Location:

The Story:

There was a time, not so long ago, when there was a dearth of food carts serving the neighborhoods. Every so often, a taco truck would setup shop, but rarely would they become a mainstay. In the first decade of the 21st century, North Portland revitalized itself with new blood and new ideas, re-creating a myriad of bright and vibrant neighborhoods where there were once abandoned houses. Some of the new residents realized there were few options for eating, so they setup restaurants and bars. Another resident, David Stokamer, envisioned something totally different and opened his first food cart on north Lombard. Portland was introduced to the Dutch Taco, the first waffle sandwich.

At this point, Portland knows about the waffle as part of our daily offerings from the food carts and beyond. A breakfast item relegated to the freeway diners over the years, carts like Flavour Spot and subsequently Parkers Waffles and Wicked Waffles re-introduced it to Portland, but with pizazz. As a child I had always wondered what it would be like to mix bits of ham or sausage in with the batter of the waffle. While you don’t see that at the purveyors today, you do see the carts using the waffle where we would normally see a tortilla – wrapped around either sweet or savory fillings. Sausage. Ham. Gouda. Strawberries. Whip cream. You name it, Flavour Spot has it for their Dutch Taco.

Flavour Spot’s latest cart has opened in downtown at the new Lot 94 at SW 3rd and Ash. The bright fire-engine red cart allows for an expanded menu to include eggs and fresh fruit daily. You can take your pick of ham, 3 different types of bacon, sausage, strawberries, blueberries – you name it, they probably have it. I needed something to fill my gullet the other morning, so opted for the Sausage and Maple. Three sausages with pure organic maple spread inside a toasty crisp waffle. The maple was so thick and sweet, I don’t think I have ever actually had it pure. It mixed well with the pleasing porky flavor of the sausage. The waffle was crisp throughout, something required in my book. Overall, one tasty breakfast.

Flavour Spot is old school, having been around when food carts were just something you ate at on a whim. Yet, David has survived, grown and expanded, proving that you can make a living with a waffle. Kudos to you sir. Flavour Spot at Lot 94 is open for breakfast and lunch weekdays and on Saturday and hopes to expand to late night hours soon. When you get that craving for something sweet and unique, visit the original, Flavour Spot, and let them know Food Carts Portland sent ya.

Sample Menu:

7″ waffles baked to order

• Sausage and Maple: pork sausage patties with organic maple spread – $5 [veggie patties available for extra $.50]
• Sweet Cream and Jam: whipped cream cheese with organic strawberry or raspberry jam – $3.75
• Sweet Cream with lemon or Nutella – $3.75
• Ham and Cheese: black forest ham with cheddar cheese – $4.50; with Smoked Gouda – $4.75
• MB9: organic maple spread, 6 slices of Canadian bacon, 3 strips domestic bacon – $6
• S’More: marshmallow fluff and Nutella – $3.75
• Daily specials featuring eggs, fresh seasonal fruit.

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-1pm; Saturday, 10am-2pm
Phone: 503 282 YUMM
Website: FlavourSpot.com

Location:

The Story: This cart’s mission is an attempt to accomplish several things at once. It’s partially solar powered, sources most of its food from within a 200 mile radius, serves all manner of sweet and savory waffles to hungry Portlanders, and  is also a non-profit training program for at risk youth in the community. Whew! From the Solar Waffle Works menu:

The SWW is a non-profit operation run in partnership by Portland Pubic Schools’ Community Transition Program and the SolTrekker non-profit. It is a vocational training program is socially responsible business and entrepreneurship, designed and operated by young adults in the community transition program. All proceeds go to support local education!

We are currently sourcing the majority of our food within a 200 mile radius. Our goal is to source it ALL within that radius within six months. We currently us 400-watts of solar modules to run about 50% of our electrical loads. We hope to add a total of 900-watts within 18 months.

Ambitious? Yes. Flavorful, substantial waffles? Most definitely. Vegan and Vegetarian friendly, and of course Solar Waffle Works is open for breakfast/brunch on the weekends.

Maple Bacon Waffle

Sample Menu: (Most waffles can be “veganized” for $1.00, and Buckwheat Waffles are an additional $1.00)

• The Wiffle Waffle – $2.50 Topped with butter and your choice of powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar.
• The Old Fashioned Waffle – $3.00 Pure Maple Syrup Spread Caressing a Golden brown waffle. Deelish! One of our most popular waffles.
• The Luft-Waffle – $3.00 All natural peanut butter and your choice of jellies
• Becka’s Blueberry Pie Waffle – $4.00 Blueberry jam on top of cream cheese spread
• Make Your Own Waffle $2.50, plus $0.50 per topping. Nutella, Blueberry Jam, Raspberry Jam, Blueberry Syrup, Fig Spread, Chocolate Syrup, Toasted Hazelnuts, Whipped Cream, Mallow Fluff, Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup
• The Real Gouda $4.50 Garlic herb butter topped w/ veggie sausage and smoked Gouda cheese. Green onions optional. Add mushrooms $0.50
• The Good Gravy – $5.00 White gravy with your choice of veggie sausage, mushrooms, Gouda cheese, or any combination
• The Maple Bacon – $5.00 Five strips of apple wood smoked bacon on top of a maple spread.

Beverages – Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Juice Spritzers ($0.75 to $1.75)

Hours: Note, this cart is often closed during Portland Public School holidays. Call ahead for hours. Generally open M-F 11am to 2:30 pm, Thurs/Fri 4pm to 8pm, Saturday 9:30 am to 3:30 pm and then 6 pm to 11 pm, Sunday 9:30 am to 3:30 pm

Phone: 503-351-4657

Email: soltrekker.outreach@gmail.com

Location:

The Story:

There was a time North Portland offered little in the way of food cart options. There was often a forlorn roaming taco truck or two serving the industrial areas of Columbia Blvd and Marine Drive and a couple of fly by night BBQ trailers,  but outside of the Mexican cart on Killingsworth and Interstate NoPo was a cart wasteland. Visionaries like Jr Ambassadors and especially Flavourspot lead the way to the North Portland pods and carts now popping up like mushrooms in the wet Oregon woods. We really tip our hat to Flavourspot who had the foresight to know several years ago that food carts were a genius business model and that waffles + North Portland would equal something inexpensive and wonderful for Portland diners.

Now we have Wicked Waffles in the North Station cart pod on the corner of N Killingsworth and Greeley. Wicked has already received lots of positive press, and indeed owner Jeanne Subotnick is well known by Portlanders for her Shakers Cafe in the Pearl District and other restaurant endeavors. Everyone and their son it seems have now finally caught onto the food cart trend.

Wicked Waffles is indeed a mother and son team that serves, you guessed it, waffles. Yet, WW has their own twist in the waffle game with different kinds of batters such as Oatmeal Raisin or Blue Corn. No Ms. Butterworth or House of Pancake type toppings here. Expect high quality and careful preparation with seasonal fruits and jams, and house made syrups. Wicked Waffles also serves up eggs and sausage with their waffles creating a full meal deal. It looks like there’s another alternative for breakfast in the area when the brunch lines at places like Little Red Bike or Gravy are too swamped.

When I visited, America and the world were in the final days of the 2010 Winter Olympics and per Wicked Waffle’s plans, they offered up “The Maple Leaf, Eh?,” a vanilla bean waffle wrapped around a savory pork sausage patty and scrambled eggs. Tasty. Since then, they have offered up other daily specials including a St. Patrick’s day special of a waffle with corned beef and cabbage.

Some might wonder, in a city with plenty of food carts, breakfast joints and an area of town with two waffle carts already, is there really room for a third? Time will tell, but we do know there is always room for more good, inexpensive food in Portland. Wicked Waffles is open daily and the pod offers indoor seating for rainy days. When you visit, and I know you will, let them know Food Carts Portland sent ya.

Sample Menu:

• The Wicked Waffle: cinnamon and sugar coated vanilla bean waffle – $3
• 4 Seasons Waffle: vanilla bean waffle with NW seasonal fruit – $5
• Blue Moon: blue corn waffle with honey and pecan butter – $5
• Waffle and Gravy: Jeanne’s southern bacon-sausage gravy smothering the waffle – $6
• The Plain Jane: create your own starting with a vanilla bean waffle – $2.50
• Wicked Perfect: yellow corn waffle with Tillamook Cheese and 3 strips of bacon – $6
• Blueberry Hill: sweet Mexican vanilla batter waffle sprinkled with blueberries – $5
• Belly Hai: vanilla bean waffle with pineapple chunks, sliced banana, topped with coconut infused yogurt – $5

Lunch:

• The Veggiewich: folded waffle filled with crisp lettuce, tomatoes, and broccoli slaw; smeared with hummus and topped with feta cheese-kalamata-olive spread – $6
• The BLTE-wich: lettuce, tomato, bacon and egg salad on a folded waffle – $6

• Add eggs to any waffle for $1

Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 6:30am-2pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8am-2pm
Phone: 503.267.1727
Twitter: @WickedWaffles Facebook: WickedWaffles

Parkers Waffles and Coffee

[Updated August 2010 - Cart has closed. Alberta waffle window still open]

Location: SW 4th and Hall

Description:

A couple of years ago, I would never have thought that waffles could be the focus of a cart. That was because I wasn’t thinking outside the box. I was thinking of the waffles of my youth – simple breakfast fare served maybe with fruit, but always with syrup. In 2009, waffles have taken on a whole new persona with numerous carts popping up offering a different take on the traditional breakfast nosh. Parkers Waffles down in the Portland State University POD joined this past summer and I’m glad they did.

I have enjoyed what I call “waffle gyros” from a few of the other carts in town.  Parkers describes theirs as waffle burritos – I like that. One difference I saw immediately with Parkers is that they offered up what I would normally see with a sandwich cart, but with waffles-  pulled pork, beef brisket, ham and Gruyere, egg scrambles. They still do offer up the sweetness that we all love for breakfast, but now we can have waffles for lunch.

Oktoberfest waffle from Parker's

I chose the daily special – the Oktoberfest – an Oktoberfest daufelwaffle, split brat, grilled onions, Gruyere, spicy mustard and sauerkraut. Oktoberfest! All I needed was a giant stein of beer! I’m always concerned the waffle will overpower the ingredients, but this mix was just right. It was also not that messy. I got some looks while walking to work – probably envy because my breakfast looked better than their bran muffin.

Parkers Waffles has a great niche here. They are the only cart in the PSU Pod serving breakfast, surrounded by office buildings and a university. I think that was a great decision. If you’re hungry and need both protein and sweets, take the MAX down to southwest downtown and see Parkers Waffles. Tell them Food Carts Portland sent ya.

Sample Menu:

• The Original: waffle brushed with sweet cream or maple butter and lightly dusted with powdered sugar – single-$2.50; double-$4; tripple-$5.50
• Ham and Gruyere scamble: two eggs scrambled with ham, onions, mushrooms and Gruyere, served on a waffle – $6
• The Iron Pig scramble: two eggs scrambled with spinach, bacon, onion and cheddar, served on a waffle – $6
• Pulled Pork: pulled pork from Leroy’s Familiar Vittles with dressing, served on a waffle – $6
• Beef Brisket: Leroy’s beef brisket served with choice of cole slaw or not on a waffle – $6
• Apple Crisp: grilled granny smith apples, spices and Amaretto topped with sweetened sour cream and almond pecan streusel served on a waffle – $5
• Lemon and Blueberry: house-made lemon curd and blueberries topped with whipped cream and lemon zest; served on a waffle – $5
• Stumptown coffee and other beverages available

Hours: Monday through Friday; 7am- 2pm
Website: ParkersWaffles.com
Twitter: ParkersWaffles

Locations: Three Locations! North Lombard and N. Brandon (In between N. Denver & N. Greeley in the Videorama parking lot;) on N. Mississippi and N. Fremont and in 2010, now open downtown at SW 3rd and Ash

Description: The cutest little waffle stands in North Portland. Heck, the only waffle stands in Portland. Yet these are no mere waffles. These are waffles elevated to a new art form. Imagine large round “old school” waffles made fresh to order (the thin kind with the small indents, not Belgian waffles), stuffed, spread and folded into a type of giant burrito-sandwich hybrid with all kinds of inspired fillings both sweet or savory. Or both.

The Sausage and Maple waffle is dangerous stuff: a slight crunch from the outside of the waffle, then the slight saltiness of the sausage patties, then the sweetness of maple syrup combined into some kind of new food of the gods. ($4.00). A more savory choice is the Ham and Cheese with either cheddar or smoked Gouda ($4.00). The heat of the waffle makes the cheese melt perfectly into the ham while the waffle holes soak it all up for one giant comforting breakfast or lunch sandwich that is sure to keep you satiated for hours.

Sweet waffle choices include the basic Butter and Powder Sugar ($2.00) or the Peanut Butter & Jelly ($3.50). Or try one of the more complex and decadent things like the sugar coma inducing Black Forest with Nutella and Blackberry Jam ($3.50) or the S’More that comes with sweet as sin Mallow Fluff and more of that excellent Nutella ($3.50).

Beverages include all your usual espresso drinks or coffee (12 oz coffee is only 1.00!), Italian sodas, good old fashioned egg creams, and a limeade drink. They even serve my childhood favorite Ovaltine, either solo in milk or mixed in their signature Maltball Mocha ($3.00 for a 12 oz).

The location is a bit off the beaten track for some, the ambiance is very strip mall parking lot and there is only one uncovered picnic table for dining which makes Flavour Spot not the easiest choice. No matter, I’d happily brave traffic down Interstate Ave. to eat a Flavour Spot waffle sitting on the wet pavement in the pouring rain. Yes, they are that good.

Sample Menu: Please refer to the Flavour Spot Website for their whole menu.

Hours: Mon-Fri 6:30-3:00, Saturday 8-3, Sunday 8-3

Phone: 503-289-YUMM

Website: www.flavourspot.com