While food carts as a concept are a famous fixture in Portland, this Hidden Gem spotlight focuses on getting your brain (and mouth) around your favorite flavor of indie cuisine no matter when and where your belly rumbles.
Food carts, like whales and peas and dolphins, are happiest in pods. This is advantageous because their listed hours often serve as rough sketches. If it’s a sunny day, the cart may stay open later or just close early so the proprietor can play outside too.
Fickle as that may sound, it makes the food cart experience an adventure. On the off-chance you aren’t able to get what you came for, that cart’s podmates will gladly feed you with their offerings. The list below is conveniently divided by location and likely hours of operation to help you get some of this fantastic food in your face!
Featured Carts
Westside
Alder Food Cart Pod (SW 9th & Alder)
Nong’s Khao Man Gai – Mon-Fri – 10a-4p
The Frying Scotsman – Mon-Fri – 11a-4p
Samurai Bento – Mon-Fri – 11a-4p
Grilled Cheese Grill – Sun-Thurs 11a-5p, Fri-Sat 11a-8p
Q19 Food Cart Pod (NW 19th & Quimby)
Sawasdee Thai – Mon-Fri – 9a-3p
The Lunch Box – Mon-Fri – 11a-3p
OMG Oregon Made Grub – Mon-Fri 11a-3p
Eastside
Bundy’s Bagels (1421 SE 33rd) Wed-Fri 6a-3p, Sat 8a-5p, Sun 8a-3p
Potato Champion (1207 SE Hawthorne) – Tues-Wed 4p-1a, Thurs-Fri 4p-3a, Sat 12p-3a, Sun 12p-1a
Angry Unicorn (5205 SE Foster) Tues-Sat – 12:15p-7p
Grilled Cheese Grill (1027 NE Alberta) – Sun-Mon 11:30a-3:30p, Tues-Thurs 11:30a-8p, Fri-Sat 11:30a-2:30a
Los Gorditos (SE 50th & Division) – Mon-Sat 10a-9p
Cartlandia Super Pod (8145 SE 82nd) – 10a-9p
Click here for a full map of Portland’s food cart pods!