Jul 01 2009
The Keys to the Kingdom
When I started Food Carts Portland in September of 2007, I had no idea what it might become. I had no idea how many carts there were in Portland. I had no idea how popular and outstanding many of them are. I had no idea there would be a fierce, fun and rapidly growing community of incredible cart owners and food cart fans; not just in PDX but on a national level as well. I had no idea how many wonderful people I would meet, and how many new and fantastic opportunities running this site would bring me. I had no idea how much work this site would be, but I also had no idea how much fun I would have running the site. Fast forward to June 2009.
It is with some sadness, but a whole bunch of excitement, that I am announcing some big changes coming to Food Carts Portland. Due to work duties and other priorities, and a mostly full-time relocation to somewhere far away from the Northwest, I am now handing over the site to Dieselboi. He’s been doing a swell job helping me the past few months anyway, and has already stepped in to take over a lot of the day to day operations. I know he’ll do a great job.
So here’s the deal: I’ll still be involved for at least the next six months. I’ll still be writing for the site when I’m back in Portland (if Dieselboi will let me), and I will still be just as committed to supporting Portland’s wonderful food cart scene. Dieselboi is now in charge of the site including moderating comments, editorial content, media relations and all other communications.
I want to thank everyone here who’s helped us make Food Carts Portland what it is. There are too many to list all of you by name, so my apologies in advance. Thanks to our readers and commentors; all those writers who have graciously provided the site with your voices; Guilty Carnivore for creating the banner; and the Portland and national media and bloggers who have been terrific about mentioning and linking to the site.
Of course a GIANT WET KISS and BEAR HUG to all of the hard-working, creative and talented cart folks. You all are the real heroes here, and I know how hard you all work and how intense and grueling your jobs can be at times. Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing Portland with such terrific food at such terrific prices.
I’m even going to thank some of the good people at the City of Portland and Multnomah County who, unlike most other municipalities in other places, are actually quite supportive of Portland’s food carts and work hard to keep advocating for the carts within the city “machine”. I know it ain’t easy sometimes.
We have something very special here in Portland with our food carts, and it’s because of all of you.
I do need to give extra special thanks to Food Dude from Portland Food and Drink. He’s the invisible hand and guiding force behind Food Carts Portland. He’s the one who built the site, let’s me hog up his server bandwidth, responds to my 2AM panicked emails when I need something fixed, and has always been nothing but encouraging, helpful and inspirational. In fact, you all can really thank Food Dude for this site in the first place. He’s the one that got me back into food writing after an absence of many years, and was the one that suggested I start a special site just for food carts. Thanks Food Dude. Your absolute patience, mentoring and friendship means more to me than you’ll ever know. And if you want to thank him yourself, please go leave a donation over at Portland Food and Drink.
That said, please feel free to stay in touch. I can be reached at Cuisinebonne at that gmail dot com address, or Dieselboi can get you in touch with me here. I travel a lot, all over the world in fact, and love meeting up with old friends and new faces. But if you ever find yourself in my newly adopted home city, give me a holler. We’ll grab a Lucky Dog or a Snowball together.
So Dieselboi, take it away…
Happy Cart Eating,
Cuisine Bonne Femme
Very well written. It’s sad to see you go, and too bad we didn’t meet. All the best to you and to Dieselboi!
I’m sad that you are leaving. But I’m so excited for you too. Thank you for starting this Web site as I have used it many times to figure out my lunch plans for the day which sounds small but is VERY important to me. Good luck. And you will be missed.
Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez — Cuisinebonne, you’ve done a great job with this site. I was new to Portland only a couple of years ago, and you helped open my eyes to this city and its best qualities. All the best with your new gig!
I’m sad and excited at the same time. I send people to the site nearly as regularly as I use it myself and have come to rely on it dearly. It’s because of this site that I’ve become such a fan of Portland’s food carts. You should be very proud.
Best of luck to you with your new adventures and I look forward to reading more of Dieselboi’s posts about the ever-growing cart scene.
Happy travels, Cuisinebonne! What an incredible thing you’d done for Portland’s food culture – I’ve never seen anything like this elsewhere!
Dieselboi, Portland is really exited for you, mister!
Forkfly also wants all the carts to jump on if they’re not already.
Their service is being offered for * free * to carts for a very limited time!
I think I speak for most of the cart owners when I say thanks for all the support. You’ve been instrumental in making the PDX cart scene what it is. We at Yarp?! hope that your new life in a new city will be full of good food and good people. Anytime yer in Puddleton come down to Yarp?! and let us show our appreciation.
Fortunately you are leaving the site in good hands. Dieselboy is a worthy replacement, although I don’t think I’ve met him personally, I do think I’ve seen him lurking at Whiffies waiting for pie. So the offer goes out to him as well. Wander over to Yarp?! sometime and introduce yourself; we’d like to extend our appreciation to you as well.
I’m gonna miss ya. Big round of virtual applause everyone of all of CBF’s hard work.
I am so honored to have been asked by CBF to write for FoodCartsPortland. This site was one I put on a pedestal. CBF is an amazing resource for all things food and drink and I have learned so much from her over the last few months. I can’t say enough how thankful I am to know CBF and be included in this amazing period of Portland’s food culture. Keep it up.
I only hope I can live up to all of your expectations.
See you at the carts!
I was wondering what was going on with the quietude from you… good luck on your future plans! Dieselboi is teh awesome and will make sure we get our weekly cart fixes… ^_^
Hey Dieselboi,
Congrats on the new gig.
Jim
(formerly of Green Dragon, Belgian Embassy… now in Bellingham, Wash.)
We will miss you here at Asian Station. You were the first to introduce us to Portland and gave us such wonderful feedback. Good luck on your future endeavors and come by and say hi whenever you are back in the NW! Cindy and Mel
Wow, thanks for all the kind words and support. Means a lot to me.
I’ll miss all your posts CBF, best of luck in your new locale. I hope you can be as supportive of food carts there as you are here. Dieselboi, you are a worthy replacement, and I’m sure you’ll continue CBF’s great work.
Ooh, an idea just popped into my head. I think there should be comparison posts. Which cart makes the best pad thai, steak burrito.. you get the idea.
This is one of my absolute favorite blogs, thank you so much to everyone for making it possible!
Best of luck big sis! You’ve been a great supporter of me and my cart. Once you’re settled…I’m coming down to see you and we can sit in Southern slow time…eating up some fried deliciousness…like beignets. This blog is super fantastic and I think it’s a great inspiration to food lovers and dream seekers.
Much Love!
Thank you for this site!! When I first started working downtown about 4 yrs ago, my goal was to keep lunches out around $5, which obviously led me to the food carts! This site has been huge in keeping me updated about new carts and new pods, and I am eternally amazed how I can eat food from around the world within a mile of my work.
Thank you, thank you! And thanks to dieselboi for stepping up to continue its prosperity.
It official, CBF your out of here. Good luck on your future endeavors. Dieselboi, Portland Pedal Power looks forward to working with you.
Thank you so much for all of your hard work! Good luck!