Street Food Revolution

Step Into Portland's Vibrant Food Cart Scene

If you’re seeking the best food that Portland has to offer, you could certainly find it in one of our five-star restaurants. However, the limitations of fine dining are all too apparent to, say, parents with young children, students on a barista budget, or tourists on a time constraint hungry for a little bit of everything tasty. 

Luckily, Portland incubates a thriving, down-to-earth food cart scene, providing a direct portal to great kitchens and chefs. The cuisine that comes out of food carts rivals and often exceeds the quality, originality and authenticity of fine dining kitchens, stripping down some of the bells and whistles (and the cost) to the essence of what it’s all about: great tasting food.

Food carts are part of the fabric that holds Portland together. They provide a way for all Portlanders to engage with each other and the urban landscape. They also provide a way to support small, locally-owned businesses and food start-ups that might not have the capital or credit to open up their own full-fledged restaurants. Patronizing food carts is an easy way to invest directly into the community, keeping the local economy strong and prosperous.

Walking the tract of N. Mississippi Ave is one of the best ways to catch the vibe of Portland’s food cart scene. At the South end on the corner of N. Fremont St is a small lot that is home to Southern Kitchen PDX, where co-owners Maurice and Jermaine serve up a healthy take on ribs, red beans and rice, and other Southern-style comfort food. Jermaine and Maurice also take proceeds and donations from their food cart to support the community by mentoring young people with an interest in entrepreneurship. They offer workshops on how to cook and how to be entrepreneurs, including lessons on what it takes to own a food cart business. Stop by and get messy with their tangy ribs, try their renowned fish po’boy, or taste their savory mac and cheese, hush puppies and fried okra. When the weather permits, you might catch some local musicians serenading the small seating area in front of the cart.

At the North end of N. Mississippi Ave on the corner of N. Skidmore St. is Prost! Marketplace - a quintessential Portland food cart “pod,” where multiple carts fill a lot surrounding an anchor establishment such as a bar or brewery and are curated to provide an abundance of unique options. Here you can sit fireside with a cappuccino or cocktail at Bloodbuzz while watching passersby, treat yourself to the famous Yolko Ono egg sandwich at Fried Egg I'm in Love, try a flavorful masala pulled pork plate from Indian Fusion cart DesiPDX, or grab a classic cheeseburger with house-made “fancy sauce” from Burger Stevens. With so many options, it’s easy to satisfy everyone in your group in one stop while still being able to eat together.

Just off the beaten path, a few blocks North of the bustling Prost! pod on N. Albina Ave is one of Portland’s best hidden gem carts, Kabba's Kitchen. Here, Chef Kabba cooks up traditional West African fare packed with unique and exciting flavors. The Thiebou Yopp features tender, seasoned lamb with stewed vegetables and rice, and is a must try along with their chicken meatballs and Fataya meat pies. Wash it down with a house-made ginger or hibiscus juice! The warm and kind vibe can be felt beaming out the window of this cart, as Kabba and her crew pour all their love into what they serve, nourishing both the appetite for comfort food and connection to community.

Portland is the proud home to a myriad of food carts that are breeding grounds of creativity and culinary passion, giving residents and visitors nearly limitless options for ways to enjoy a unique culinary experience while engaging and investing in their community. With a more bohemian style of dining, food carts circumvent quality foods around the ostentation of fine dining, and instead deliver it to you in a basket out of a cart window - an act that further solidifies Portlands reputation as a quirky, persevering blue-collar community, with exquisite taste to boot.