Food Cart Tour - Portland

 At noon today Bella and I took the streetcar to downtown at the corner of Alder and 10th Avenue where there is a huge pod of food carts.

I signed up with "Portland Food Cart Tour" to take a walking tour of carts that started on Alder and 10th, then over to 5th Ave., and ending on 3rd Ave.

The tour guide, Brett, told me there are over 200 food carts in Portland and more are opening every day.

What I found interesting is that many of the carts feature professional kitchens with all the amenities of a restaurant kitchen.  The carts are monitored by the same inspectors that regularly check restaurants for cleanliness and safety so the cart owners take hygiene very seriously.  The first photo is Brett who is ordering dumplings from "The Dump Truck" cart on Alder.  We sampled one with pork filling, one with portobello mushrooms and one called a bacon cheeseburger dumpling.  The dough is hand made and the dumplings are steamed in the Chinese tradition.  From now on I'm going to get my "cheeseburger fix" by ordering a few of the dumplings - very very delicious - .

The second photo is of an ultra professional cart that was specially designed and built to be the "ultimate food cart".  Take a look at the menu - yes - you're seeing Escargot !

The open air "cart" was really interesting.  The owner has the stove mounted on a trailer and he brings all the makings and condiments in his station wagon and cooks outdoors with a tarp overhead to shelter him from sun or rain.  He uses locally made sausages and weiners and he will top the dogs with "anything".  Hey, Allison - when are we going there for lunch ??

Another one that I'll return to is a gourmet sandwich cart that prepares sandwiches with unique food combinations.  I'm going to try the pate and cornichon sandwich when I go back.  Another interesting cart makes Belgian Waffles using fresh made dough instead of batter.  They fill the dough with crystallized sugar that partially melts inside the waffle but also leaves some crunchy sugar.  They open for breakfast so my plan is to drive down early in the morning and bring some home.  They also make a bacon maple waffle - I probably should also try that, don't you think?

Finally, the "Built to Grill"'s owner specializes in Italian food and makes hand made pasta every morning.  This is just too good to be true................