[Closed - Updated, 2/2011]
Location: SW 3rd and Ash [updated 11/2010]
Hours: M-F 7am-5pm
The Story:
If visiting a cart where the individual serving you was wearing a kilt and had a strong brogue accent, wouldn’t you think it is pretty darn authentic? That was how we discovered a brand new cart – Celtic Foods.
Sausage Rolls with HP sauce
Donavon and Mike are the two gentlemen behind this great new cart serving traditional Celtic fare. Donovan, wearing a kilt, a sporran (traditional “purse” worn with a kilt,) and a Glengarry cap, was everything I would picture from someone serving up a Scotch Egg. The menu at Celtic Foods is broad, offering breakfast and lunch items all for under $4. One item, the Cornish pasty has a strong history in the British Isles. Donovan told us that the pasty, a beef and vegetable filled pastry, was designed with the harder crust edges so the miners could eat it with their blackened hands. They would devour everything but that hard edge which would be discarded, blackened by the coal dust. Way to think green guys!
Steak and Guinness Pie
Celtic food served here is a rich mixture of steak, sausage, vegetables and puff pastry. Pot pies, pasties, sausage rolls and assorted salads make up a diverse and full flavored menu. The steak and Guinness pie reminded me of the pot pies we use to eat as snacks when I was younger, but with broader flavors. Made with steak and mushrooms in a rich beef gravy made with Guiness beer, this dish will become a Portland fave once the weather starts to cool. The sausage rolls were exactly what you would think, Irish “Limerick” sausage wrapped in puff pastry. Dip them in a bit of HP sauce and you have a great little snack.
Celtic Food is now open in the ever expanding 3rd Ave lot off SW Stark. They open for breakfast at 7am serving sausage and eggs on a roll or Irish bacon and eggs on a roll. You can even get the famous Scotch Egg. Venture down that way and give Donovan and Mike a holler and welcome them to the food cart scene. Let them know Food Carts Portland sent ya.
Sample Menu:
Breakfast served 7am-11am
- Scottish sausage and eggs on a roll – $4
- Irish bacon and eggs on a roll – $4
- Vegan sausage and eggs on a roll – $4
- add cheese – $.50
Lunch served 11am-5pm
- Cornish Pasty: combination of steak and vegetables in puff pastry – $4
- Chicken Dijon pot pie: chunks of chicken breast and mushroom in a creamy white wine sauce – $4
- Steak and Guiness pie: steak and mushrooms in a rich beef gravy with Guinness – $4
- Vegetable Pie: eggplant, zucchini, tomato and red peppers in a pastry shell topped with cheese – $4
- Cheese and Onion pastry: cheese, onion and potatoes wrapped in a puff pastry – $4
- 2 Manx Bangers with grilled onions – $4
- Scotch Egg – hard boiled egg wrapped in a coating of sausage rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried – $3
- 2 sausage rolls: Irish Limerick sausage meat wrapped in puff pastry – $4
Hours: Monday-Friday, 7am-5pm
Phone: 503 869 7559
This is the BEST sausage roll I have ever had in the US. It takes me back to cold rainy days living in London.
This is a definite must have!!!
Very nice! I’m on my way right now. Think I’m trying the Manx Bangers with grilled onions.
everything on the menu is delicious!! makes me homesick for the north of Ireland-thanks, lads, for giving us the real thing!
Had a bit of a weird experience with this one. The guy running this cart was setting up on what I assume was his first day (he didn’t have his kilt or anything that day) and having some trouble with things, so he kindly offered to write me a note so that I could get a free steak pie another day since he wasn’t able to provide one there and then.
While he wrote the note I glanced over the menu and saw the Manx bangers – my family originates on the Isle of Man, so I asked if he was from there. I got a sort of death glare in response and a “No, I just didn’t want anything English on the menu.”
Yeah, I’m English. It was pretty uncomfortable. Sorry about the potatoes and the troubles dude, I just wanted a pie. I swear I had nothing to do with it.
I had a great steak and Guinness pie. Looking forward to the rest of the menu.
You might want to think over your decision to create a category titled “English Isles” to contain this entry. The term “British Isles” is already deemed controversial by some, and it appears that the owner has taken particular care to exclude England as much as possible (see the above report and notice that, in the picture above, the flags of Scotland, Ireland and Wales are featured while the flags of England and the UK don’t seem to be present).
Great food and for a great price. Each day I’ve been there in the couple weeks it’s been open I’ve had something different and I’m impressed with it all. Yesterday I did the Steak & Guinness pie and I couldn’t believe how good it was!
For another buck you grab a vinegarette cole slaw or a pepper, onion, & tomato salad to perfectly complement the meaty, pastry dish for a paltry $4. Walk to the waterfront to eat it and everyone wants to know where it came from.
Nice to see most of the 3rd/stark pos is open late at night, discovered this one by accident, had the Sausage Rolls, Potato Salad and shortbread. Shortbread was great, just like my grandmothers, Sausage rolls were the best in Portland (sorry, New Zealand ones are better…), will be back to try the Steak pie based on reviews above
The best Cornish pastie that I have eaten outside of Cornwall. Last time I looked there were seven Celtic nations and England was not one of them. In fact most English friends would not be venting, except to the person in question ergo I believe that the upset person would be of British decent.
Just want to clarify that I personally have no issue with England being omitted from a place called Celtic Foods, and the “English Isles” category made me cringe so I have to agree with Anthony on that one. I just didn’t care to be met with what felt like hostility about the English. My earlier comment was a heads-up to other local English folk that they may not get a friendly welcome, not a rant of how-dare-he-run-his-cart-as-he-wishes.
I hope the owner was just having a bad day or something (it certainly looked like everything was going wrong), or maybe we just got off on the wrong foot altogether. I haven’t yet worked up the courage to go back and open myself up to another potentially awkward situation. I have a little sigh to myself every time I walk past because his menu has a lot of foods that I miss from home.
After reading the Celtic vs. English comments here, I’m glad that this website does not have a section called ‘Foods from the Holy Land’. hee hee
“If visiting a cart where the individual serving you was wearing a kilt and had a strong brogue accent, wouldn’t you think it is pretty darn authentic?”
This may indeed be the most unintentionally hilarious sentence I’ve ever read on this site.
I had the sausage rolls here last week and they were good.
Way too much schtick though. Pretty embarassing, really, but understandable as I guess they figure that’s what sells.
But wait…isn’t this Indian land? I’m an Indian, and why aren’t these folk and everyone else payin’ me rent and flying my peoples flag? Just had to throw in my two cents into the foray, tongue in cheek of course.
DAMNED GOOD FOOD, folk. DAMNED GOOD! Even wrote a review on my own blog for it. I had the Jacobite and the Sausage Rolls. Holy cow! “You people” (again, tongue in cheek) make and eat some damned good food. Thanks!
Many blessings to you both and may your cart be more successful than you ever imagined.
Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask, how do you say “DAMNED GOOD” in Gaelic?
reply to Linz-Mike, the Scottish born and Irish raised owner, has a physical handicap that troubles his eyes. what you took for a “DEATH GLARE” was actually his disability. he is legally blind. I am sorry you are so oversensitive you are afraid to go back and chat them up, you would find both Mike and Donovan to be utterly charming, and they only predjudice i have ever seen either man exhibit in 20 years is a strong intolerance of eejits of any nationality!
it is a shame that rather than communicate, you choose instead to trash someone’s business. nice!
makes one wonder who is the antagonist in this centuries old conflict! i am sorry to see the only comments from English folk are both a little weird (the potato reference was just rude, and still painful, thank you very much) unfriendly and slightly paranoid. can’t we all just get along??
Donovan and Mike have both expressed great empathy and pity for the English people, as after all, they were the first to be conquered and oppressed by the British Empire!!
Eugene, you are dead on about stolen land, the irony never escapes my notice! and by the way, “dammed Good” in Irish is:
“ana mhaith” (means very good, pronounnced ah-nah-WAH)
or you can use the expression “go h iontach” (means brilliant, pronounnced ga-hin-tuck)
This South Armagh lass loves the Celtic Foods cart!
GO LADS!!
I found Mike and Donovan at Celtic Foods one morning while hunting down breakfast. Breakfast came in the fashion of a sausage patty with an egg, mushrooms in a tomato-based sauce, and a slice of cheese in some kind of bun. It was the best damned breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had. I do not know enough about food to give names to it’s components, but they all came together phenomenally.
After the first one, I had a cup of the Scottish Blend tea and discussed the finer points of Thai food and Volkswagen engineering with the proprietors. One of the finest breakfast experiences I’ve had in the city of Portland, and it only cost me five dollars. I’m going back as soon as I can for the Cornish Pasty and the Steak and Guiness Pie.
I’m English. William Bradford was my grandfather. My family has been here since old will docked the Mayflower. I say those chaps are cool. There grub is not dodgy and neither are they. SO he looks at you funny, so what! Have you ever been to my place? I ‘m crazy. I yell and scream and throw things around like a mental patient.
My grandmother was born in Scotland, and I wish she were still around to enjoy an awesome Scotch egg. So many places overcook the sausage.
Really though? Anyone who enjoys meat will enjoy a tummy-filling meal here. The sausage rolls are lovely.
Maybe I’ll send one of the office vegetarians to sample the veggie versions . . .
@maire
Well, aren’t I the jackass. Won’t be the last time, I am sure. Sorry to have offended you and “trashed” these guys, that wasn’t really my intention. I was more confused than anything and hoped that I was wrong, but I have had enough unmistakably hostile encounters with no trigger besides my accent that this time I made an assumption, and we all know what that makes. Absolutely my bad. Thanks for setting me straight.
This place is great! Real scottish food done right. The sausage rolls are especially delicious.
My parents were born and raised in Ireland and insisted I go down and try this cart for its real Irish sausage and I have to say I have been back several times and have yet to try something that wasn’t outstanding or worthy of recommendation to friends. Bonus points for the bang for your buck and friendly owners/chefs. As for the Ireland/England thing, it is just great to have food from this part of the world and back in the day we did enjoy eating at Limey’s (RIP) at the Saturday Market, but this is a notch above that for sure! Keep up the good work and try these nice guys if you haven’t!
Excellent location and quality food equals success.
Stopped by this week to partake of a cornish pasty. Absolutely delicious, these guys know the authentic texture, taste and contents of the traditional convenient food of the Isles.
This food exceeds the pie, pasty and sausage roll that was a staple during my youth, growing up in Wales UK.
Well done lads….
Quick history lesson. The Celts are one of two nations. The Gaelic ( Irish, Manx and Western Scotland)
Britonic (NW France, Cornwall and Wales). Both nations speak their own language, and have their own staple foods. Celtic Foods is an appropriate name for the food served… and its delicious.
Dioch yn Fawr.
I tried the Cornish Patsy and the sausage rolls they were Amazing. Vendor makes his the Sausage himself out of pork shoulder. open on Saturdays unlike other carts
Just FYI, Scotch eggs aren’t from Scotland.
Scotch eggs were invented by an Englishman in the 1800″s.
You have to try the sausage rolls and the Bangers! The vendor makes them himself. It was a great meal for $4, very hearty. The bacon that goes into the sausage really sets it off. Also, one of a few carts open on Saturday.
I found Celtic Foods for the first time on Monday when I needed lunch and happened to turn down just the right street. The Steak and Guinness pie is so phenomenal that I scheduled that very Saturday around getting downtown to eat lunch there – in fact, I went back twenty minutes after that lunch to get two more pies for dinner (I needed to find and ATM, but it was worth it: the pies were incredible at the cart, and unbelievable out of the oven). The steak is perfectly cooked, the sauce is a brilliant complement to it, and the pie crust is buttery and flaky but still strong enough to hold the whole pie if you’re hungry enough to eat it without a fork.
As of November 6th, 2010, Celtic Foods has moved to 3rd and Ash. I recommend this place to absolutely everyone, and you’ll find me there on and off throughout the week, and every Saturday for lunch (and probably ordering dinner, too).
Went by the cart – they are open 11am to 3pm Monday through Sat. and again for now Thur through Sat 8pm or so untill late
1.11.2011 Went to its spot today and the cart was gone, all the other carts in that pod were closed too. What’s going on
IN THE WINTER MONTHS CARTS SEEM TO GO WED THRU SUN UNTILL SPRING OR MAYBE IT WAS A FAMILY THING TRY THEM TOMORROW I KNOW THEY ARE WELL KNOWN I DONT THINK THEY WOULD BE CLOSED DUING THE WEEK
Is the Celtic cart back yet — I need to visit it. The reviews make my mouth water.
Are they closed? I haven’t seen them around in a while…
For the sake of adding to the conversation, I was born in L.A.