Because I'm a Cool Aunt

I took my nephew Joshua to the food carts tonight. The kid who earlier in the day threw away a Burgerville hamburger because it had ketchup on it, decided to try Jambalaya with crawfish from Bubba Bernie's and a raspberry pie from Whiffies. He wouldn't touch my spaghetti from Yarp, which didn't bother me, since I loved it and have no problem eating the whole thing myself.

Sweet as Pie

So much has already been written and said about Whiffies Fried Pies since they opened. Delicious, crusty, addictive.

I have really nothing more to add. I've had the beef brisket with mozzarella, the breakfast pie, the apple and the coconut cream. The first bite is all crust. Which is not a bad thing. The crust is flaky and a little chewy when it gets closer to the filling.

The first time I had the beef brisket, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was tangy and spicy and the stretch of the mozzarella was long and mellow. It took over my thoughts. I had it for dinner and then all night, after I got home, I wanted more. I was watching a movie and kept thinking about it. That maybe I should go back and get one more. But it would have meant losing my parking space. So I had to forego the second pie.

Since then, I've had more. Many more. And each one just as good as the last. My favorite is the coconut cream pie. Creamy and untouched by the effects of frying, the sweetness is understated and perfect.

I love cream pies and I never eat them. Or at least I haven't until recently. Now they are so close and so available that I'm pretty sure they will become a regular part of my life. Word has it that a chocolate cream pie is coming.

I've yet to try the berry ones, but that's next on my list. The pies are so portable, so easy to eat, that it makes it less of a sin. If Whiffies started selling these to the local stores, I would buy piles of them to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, probably every day.

And that's how I feel about Whiffies Fried Pies.

Whiffies Fried Pies (cart)
SE 12th and Hawthorne
Tuesday - Saturday, 8pm - 3am

Yarp?! is in the News

My first freelance piece for KATU News has been published on their website. It's an article about one of my favorite food carts in Portland, Yarp?!

Check it out at www.katu.com in the Mind and Money section.

Food Cart Roundup!

Here's a few food carts I have visited lately:

Q BBQ - 12th and Hawthorne: Had the pulled pork sandwich. BBQ sauce delectable. Sandwich not really possible to eat with hands, but if you do (like I did) be sure you keep the handi-wipe thingy that comes with it. You will need it.





Rip City Grill - SW Moody and Abernathy: Tri-tip steak salad, with blue cheese, caramelized onions and balsamic vinaigrette on organic greens. Like a steak dinner on greens - so tender, flavorful, and pretty. Hours: 9ish - 2ish.








Po' Town Vittles - SW Moody and Abernathy: Fried chicken salad with honey dijon dressing, currents, blue cheese and organic greens. Light, and cheap - $4.50! Hours: 9ish - 2ish. And the fried chicken is not heavy - it's crispy and flavorful and lightly breaded. Made the salad.

***Update: Ate the seafood po' boy the other day and it was fabulous! So much depth with fried oysters, shrimp and the sauce was appropriately spicy.



Grilled Cheese Grill - NE 11th and Alberta: Jalapeno Popper Sandwich with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, roasted jalapeno, ham and crushed up corn chips. I was skeptical on this one, but decided to try it anyway. Like a giant jalapeno popper, smooshed onto bread. Spicy, creamy, salty, and crunchy. YUM. Also. Pay attention to the music playing when you are eating there. You might get to hear Isaac Hayes singing Salty Balls.

There's this place called Butter Island.

I have the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" stuck in my head. It's been there since about 6:30 Tuesday night, when I ate dinner in a school bus.

The Grilled Cheese Grill opened on Monday. An Airstream-ish trailer, with a canopy attached. No ordinary food cart, this place has some setup! About 10 picnic tables or so, on a gravely lot, with buckets of napkins and enough hot sauces to go around. And. My favorite part. A real life school bus, converted into a kick-ass dining room.

But I am getting away from the whole point of this. The food. Their menu is ambitious. The combinations extraordinary. Their methods... well, you be the judge. I placed my order for the Southsider. In exchange, I got a Garbage Pail Kids card, with Silent Sandy on it. They told me that when my food was ready, they'd call my name. My Garbage Pail Kid name.

While I was standing there, waiting for my food, one of the guys in the trailer stuck his head out. "Imogen! Imogen! Your order is ready." No one responded. Once more. "Imogen!" A guy with long dreadlocks sitting at a picnic table finally realized they were calling him. "Here's your Cheesus Burger." Now just for your information, a Cheesus Burger is a 1/3 lb. burger in between *2* grilled cheese sandwiches, instead of buns. Imogen a.k.a. Dreadlocks Guy, eagerly grabbed the paperbag and took off down the street with his dog.

"Silent Sandy!" My order was up in less than 5 minutes. Perfect! I was running late, but I didn't care. I wanted to eat in the school bus. I decided immediately that the school bus had to be the scene of many Mortified moments, if not from my own life, from many others. The tables were covered in nerdy kid school pictures, and there were laminated essays from elementary school kids about grilled cheese sandwiches. On my table, the essay read: "I like grilled cheese because when I lick the bread, I feel like I'm on butter island."

I'm not sure if it was the essay that affected my brain, but I sure felt like I was on Butter Island when I bit into my sandwich. Grilled sourdough, but with a BUNCH of butter. Not that I'm complaining. I freaking love butter. Inside the Southsider: artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella. A lot of mozzarella.

It was greasy and cheesy and such the perfect end to my hungry stomach. I had grabbed a to-go menu when I was ordering and I read over the little intro on the back:

"So come by for a taste of your childhood. Unless your childhood sucked, and then we'll let ya share a taste of ours." I think I teared up just now, writing that down. I had a good childhood, but I still want to taste theirs, because I think theirs was greasier and probably pretty delicious and maybe I need a peek of that every so often. You should check out their menu online because you will want to taste their childhood, too. Trust me.

Besides, how often do you get to be called by a Garbage Pail Kid name AND eat on the school bus without getting in trouble!



www.grilledcheesegrill.com


Hours:
T - Th: 11:30 am - 9:00pm
Fri - Sat: 11:30 am- late night
Sunday: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm

Food Carts, Food Carts, Food Carts!

I totally forgot to write about this. But duh. Everyone should go to this!

Here are the details. Psst. IT'S TOMORROW!

Eat Mobile 2009

Portland's Food Cart Festival

Live music and samples from some of the best food carts in Portland.
Beverages available for purchase.
5:30 - 9:30 pm, Saturday, April 18th
Disjecta
8371 N. Interstate Avenue
$5 - all proceeds benefit MercyCorps NW

Need more info? Willamette Week has more...

Bubba Bernie Smiles on Hawthorne.

I know, I know. I've got to stop. Enough already with the 12th and Hawthorne food carts! But I'm not quite done. You see, the last couple of times I've been over there, Bubba Bernie has been perched on the picnic table by his cart. He sells Po' Boys, Pastrami Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, including a Monster Chili Dog and a Bacon Dog (!!), Jambalaya and other such Louisiana delights.

He's an older guy, with white hair and a chef's coat and hat. His bright red trailer looks shiny and new. "What's good tonight?" I asked him as I looked over the menu. "Everything's good every night," he said matter-of-factly. Then, as if giving a second thought to his helpful statement, he said "How hungry are you?" "Medium," I said. "Then a sandwich'l do ya." Perfect.

I ordered the pastrami sandwich, with mustard and pickle ($6.75). I watched him slice it and toss it on the grill. "You want your mustard and pickle on the sandwich or on the side?" "Oh definitely on it," I said. What a great sandwich. Pastrami just warm enough for the fat to be all melty and easily consumed, on outwardly-crispy, inwardly-fluffy french bread, with tangy mustard and a crunchy pickle. No other vegetables distracting or watering down the simple pleasure of the meat and bread. I loved it. (Of course if you want lettuce and tomato, they are available upon request.)

Tonight I went back with my parents (I'm trying to expand their horizons) and my mom ordered the shrimp po'boy ($6.75). I ordered. The. Monster. Chili. Dog. Onions? Yeah. Cheese? Yep. Knife and fork? Yep. My mom got her sandwich first. A french roll stuffed to over flowing with crispy deep fried shrimp, lettuce and tomato with a just-spicy-enough remoulade. She was a little overwhelmed. We all picked some shrimp off to help her out. Then she managed to eat it, but not without considerable stretching of her mouth!

The Monster Chili Dog ($6.00) came out a few minutes later - a big fat long hot dog, smothered in chili and onions and cheese. The chili was slightly sweet - and had a subtle heat that woke up my tongue. In a bite with the salty meat, the melty cheddar, the crunchy onions - the chili brought them all together into a mouthful of guilty pleasure. Monster is right.

Both times I've eaten at Bubba Bernie's, he's come out of the trailer afterwards and asks how we like our food - and he asks with a confident smile on his face, like he knows what we're going to say. He seems pleased when I answer that everything tastes great. I think he knows - his food rocks.

So when you see Bubba Bernie perched on the picnic table, be sure you head over to the bright red trailer and order some good Louisiana food.

Bubba Bernie's
SE 12th and Hawthorne Food Carts
6 pm - 12 am M - Th
6 pm - 2 am F - Sa
(He'll stay open later if business demands!)

Yes, I want the balls. I always want the balls.

Twelfth and Hawthorne is becoming my favorite late night place. The other night, after the Kids Rock 4 Kids concert, Ansley and I decided to head over to the food carts and get some dinner. After reviewing the offerings at Potato Champion and Perriera Creperie and Yarp?!, we both decided that Yarp?! was going to be the way to go. The menu was fabulous. Lost of pasta and some seared Ahi Tuna - yum.

"You looking for me?" A guy with a reddish sweater vest, a dress shirt and some slacks walked towards us. "Are you the one that makes the food?" I asked. "That's me! What do you want tonight?" "I'd like the roasted red-pepper spaghetti." "You want the balls with that?" "Yes, I want the balls," I said. "I always want the balls." Ansley ordered the veggie pasta with a red wine rosemary reduction. "Give me a few minutes and we'll have that ready for you." He walked inside the trailer and started cooking.

The trailer, covered in spray paint, with anarchist messages, did not look like a place that you would necessarily look at and say "I want to eat there". But there were fresh herbs peeking out from the window and somehow, talking to this guy, I knew the food would be good. I had read a couple of things online about them that gave me the idea that Yarp?! was a safe bet.

It was probably 10 minutes or so when they handed us two boxes and two tin foil packages with two napkins and two real forks. The boxes were heavy! We sat down at the covered picnic table and we opened them up. Holy crap. This was a helluva lot of food.

The roasted red pepper spaghetti was lighter than normal spaghetti and had terrific flavor. The meatballs had fantastic texture and perfectly seasoned flavor - a little spicy, which is exactly how I like my meatballs. The foil packages contained delightfully buttery thick slices of garlic bread, freshly warmed through and perfect for sopping up extra sauce.

I ate exactly one third of my spaghetti before I was bursting full. Ansley, too. She declared her pasta to be amazing and loaded with veggies, and was also bursting full after eating only a third.

We said good night to the chef and headed off. Leftovers served for two additional meals the next day. And they were still just as delicious.

Damn good food. And seriously THE best people watching in the city. I didn't even tell the story about the umbilical cord hats, the billy club and the stoned skateboarders, but use your imagination. And check out Yarp?! You will be happy you did.

Yarp?!
SE 12th and Hawthorne Food Cart Pod
Wednesday - Sunday
8pm - 3am
http://pdxyarp.blogspot.com

All the Single People..and family people... and lonely people... and everyone else, too.

Sometimes the benefits of single life are debatable. Sometimes they are not. On this particular night, I didn't feel like being at home. It was 9:00 and I had no commitments, no one waiting for me at home. I drove through downtown. Nothing really looked inspiring. I drove across the Hawthorne Bridge. Then I remembered. The late night fry cart.

Next to the car dealership at 12th and Hawthorne, across the street from Burgerville, a semi-circle of food carts glowed in the dark, like a camp of covered wagons. There was more than a fry cart. There was a creperie and Mexican food and BBQ and Italian. It looked a little intimidating, even for me, who is not afraid of heading out alone on the weekend.

I texted my friend Jen and we conspired to meet up in 40 minutes when she got done with work. As we approached the camp, loud music was playing and there was quite a few people standing around - some munching on fries.

The Potato Champion cart had some interesting offerings: Poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds) and regular fries, with so many sauce options it was dizzying. We ordered the Poutine because hello, fries+gravy+cheese? Then we ordered some regular fries and the tarragon anchovy mayo and the rosemary truffle ketchup. Who thinks these combos up? Because I wouls like to kiss him. Or her. Or at least give them a really big hug.

There was one guy, who was finishing up his fries and we watched him jealously while he finished the last of them. Then when he got up, we snagged his seat. And. Delightful. The picnic table has holes in it! To hold the cones of fries. Genius. It was windy and cold, so thank heavens for the outdoor heater they had going on.

As we sat chomping on our fries, a cute little family came up to the cart - now mind you it was 10:30 at night by this time - with two kids and a dog, the kids probably 10 and 12, or something like that. Adorable and out for a late night treat. What cool parents. That's gonna be me sometime. If my ovaries don't expire first.

The fries were crispy and hot and creamy inside - the sauces were a nice exploration of flavor and I want to try all of them. I think it was $8 for everything and we were pleased with our choices. The Poutine was a bunch of carmelized onions, with a little gravy and cheese curds - it tasted like MY onion gravy that I make, so I loved it!

Meanwhile, a couple rode up on bikes. He was wearing a tux. She was wearing a floor length formal with some flats. Did I mention they were on bikes? They ordered crepes from the next door crepe cart after debating fries or crepes.

Another group wandered up. "I think it's kind of weird to have a place that ONLY sells fries," said one guy, who had clearly never eaten anywhere except Applebees and Macaroni Grill. "But they are really good!" The girl was losing the argument. Finally, they decided to order fries and also get some take out on the way home, because the guys felt that you couldn't have just fries. You definitely needed something else.

We actually decided that, too. So we ordered some crepes. I ordered chocolate and pear. "Do you want the Frangelico with that?" Dancing crepe making girl asked, as the music blared from their cart. I looked at Jen. "That's alcohol," she said. I started laughing. Yes! Give me the Frangelico. Jen promised to take my keys if I got tipsy. (See previous incident in my life involving rum cake.) They put a very small amount of Frangelico in the crepe, which was cooked on the circle hot plate thingy while they added pears and chocolate. Jen ordered lemon and sugar.

Amazing. Delicious. Perfect end to the night. We headed back to my car, where we finished up our crepes, wadded up the paper wrapping they were in and hollered as we threw them over our shoulders, into the garbage can... I mean my back seat. "Single girls can eat fries and crepes for dinner at 10:30 at night!" Jen was right. We can do whatever we want!

But that night we had seen a family, a single person, a couple on a date, and a group of friends. It made me happy that we can all, no matter our circumstances, enjoy some excellent treats late at night, outside in the cold.

SE Twelfth and Hawthorne Food Carts



Perierra Crêperie

Open from 8pm - 3am, Wednesday through Saturday

The Adventures of Cart Girl

Welcome to the first installment of The Adventures of Cart Girl! My sister Chelsea will be guest blogging every so often and giving us a heads up on the good carts to check out in Portland.

I am trying to take advantage of the fall sunshine phenomenon in Portland. Today, running errands downtown and determined to lunch in the crisp autumn air, I happened upon a row of carts. I'd wanted to try them for a while but haven't. Perfect opportunity. Every other cart had a long line, so I chose Ziba's Pitas.

Usually no people near food is a red flag for me but I thought I'd take the chance because on the sign it said "Bosnian Food." I'd never had Bosnian food but I love the Baltics. At least I think I do. I read Zlata's Diary in high school and have had a soft spot for Bosnians ever since.

After staring at the menu a while, I chose the vegetarian. I'm easily overwhelmed with menus and I fancy myself a flexitarian so often I just pick the veggie item to make things simpler. Ziba ( I presume) asked me in her charming accent if I wanted the zucchini or the spinach. "Spinach," I said. Ala carte or on the plate? "A la carte," my wallet said. $4.75. She was precise and her kitchen looked clean. As she handed me my change I glanced over to the side of the window and saw an array of newspaper articles (including Willamette Week, my most trusted food review source aside from Lizzy) proclaiming their approval of this cart. Phew!

As I waited for my Pita, I turned towards the little tables to my right, hoping I'd find an empty one so I could bask in the December Sunshine. There was a cute couple eating lunch. I'd noticed the boy earlier when I approached the cart. I liked his beard and his Portland-y style. His girlfriend was not happy. She stood up, grabbed her bag left her food and walked across the street abandoning her lunchtime date. The boy stood there, his mouth gaping, and arms open. He seemed a little confused, actually. Finally he grabbed all the stuff and left. I felt sad for him. But he left just in time for me to take his table.

Though slightly salty, the pita was light and flaky and yummy. She serves them sliced into four sections I ate three and was full. I am not sure what all the ingredients were but they were simple. Not too much was added in addition to the spinach. A hearty, cheapity-cheap lunch. I'll be back soon.

Photo and text by Chelsea Fuss.