash, no more string beans, no more mushrooms).

A real bummer, because ‘I Love Thai Food’ was serving some of the freshest, most vegan friendly, and most affordable Thai in town for a few months, cart-based or otherwise. Hopefully the new owners will continue to get friendly suggestions to do a little work to become vegetarian-suitable, whilst losing customers over ‘I Love,’ until they realise it’s a worthwhile investment.