Jan 04 2010
Items for sale, YARP?! News and….
Happy New Year. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and are ready for 2010. I had the luxury of attending a private house party in NE where Caraquena Venezuelan cart visited, offering up the masses her tasty empanadas. So cool.
As you know, side cart closed last month, so the owners are selling off some items. If you are a cart in need of a steam table or a fryer, clicky on the words for the Craigslist listings.
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YARP?! is asking for some help from their customers. To cover some immediate expenses, YARP?! is looking for customers to pay forward $15 for future credit at the cart. This way they can get some cash together this week. Find YARP?! at SE 12th and Hawthorne.
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Mark your calendar for January 16 and come up to North Portland. Che Cafe will be having an event with the Oregon Humane Society and offering specials all day. More details as the date gets closer.
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The Sugar Cube at Mississippi Marketplace is closed for January and February. Kir says she’ll be teasing us on Twitter until March with hints on her sweet and sugary spring/summer menu. Ugh. I don’t think I can wait that long.
That’s it for now. Keep on carting.
Seriously? The Sugar Cube just opened. It even opened after most of the other carts on Mississippi did. I have tried to go there five times and all five times it was closed. Don’t get me wrong. I think this is a great cart and a great idea but I swear the Sugar Cube has been written about more than it has been open at their Mississippi location. Is it because it is run by a cute hipster girl? It’s really frustrating to read about how many carts Portland has, yet only the same ones get press again and again. I know Portland has a fascination with hipsters but this is ridiculous. How is she going to pay two months rent while not being open? I don’t want them to go away but if they are never open, how is this cart supposed to survive?
CatBot,
Sometimes a cart plans closures, especially in winter. There are a few that have decided to close instead of trying to stay open in a slow economy. One can only speculate on the finances, so we don’t. I’m glad I was able to enjoy some of her treats before she closed for the winter.
That is a good policy to have and I like how this site gives all carts in Portland that gets reviewed a positive write up on what works for them. But it’s just a little bit frustrating to see one cart get so much press (I.e. oregon and national press) and yet never be open while other carts in Portland that never get their due who are actualy open often and never get mentioned. Look at the sugar cube Twitter feed and see how many times they mentioned they will be closed or just opening early or closing before their posted hours, It’s not your site to blame at all but I thought this might be a good place to vent my frustration on this situation since it is a site about Portland food carts.
CatBot, rant away, that’s fine. I will point out that The Sugar Cube is the only cart specializing in fine desserts, so that could explain why that cart gets more press – it is unique. There are a ton of carts out there that are newer, but are offering up cuisine that is also unique or one of a kind for the Portland Food Cart scene. Do they get more attention? Maybe, but it is also because they are marketing themselves with modern techniques like Twitter or Facebook or blogs. Some carts just don’t do that. They may be the best cart for what they serve and have loyal customers, but without the marketing, the press just may not report on them.
You should also know how The Sugar Cube went through allot of trial’s and had to close for awhile due to electrical problems. Some people spend what little of their saving’s to try out a dream and to do it on their own.All i can say is Sugar Cube is trying hard like so many other’s in the food cart scene, just trying to stay afloat…….
You know i will stick up also for us carts, i have been a chef for a long time and gave it all up to start a cart,is it hard, hell yes, so please please don’t knock it till you try to do one yourself.
catbot… i feel your pain. i was shocked to learn the news firsthand, after walking up to the cart today. my neighbor last week told me he had had “the best cupcake in his life” there.
i just posted a bit of a rant myself on the nuevo mexico review on this site. (it was closed today as well, grrr.)
i have mixed feelings. in the case of nuevo mexico, i just wanna know. (i only have an hour for lunch; even tho its close, knowing ahead of time will help me plan!) and yeah, it feels a little weird that a cart that just opens suddenly closes for months. ugh! (and do i really want to be “teased” about it? haha… what next, my neighbor joining in saying “nyah nyah! best cupcake of my life!”)
its a tough economy, etc, i know. i hope they make it through.
I’d like to say a few things on Sugar Cube’s behalf, and in response to Catbot’s comments. To partially disclose, not only do I own a food cart but I am also fairly familiar with the owner of Sugar Cube and the circumstances that went into her decision to close for a few months. I won’t get into specifics because this isn’t the forum nor is it my place to, but I know that it was a very difficult and extremely reluctant decision that she made.
Operating a food cart is very difficult to begin with, and when you make something as labor-intensive as what Sugar Cube was, is, and will again be putting out, it becomes that much harder (have you ever made a bruleed panna cotta? Me neither). Also factor in that winter is not kind to food carts. Pipes/hoses/tanks freeze, customers don’t show up when it’s raining, baking times get all effed up, etc. I’ve closed my cart when my posted hours said I’d be there, not because I wanted to, but because sometimes the game just gets rained out. Do you blame the umpires for calling it? No, of course not. If I could have alerted the media beforehand to keep even one sad face from turning up to find us closed, I would have. I just don’t have the bat-signal to do it with.
To answer your question, “Is it because its run by a cute hipster girl?” Yes, the owner is cute, and a girl, but please don’t throw “hipster” around like it’s a derogatory term. She works harder than any 10 hipsters you claim to know combined. She’s gotten the press she’s gotten because she busts her ass making the best desserts in the city, and for no other reason than that. She didn’t close because she wanted to. It’s not like she went all “hipster” on her rent payment, said “eff it”, shut it all down and took off to the Bahamas. If she could be here serving up the peoples, she would be. But circumstances are what they are, and sometimes poop happens. (I didn’t want to say poop but I’m keeping it G)
If you want to rant and speculate and name-call someone you’ve probably never met, do it in private. Freedom of speech is not merely a right (begin humming America The Beautiful now) but it is also a great responsibility, and to go into a public forum and speculate without knowledge is irresponsible. Is it “a little weird” to open a food cart and close two months later, xor? It’s as weird as opening a food cart itself. Believe me. This is a tough business to be in, and a tougher business to be successful in.
I can only hope that your reputations are never irresponsibly and publicly tarnished because someone didn’t get to have a cupcake when they wanted one.
Jehnee from Suzette here,
Kir has obviously put a lot of work into her new cart. And through the media, we’ve seen her determination to be open. Closing is very difficult for people who just want to cook! Perhaps write to her and see if she is producing anything for sale somewhere in these off months? I know Moxie had plans to do some stuff this winter, even though they are closed.
In the meantime, hey!, I specialize in fine desserts too!
Sure, we’re a creperie, but desserts are first and true love! Check us out!
Finally, for cupcake lovers, since I just read this over in the tweet section and my mouth started gushing, I gotta spotlight it, at Stella’s on Stark “The Tres Leches Cupcakes w Cajeta De Leche De Cabra Frosting w Yucatan Cocao sauce is the cupcake of the week.”
OK people…please don’t be mad. I am a one woman show and like you I’m just trying to find my way. I did not want to open in the beginning of fall, but I had to secure a space on the lot. The cold temperatures have made things extremely difficult to bake out of the cart…and yes I bake everything out of this tiny space. Temperature control is super important for baking and I want to produce the best quality product I can. I’ve had numerous problems with my cart since the winter has hit and the cold freeze took a serious toll on my pipes and water tanks.
I appreciate everyone’s input and I will be back soon enough to meet your sugar needs. Most likely, from now on I will be a spring,summer and late fall operation and will close up for a few month’s in the winter. That was my intended plan in the first place and I apologize for the lack of communication on my behalf.
What I don’t apologize for is being some kind of hipster gal that is just getting a lot of press for no good reason other than looking…cute.Wtf? I would like to think that I’ve done something different and unique and made some bellies really happy. Everything I make is super labor intensive and is not just thrown together. I take a lot of pride in what I do and I put my heart and soul into that little nibble you’re savoring. That is what drives me to do this crazy job. I will never say that I am perfect or reflect the best business model…I am just trying to do my best…one cupcake, cookie, panna cotta at a time!:)
Much Love!
Kir
No disrespect to the cupcake goddess – but in defense of CatBot, I gotta chime in here. First off… If the damn things weren’t so good no one would care or bother. But CB has a point- I have been a fan of SC since her inception off Alder. But that too only lasted for a short bit. Tease #1. But there does seem to have been a pr overload propping Kir up as the face of Portland food carts both local and national media. This is something that I feel may have gnawed at a lot of very long time / full time cart artists. It’s a expectation of “payin’ your dues” kinda thing. There are many cart culinary savants and old timers who have been in place (year ’round – full time) that seemed to have gotten the brush off in favor of a cute food cart poster girl who admits to seasonal defeats and actually gets more press explaining that she is not open for business. .02