Kitchen Dances
CLOSED
Location: SE 43rd and Belmont
Hours: Tues-Sat, 11-9
The Story:
The other day, I met a great soul in Piper Dixon, owner of Kitchen Dances, and hope to meet more individuals who are as educated and committed to their craft as he is.
Piper is the former owner and head chef at the St. Johns restaurant Proper East and has developed his skills in the kitchen over the years, most recently having a food booth at the Montavilla Farmers’ Market. Piper had been thinking of opening a cart and when approached by Good Food Here, the puzzle pieces fell into place and he was able to launch his amazingly cute little red cart featuring a menu of vegan dishes. I spoke with Piper the day we visited and he struck me as one of those individuals who would share his bread with you even if he hadn’t eaten in days – a kind, gentle person who truly values personal interactions. Throughout his life, he has been influenced by writers, musicians and others who believe in the same farmer-chef-eater relationship. Everything he cooks is either from his own garden or from local farms like Deep Roots, Gathering Together Farm, Frog Meadow, Simplicity Gardens, Two Forks or Groundworks. Supporting local farmers is second nature for Kitchen Dances.
Golden Beet Ravioli
Piper has a robust menu of vegan dishes including sandwiches, raw food dishes and pastries. We chose the golden beet ravioli as I had been introduced to it the previous week when on a different food cart tour. Thin slices of butter golden beet layered with basil-hazelnut pesto, cashew pine nut cheese, and topped with fresh heirloom tomato marinara make up this amazing dish. The pesto and the cheese (which isn’t cheese) add a wonderful texture, both chunky and smooth, to the beet and tomato. I think I could actually taste how fresh the tomatoes were even though we commiserated about how our gardens didn’t do as well as we liked. Everyone at the table, including the meat eaters thought it was one of the most flavorful dishes they had eaten.
Kitchen Dances is open for lunch through dinner at Good Food Here most of the week and into the weekend. The cart in and of itself is enough for you to visit, one with open doors on every side, welcoming you in. Drop on by and try some of Piper’s dishes and let him know Food Carts Portland sent ya.
Sample Menu:
- Golden Beet Ravioli – golden beets filled with basil-hazelnut pesto, cashew pinenut cheese, fresh heirloom tomato marinara and a side salad – $7
- Raw veggie plate – choice of raw hummus or raw pesto with raw sprouted crackers and seasonal veggies – $8
- Tempeh Reuben – baked tempeh, caramelized onions, creamy reuben sauce and sauerkraut on rye bread served with a side salad – $7.50 – gluten free bread available.
- Nachos – organic blue corn chips, spiced walnut meat, seasonal veggies, and tofu cilantro sour cream – $7
Hours: Tues-Sat, 11-9, Sun
Phone: 503-477-8317
I’ve eaten at Kitchen Dances a few times. Piper’s ability to combine texture and flavor blows my mind. I’d be vegan if I could cook like that man!
GREAT FOOD YOU GOT TO TRY IT MY KIDS AND I TRIED THE NACHO’S THEY WERE GREAT AS WELL AS THE REST OF EVERYTHING WE TRIED GREAT JOB PIPER
Great food, and great people running the shop. These guys make the Good Food Here lot the best one yet!
YAY! So glad to see Kitchen Dances featured here. I’m from Seattle but visited the SE 43rd & Belmont Pod last weekend…even though I’m a devout carnivore, I just had to try the Golden Beet Ravioli from Kitchen Dances. The dish was wonderful! It actually has single-platedly made me more curious about vegan/raw foods. This is a food cart I will definitely recommend to Seattle folk heading south to PDX.
Hands down; one of the best food carts in Portland. Piper is an amazing chef and super nice guy. I have had the reuben and walnut meat tacos. Both are 5 starts. Top notch cart! Thanks, Piper!
I’ve tried three times in the last couple weeks to go to KD at dinnertime to no avail… closed! Even on a non-rainy Friday night (tonight). Any scoop on their winter hours?
Hello,
Sorry that we missed you friday night. We had a family emergency that required us to close. Our winter hours are posted on facebook under Kitchen Dances. Please check there for that information. We will post any unexpected closures in the future. Thank you for your support. See you soon.
Thanks for the tip on the Facebook page. I didn’t know there was one. I left a message for you there
The Golden Beet Ravioli was delicious!!! I want to go back and try everything else.
This is my favorite cart in the city, probably the world. I,ve had everything on the menu and it’s all good. It’s super yummy and good for you too. He uses local seasonal ingredients and lots of veggies. I can’t wait to go back.
I really wish there were proper hours for this place. My wife heard the tempeh reuben was to die for, so she called and had me drive the 40 blocks to get some take-home for dinner. This page clearly says open til 9pm Mon-Sat and I got there last night at 5:30 (Monday evening): CLOSED. So disappointing. I don’t have Facebook so no way for me to see their “winter hours” as mentioned in another post.
Michael, I just visited their Facebook page and here are their published hours. We’ll update the post. Sorry, we are sometimes unable to keep track of the changing hours of all the carts.
Tues – Thurs:
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Fri – Sat:
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Thanks Dieselboi, you are very helpful. I’ll give them another try this week. Cheers.
Our hours are currently: 11 am-8 pm Tues.-Sat
Will be staying open later soon.
Kitchen Dances
Kitchen Dances cooks fantastic vegan food. This cart is gourmet quality. So far, I’ve had five different items and they were all great. My favorite is the reuben. I’m from a Chicago suburb and grew up on great deli food. Piper’s reuben is BETTER than any of the traditional meat based reubens that I’ve eaten. Don’t forget to try the soups. Yum. Really yum. The deserts are delicious too. Kudos to Mandy who makes them. I love this place! Can you tell?
D.
The vegan cheesecake and cupcakes at Kitchen Dances taste sinfully orgasmic.
Fix your hours! Grrrrrr. Walnut Taco craving un-met. 7:30 on a Monday and closed.
Jason,
The post states they are not open on Mondays. Tues-Sat, 11-9.
I’m here right now Tuesday at 2:07PM Again…and they are closed. Soooooo. Yea…
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Been luving picking up your wonderful hummus and cashew cheese at People’s Food Co-op. The availability has been a little sporadic lately, hope your managing to keep up with your popularity
. Hope to see the shelves full again soon …Peace
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We are currently open wed-sat 11-9 and sunday 11-6 and our number is 971-269-6868. Be well, Kitchen Dances
congrats on the win
Pretty sure Kitchen Dances is no more, which is a shame because I loved their food. Another awesome vegan place bites the dust.
with Piper in Hawaii, not sure what was going on, heard through the vine that they might have at it in a bigger cart who knows, but if so good luck Mandy hope it all works out.