TGIF everyone!
It’s time for another weekend and I don’t know about you, but I am so excited for some time to relax!
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’d know that I’ve still been busy eating/drinking my way through my new city and I am loving every minute of it. I am still working on putting together my Portland page where you’ll be able to find links to all my restaurant reviews, so stay tuned for that! In the meantime, I thought today would be the perfect time to kick off something that I’m hoping will be a regular feature here on my blog–Food Cart Fridays!
As I’ve mentioned before, Portland is such a foodie town; there is an abundance of high-quality local ingredients, world-renowned chefs, and every type of cuisine under the sun. One particular aspect of food culture that Portland is famous for is its food carts! There are literally hundreds of food carts/food trucks all over the city that serve every type of food imaginable. Typically, these food carts will be located in groups called pods, but then there are also individual carts sprinkled throughout the city as well. Cameron and I are always up for trying new food carts when we’re out and about, and so I thought it would be fun to feature some of them here on my blog every now and then!
 |
| SW 10th & Alder Food Cart Pod |
For my first Food Cart Friday, I’m featuring two carts located in the giant food cart pod located at SW 10th and Alder. I’m almost positive that the Alder Food Cart Pod is the largest group in the city–it’s huge! The carts go around the entire block between 9th & 10th and Alder & Washington and there are lots of interesting options from all over the world to choose from.
After you decide on a cart, there are two nice parks nearby where you can sit and eat your food. And because this pod is also located close to Cam’s office, it’s an obvious choice if I want to go meet him for lunch. (FYI: Food carts here in Portland seem to have more limited hours at night/on the weekend so I’d definitely suggest trying them out on a weekday at lunch if possible!)
 |
| O’Bryant Square |
 |
| Director Park |
Here are two food carts from this pod that I’ve tried and liked:
This place is extremely popular, and they also have two additional locations over in NE and SE Portland as well. The line was really long the day I tried it, but I figured it was worth the wait and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
 |
| Apparently the Alder Cart has a more limited menu compared to their Eastside locations |
 |
| Waiting for my sandwich… |
 |
| I ordered The Kelsey which featured Tillamook cheddar, pesto, and ham on multigrain wheat bread |
Overall, it was a really solid grilled cheese sandwich, and did taste like the grilled cheese you loved as a kid. Was it worth waiting for 20 minutes? Probably not. But it’s definitely worth trying if you can go on an off time when the line isn’t crazy!
One day last month when I was getting lunch with Cam, I wanted to try to find the most unique food cart I could for lunch. When I saw Kargi Gogo had Georgian food, I thought that seemed pretty out of the ordinary and decided to go for it! Kargi Gogo has food that comes from the country of Georgia and it’s kind of a cross between Middle Eastern and Eastern European food.
 |
| I ordered Khinkali, which were stuffed meat dumplings, and then the Summer Salad, which was a mix of veggies with a vegan walnut dressing. I personally was not a huge fan of the flavor of the dressing, but the salad itself was very fresh and a great healthy option. |
The Khinkali were absolutely delicious! Stuffed with both beef and pork, they had great flavor thanks to the Georgian spices and they were really juicy. I’d definitely order them if you try this food cart!
Food carts definitely seem to be a big part of the Portland experience, so I look forward to sharing my favorites with you in the weeks and months to come! (Also, as you might be able to tell by these two carts, I am such a sucker for cute branding/signage!)
Well that’s all for me today folks! I cannot get over the fact that summer is coming to an end; it seemed like it flew by and I’m a little sad about it. I
feel like we didn’t get to do as many “summer-y” activities as I would have liked…but on the other hand we were pretty busy with going to weddings and moving! So that’s why (even though our apartment isn’t quite “done” yet) Cameron and I are heading out this weekend to go camping. I’m looking forward to unplugging from technology, being in the mountains, catching up on some reading, sleeping in our tent, making s’mores, and soaking up these last moments of summer that we have left!
feel like we didn’t get to do as many “summer-y” activities as I would have liked…but on the other hand we were pretty busy with going to weddings and moving! So that’s why (even though our apartment isn’t quite “done” yet) Cameron and I are heading out this weekend to go camping. I’m looking forward to unplugging from technology, being in the mountains, catching up on some reading, sleeping in our tent, making s’mores, and soaking up these last moments of summer that we have left!
