Porridge

CLOSED
Location: E Burnside at 7th

The Story:

Another brilliantly reclaimed and well appointed travel trailer turned food cart has opened. As you roll up N Albina either driving or on your bike, you can’t help but snap your head at the bright green cart gleaming in the lot.

Porridge is the work of Kristin Nekovar who worked on this cool trailer over the winter in order to open her very own cart. While most who redesign carts put stainless steel throughout the inside, Kristin went the other way and used reclaimed cabinetry and other items in order to make it actually feel like an old trailer – albeit one with a commercial kitchen. Where you normally would have the sleeping nook, Kristen used that space to store raw goods in jars. Kristin’s goal is to serve up dishes made from scratch with her own recipes.

I was in the need for a great sandwich with some meat on it. While Slow and Low just 10ft away was tempting me with their pulled pork aroma, I wanted to try something new. Porridge has a wide ranging menu including sandwiches, both meat and veggie, soups and stews, salads, treats and cold freshly made drinks. The Big CS Smoked Pork sandwich was calling out to me, not because of the smoked pork, but that it offered a hoisin-nectarine glaze and a jicama slaw. The sandwich itself is a monster – much larger than I expected, yet well rounded. Hoisin and nectarine go together well and when cooked down, create that sweet crust that just melts on your tongue. Couple that with the crunchy jicama slaw and the melted Swiss and…damn, a great sandwich. If you have never tried jicama, I highly recommend it. It kinda like putting together an apple and a potato as a root vegetable. The sandwich was so large, I enjoyed it over a couple of meals.

Porridge makes its own specialty lemonade and all proceeds from each sale go to support sending a Portland youth to Camp Kindle, a non profit camp for kids infected with or affected by HIV or AIDS. Grab a lemonade, help some kids. A great way to help out the community. Porridge is now open and serving up some wonderful nosh. Head north to the new pod by Albina Press and let them know Food Carts Portland sent ya.

Sample Menu:

(full menu on Porridge’s website)

• Chicken and Greens salad: fresh greens topped with roasted chicken, sliced apples, toasted almonds, red cabbage and warm honey-mustard pan sauce – $7
• Cucumber Salad: shaved cucumbers tossed in sweet sesame vinaigrette – $2.50
• Crumpetwich: fresh crumpet topped with egg, cheese, smoked mushrooms, black forest ham, and Porridge pepper sauce – $5
• Big CS Smoked Pork Sandwich: Porridge smoked pork loin, topped with Swiss cheese, hoisin-nectarine glaze and jicama slaw – $7
• Herb infused lemonade: $2

Hours: Open daily except Wednesdays, 11am-6pm
Phone: 503 780 4720
Website: PortlandPorridge.com