Food: Street Cart Adventures Part 1, 2 and 3

Foodies come to the Pacific Northwest to gain access to locally sourced and sustainable food!  True story... the woman at Le Cordon Bleu here in the city told me when I was looking at culinary schools a couple years ago.  Portland also dedicates blocks (yup, multiple) to food cart vendors.  I am very lucky to work 2 blocks south of one of the street cart locations.  There are multiple locations all over the city and you can find more information about that and the carts themselves here. 

December 28th, 2010
In the first week that the Hubs and I arrived, we stopped at the street carts to check it out.  The Hubs got a Korean burrito filled with bulgogi beef from Korean Twist and I ordered one of my favorites, Pad Thai from I Like Thai Food!  The food was delicious and inexpensive!  

Korean Burrito!

$5 Pad Thai, yes $5 - awesome

Flash forward to January 18th...

The Hubs can tell you that my office is pretty awesome, we have a fully stocked kitchen.  Two fridges, two cold boxes, a pantry full of food... it definitely has it's advantages!  But on Tuesday, I was not feeling any of it.  So, even though it was raining harder then usual, I decided to brave the rain and 46 degree weather to try a new cart!

Note the umbrellas... gotta love the rainy city!

Savor the Soup has been on my list from our the first time we visited the street carts and today's weather called for soup!  I waited for 30 minutes for my tomato soup with fennel and orange and half classic grilled cheese ( with Tillamook cheddar).  It totally hit the spot!  Savor the Soup features 5 different soups each day, so I will have to go back.  I want to try the Pappa al Pomodoro, Pulled Pork Posole and Smoky Split Pea.  Am I making you hungry... just check out the images on their site! 

Today, January 21...
Another rainy day and another food cart adventure.  Today, I craved a second helping of Pad Thai from I Like Thai Food.  I also mentioned to a certain friend in SoCal that I would film the street cart scene, but my video skills are a bit shaky, so I settled on taking photos.   For all you SoCal people, here is a look at lunch time... no food courts with heaters.

As you can tell there are so many food carts to try, I'm only showing you 4 blocks out of the 5 that are on Alder and 10th.  There will definitely be more street cart adventures, so stayed tuned... apparently there is a grilled cheese bus in in the SE that I need to find!

Have a great weekend everyone!
~D