Stop # 16: Curry on a Rainy Day

Folks, this one is for you.  Because it was very much due to knowing I had a blog post to write that I was willing to trek down to the trucks at all today.  It has been RAIN-NY up in here for the past few days and the forecast is promising more of the same all the way through the extended ten day forecast.  Harumph.  Well, it would be unfair to say that I hadn't been warned when I left California and relocated to the Pacific Northwest that rain and I were destined to get really, very deeply and truly well acquainted.

I made my way through the downpour and found that I Like Thai, the truck that had been closed last week, was up and running.  So Thai lunch it was!  The truck was super cute, with a bright red sign and a hand written menu describing the vegetables included in each dish.  Pretty standard Thai fare - noodle dishes, stir fried dishes with rice and curries.  You select your protein, which as this truck is described as "hen-pig-cow-shrimp-tofu".  Call it what it is, I suppose!

I asked the young lady for her recommendations.  However, I already sort of knew what I wanted, so when she said Pad Kee Mao and Sweet Basil with Rice, I broke my own rules and ordered the Panang Curry with chicken.  With the rain and still being on the mend from a cold, I wanted something hot and creamy.  I was given the option of white or brown rice and went with the brown.  Love having that choice.

Yay Veggies!

When my order was ready, I was handed a small paper bag that I hustled back to the office.  For an extremely low price, this was A LOT of food.  I ended up not being able to finish it (only the second truck so far where that has been the case!)  The curry was as warm and creamy as I'd hoped, however the flavors were a little subdued - I didn't get a really strong hit of curry spice.  And the vegetables were a smidge overdone - I like them really cripsy.  But it was a nice, south east asian comfort lunch that I thoroughly enjoyed - and will again tomorrow (yay leftovers!)





I Like Thai
Panang Curry with Chicken: $5 (+ tip)
CASH ONLY

That is A LOT of Curry

Stop #15: Eating Schwarma and Gaining Nuance About Middle Eastern Cuisine

I was all set to go for Thai food today, believing that the next cart on my odyssey was "I Like Thai Food."  But for whatever reason, they weren't open today.  So my eyes traveled one truck to the left --Saaj Baghdad.  While it took my brain/belly about five seconds to shift itself from curry and chilis to grilled meat and tatziki, I was psyched.

I asked the gentleman what he liked best on the menu.  He said schwarma - I asked him which kinds of meat he had - lamb, chicken and beef.  He then pointed to his menu and explained that they served their  schwarma on Iraqi bread called samoon.  This piqued my interest, as I suddenly realized my knowledge about food from the Middle East is extremely general.  Schwarma, hummus, kabob, falafel - but I have no real sense of regional or national specialties.  What is the local dish in Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar vs. Yemen vs. Iraq?  While a small drop in the bucket, samoon was going to be a first step in gaining some nuance about Middle Eastern food.

I was asked if I wanted everything on the sandwhich - lettuce, tomato, tatziki, cucumber, hot sauce?  I said yes, but after being burned by last week, requested light on the hot sauce.

While I waited for my food, an order was presented to a pair of men who had been waiting.  I was thrilled to hear them have a happily animated exchange in arabic with the truck owners as one of them devoured his sandwhich.  If those who were raised on the dishes being served are buying them from the establishment where you are getting your lunch, you are in the right place.

It took a fair bit of time for my food to be ready.  If you are in a rush, save this truck for another day.  However, if you want to be sure that your schwarma is cooked perfectly and to order, this is the place for you!  After about ten minutes I was presented with a steaming meal that looked like something between a sandwhich and a pita.

I got back to the office and dug in.  Delicious!  The meat had been sauteed with onions, the tatziki was refreshing with an extra flavor - tarragon? that was a great addtion and the creamy hot sauce was fabulous.  Finally, the bread, the samoon was awesome!  A little like a ciabbatta but with a crunchier and denser exterior, it was robust enough to balance the heartiness of the contents of the sandwhich better than a flimsy pita (I mean, those things ALWAYS fall apart when you fill them with deliciousness, ammaright?)

Note French Fry in the Middle

Also fun - the two french fries in the middle of the sandwhich.  I feel I can always get behind a general inclusion of french fries whenever possible.

 Saaj Baghdad: 
Chicken Schwarma - $7.00 (+ tip)
Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #14: Familiar Thai with a Little Twist

Thai Basil is the first Thai truck in what I will affectionately call the "Thai Stretch".  I think there are three or four (we will find out) Thai carts almost in a row, with a Polish and a Middle Eastern truck thrown in to maintain some variety.  I am looking forward to seeing which dishes each truck claims are their favorites, if they have different specialities and how it all compares and  contrasts....

At Thai Basil when I asked the name of her favorite dish, the woman taking orders said that she liked pad thai, pad see ew and pad kee mao.  Having had plenty of pad thai in my time, I decided to opt for something with which I was less familiar.  I had eaten pad see ew on a number of occasions but had never tried pad kee mao.  I asked her the difference - essentially it lay in the vegetables that came with the dish - pad kee mao added a few extras, including red bell peppers.  Sold!

I gave my order and a few minutes later was handed a ginormous portion of steaming wide rice noodles, chicken and lovely veggies.  Time to haul ass to get back to the office and devour it ALL!

It was delicious.  The vegetables retained a nice crunch while still being cooked enough to be tender.  The chicken was cooked perfectly - not overdone and chewy as can so often happen in a dish like this.  The flavors of each ingredient came through and were finished off with a nice basil flavor, thanks to a perfect amount of fresh basil thrown in.  My one mistake was being too ambitious about my ability to handle spiciness.  When asked how spicy I wanted it, I requested medium -- and boy oh boy it was certainly a very robust medium.  A little too much for me, but hey, I got to sweat it out a bit.

All in all a solidly delicious and satisfying meal - probably for two, but that didn't stop me from taking care of it by myself.....

Thai Basil:
Pad Kee Mao: $6.00 (+ tip!)
Accepts Credit Card

Stop #13: A Korean Standard = Magic

First off, this was a big week - I have finally crossed the street from the west side of 10th Avenue and over to the big encampment of trucks that line all four sides of a city block.  We are in the thick of it now!

My first stop was #1 Bento, which I actually thought was a Japanese food truck, due to its name.  However, I was wrong.  #1 Bento serves up Korean cuisine - everything from teryaki bentos to dumplings to grilled chicken.  Despite having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area and eating my weight (and very likely the weight of my immediate family and a few friends as well) in Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese food, somehow Korean had never really made it onto my radar.

Well, that was about to change.  I asked the woman taking my order what she liked best.  After laughing at me, she said that Bi Bim Bap, a Korean standard, is her favorite thing.  So I ordered one with chicken.  When I arrived back at the office, I opened my container to find a mound of rice topped with little scoops of various ingredients - chicken, bean sprouts, steamed spinach, julienned zucchini and carrots and an unidentified pickled root vegetable (probably daikon?)  Everything was topped with an egg (and not because we are in Portland - but because that is what actually belongs there.)  The meal was garnished with a sprinkling of seaweed, with a side of kimchi and of hot sauce.

It was all laid out beautifully, with each individual vegetable holding its own space in the container.  So I started to try each one on its own, making my way around the arrangement.   Then I suddenly thought to myself  "I bet there is a totally a 'right' (ie traditional) way to eat this."  Thank god for Wikipedia!  After a quick search, I discovered that, while each ingredient is placed onto the "plate" separately, the eater is supposed to mix everything together and enjoy.  Which I promptly did, and with fantastic results! Everything retained its great flavor while gaining a geschtalt effect of being more than the sum of its parts.  The only thing was that I wished the egg hadn't been so fully cooked so I could have mixed it in more effectively, but I imagine that was smart business and health practice on their part (raw-ish egg = danger!)  Kimchi is not really my thing and I found theirs a little soggy, but the Bi Bim Bap is still haunting me with its awesomeness.

Pretty cool to be introduced to a whole new dish about which I had no real idea, and to know that it is a meal that has a long tradition as a staple of an entire country.

Git it!

#1 Bento: 
Bi Bim Bap with Chicken: $6.50 (+tip!)
-Cash Only

Stop #11: Transylvanian Cuisine Reminds Me of Family

I had been anxiously awaiting the week I would finally get to go to this next truck - Delicios, A Taste of Transylvania - not because I have a great love for the food of central Romania, but because I had no idea what the heck would be on the menu (not that I was expecting anything blood themed - yes, I so went there.)

On that note, it IS interesting that the truck is red and black....  But any illusion to the infamous count and his hankering for the sanguinary ended there.  The menu was populated with dishes that are very Eastern European in their influence (well, duh!)  including foot long hot dogs and sausages in what look like bagel buns, as well as schnitzel.  When I asked the woman cooking what she liked most on the menu, she recommended the stuffed cabbage.

My decision was made, hands down.  My grandmother used to make stuffed cabbage.   She would stuff the cabbage leaves with ground lamb and rice, served with a dried apricot sauce that was TO DIE FOR.  The nostalgic romantic in me wants to say she groud the lamb by hand, but I think I am totally making that up.  Anway, I hadn't had stuffed cabbage in YEARS!  It was on.

While the food was being prepared by the man who was working in the truck, the woman who had taken my order unwrapped one of their chimney cakes, took a pair of scissors and cut off a little bite for each of the people waiting.  First off, this is one of the things I have come to love most about the food trucks - these extra little gestures of generosity and connection (and salesmanship) by the entrepeneurs who are serving you.

Stock Photo of Chimney Cake

Also, the chimney cake was YUM-MY!  I don't really know how to describe it - like a donut and a croissant had a love child.  Flaky, sweet, dense.  And fashioned like a chimney or a very large (and edible) cuff bracelet.

When my food was ready I was handed a large and very heavy container, which I took back to my office.  Three large stuffed cabbage pieces, filled with spiced chicken and rice, plus creamy polenta topped with cheese and sour cream.  Ah, Eastern European Cuisine - all white, red and yellow with no green to be found anywhere nearby.  You can feel your arteries hardening just looking at it:

So Much Food.....

All that being said, it was delicious.  Not exactly how my grandmother made it, but clearly homemade with fresh ingredients by someone who knows what they are doing.   Always fun to try something new and find out that it is actually quite familiar in the end.

Delicios!
Stuffed Cabbage with Polenta: $7.00 (+ Tip!)
-Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #9: Savor!

 Savor Soup House is an adorable little cart right on the corner of 10th and Alder.  Specializing in homemade soups on a daily rotating menu, they also have an array of grilled cheese sandwiches and regular sandwiches (all on fresh bread) and a few salads.

The young gentleman who greeted me was super sweet and offered to give me a taste of any soup I wanted to try.  But I knew what I wanted - butternut squash and apple bisque?  Are you kidding me right now?  Put it in my mouth!  (Gluten free and vegan, for those who have dietary restrictions.)  They sprinkled a few toasted pepitos (pumkin seeds) on top for some added crunch.

But I couldn't JUST go for soup when there was grilled cheese to try.  I got a cup of soup and half a classic grilled cheese sandwhich, though if I go back I will absolutely be building my own grilled cheese from their ridonculous options.  The menu includes (among other things) manchego, swiss cheese, balsamic reduction, bacon, sliced apple, or (wait for it) carmelized OR pickled onions. (Of course pickled - this is Portland.)

I got back to the office and dug in.  The soup was creamy and delicious with the hint of apple perfectly complimenting the sturdy butternut flavor.  And the sandwhich - oh the sandwhich!  As someone who usually tries to steer clear of the highly fattening, I don't eat a lot of grilled cheese. But this puppy was off the charts - nice and buttery, but with the great crisp of toasted fresh bread and the tang of good Tillamook cheddar.  Indulgence indeed.

Savor Soup House
Cup of Butternut and Apple Bisque with 1/2 a Classic Grilled Cheese:
     $3.00 for the soup, $2.50 for the 1/2 sandwhich  
-Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #8: Italian in a Wrap

I was super excited to see that Kitchenette was open.  This sweet little truck has been closed for ages - in fact, I am not sure that I remember seeing it open until last week when I went to Snow White Crepes next door.

The menu is pretty extensive - pasta dishes, sandwhiches, wraps.  While I was deciding, a gentleman was waiting for his spaghetti and meatballs.  He asked me if I had eaten at this cart before and when I told him no, he said he had been going through withdrawl for the two months that she had been closed and was jonesing for her amazing food.

After dishing out his heaping portion and sending him on his way, the lovely owner, who is part Italian and part Turkish, took my order for an Italian chicken wrap.  She cooked me up some chicken, wrapped it in a warmed tortilla with some lettuce and cabbage, all drizzeled with ranch sauce and a hit of sriracha.

The wrap was delicious - and ginormous!  I actually ate it in two shifts over the course of the afternoon, which is EXTREMELY rare for me.  The vegetables were fresh, the chicken flavorful and tender and the sriracha added the perfect little kick.

If you are passing and see this cart open, hit it up.  While the owner was preparing my wrap, I asked about her being closed for the last two months.  Sadly, she was suffering from heart disease and had to take some time off to rest and hopefully recover.  She anticipated being open somewhat sporadically in the next few months.  

Kitchenette:

Chicken Wrap - $6 (+tip)
-Cash Only

Stop #6: Caspian Kabob

***In the interest of full disclosure, Caspian Kabob is not right next to Korean Twist.  It is two doors down.  On January 3rd, the two carts in between were closed.  But naturally, Mama still needs to eat!***

Caspian Kabob has been one of my favorite visits so far - both because of the food, but also because of the owner, Victor.  This food truck opened just a few months before I arrived here myself.

Victor's Story

Victor has his story printed up and posted on the truck - this is a man who is loving his new life as a chef and food truck owner!  Victor learned to cook from his mother in Iran, eventually moving to New York to live with his American wife (adorable picture on their website!)  We comiserated about the challenges of living in New York and how happy we were that we now lived in Portland instead of the Big Apple.

I ordered a jujeh kabob (chicken kabob) over mediterranean salad.  Waiting with me for his food was a young man who carried on a conversation with Victor in farsi.  First off, farsi is a gorgeous language.  Secondly- always a good sign when other folks who were raised on the cuisine you are going to eat are patronizing the same establishment.

As my food was just about finished, two young women approached the truck.  One looked at the menu and said "Oh wow, he has...." I can't remember the name of the dish, but when her friend asked if she was going to buy something from this cart, she emphatically declared "Oh yeah!"  She then also went on to have a brief exchange with Victor in Farsi.

At this point things got super cool - Victor said that he was working on a special vegetable soup/stew that he wanted us to try.  It was  spinach based with chunks of what I think was beef.  The flavor was a delicate array of spices, combined with the warm heartiness of a regional comfort food.  Indeed, the young woman said this was her Persian version of chicken soup.  

Complimentary Mystery
Vegetable Stew

I wish I could remember the name of it-- because it was awesome.  As was the ginormous serving of mediterranean salad (lettuce, feta, kalmata olives, tomato with a very light light vinagrette) topped with tender and delicious chicken sprinkled with paprika.  The meal was served with maste khiar (yougurt sauce) and warm pita.

Go to this truck.  For realz.



Caspian Kabob
Jujeh Kabob over Mediterranean Salad: $8 (I think...didn't write it down.) Plus tip!
-Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #5: Korean Burritos

Korean Twist offers up a Korean/Mexican fusion bonanza. Tacos, burritos, etc. but all served with meat prepared in a Korean style, with much of the garnish associated with Korean cuisine.  To be honest,  I didn't know that Korean Mexican fusion was a thing....but apparently it is.  With good reason.

Korean Twist is the first truck where, not sure what to order, I decided to ask the extremely friendly and personable young woman taking my order which menu item she prefered.  She quickly answered that she liked the spicy pork.  Intending to keep my carbs low, I ordered a Spicy Pork burrito bowl.

It was awesome.  A ton of food (with rice of course - so much for low carbs!) with lots of flavor.  I haven't often eaten Korean food, so this was a fun adventure in something new.  If I were to go again, the one thing I would change would be to ask them to leave off the mayonaise sauce - mayonaise being one of the very very VERY few foods I don't particularly like.  (It was between the spicy pork and the lettuce underneath.)

I think I will be making the "What's your favorite?" a thing from now on.

Korean Twist
Spicy Pork Burrito Bowl: $6 (+ tip!)
Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #4: Thai Chicken and Rice

Nong's Khao Man Gai always has a small crowd gathered out front, waiting for their food.  The young man who takes the orders is a show unto himself, shouting out to people and being strikingly friendly and engaging when you order.

Nong's Khao Man Gai serves only one thing really - Chicken and Rice, with some cilantro and cucumber, with a side of chicken soup.  And their special sauce - oh ther special sauce.  So garlicky you don't want to be making out with someon who didn't order alongside you, but so so so delcious.

The chicken is fantastic - sustainably raised Mary's chickens, boiled and cut up for you.  And if memory serves, you can have white or brown rice.  You also get to select dark or light meat (or a combo) and they wrap it up for you in a neat little package:

Lunch is simple, but hearty and delcious.  There is a reason there are always people waiting....

Nong's Khao Man Gai

Chicken and Rice: $8 (+tip)
Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #3: BBQ!

I love BBQ.  Long before I spent two years living in the South, I was a total sucker for corn bread, baked beans, ribs and chicken with a smokey, tangy, sweet sweet sauce.

The BBQ truck serves up a selection of meats in a selection of ways (wrap, sandwhich, bowl) with a variety of sides.  The meat is tender, the sides flavorful and the portions perfect.  I decided to get a BBQ bowl and when I struggled with which meat to order, the gentleman who runs the truck offered to give me a combination of brisket and pulled pork.  For the win!

Hickory Smoked BBQ Truck
BBQ Bowl: $6.00 (Plus tip!)
Accepts Credit Cards