Times are tough. And when the wallet is tight, people search for cheap food. Food carts are rapidly filling Portlanders’ stomachs with cheap, delicious food. Even Frugal Traveler from the NY Times agrees!

I know the ambiance isn’t for everyone, but I love food carts. I love greedily devouring the food on the sidewalk or running indoors to enjoy my food in peace. I always feel like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, creepily screeching, “My precious…” whilst protecting my fresh, hot edibles from rain, wind, and sleet.

I wanted to share some of my favorites with you, hoping you would share some of your favorites with me. I can’t list them all, but with your help, maybe I can. You may argue that some of them are not food carts, but merely food served outdoors. To me, it’s potato, potahto.

My Quick Delicious Five

Built To Grill
SW 3rd and Washington
(no website) (twitter)

No Fish Go Fish
SW 5th and Yamhill
(website) (twitter)

Grilled Cheese Grill
NE Alberta & 11th
(website) (twitter)

Brunchbox
SW 5th Ave & Stark
(website) (twitter)

Nong’s Khao Man Gai
SW 10th & Alder St.
(website) (twitter)

Great Sites Or Articles To Get Your Visual Fix

• A Guide to Food Carts in Portland Oregon
• Portland Pod People – A Food Cart Revolution
• Sunset: Top 10 Portland food carts
• Oregonian: Portland’s top 10 food carts
• Gourmet: Eight Great Street-Food Vendors in Portland, OR

One day special at Kenny and Zuke’s. It’s called the DDD reuben and it may cause a self induced cardiac arrest. This triple-decker is described by them:

In the middle is the standard reuben with 9-10 ozs of house-made pastrami, two slices of swiss, russian, and kraut. On top and bottom is another reuben, each with about 4 ozs of pastrami, and two slices of swiss cheese. That’s over a pound of pastrami, 1/4 lb of swiss cheese, and a whole bunch of creamy russian all grilled together into a delicious mess. And as if that wasn’t a cholesterol bomb waiting to explode in your heart, we went ahead and battered and deep-fried it.

Not sure if my little heart can handle it, but it’s only here for one day so maybe it should.

I have an email as old as November 2004, from Sean Bonner, about updating this blog. Mama always told me to be fashionably late to the party, so here I am.

A brief introduction is due. I have lived in the Portland metro area since 1993, except during a brief foray in Corvallis while completing my bachelor’s degree. I took a daily picture of my life in 2007 and 2009. You will often find me roaming SW Portland, between my web internship at Portland Monthly Magazine (where I study gastronomy and content management systems) and Portland State University (where I write for The Vanguard and am working on my Master’s).  The views expressed on this blog do not reflect the views of anyone but myself.

Not to leave you uninformed, below are restaurants where I like to indulge in higher priced pizza when I have money to blow.

Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty
4039 N Mississippi Ave.

The owners previously sported seasonal drinks and food at Lovely Hula Hands. Once that closed shop, they opened up this new wood fired pizza restaurant next door. Obviously, save stomach space for homemade organic ice cream.

Apizza Scholls
4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

I love to hate this place, or more like, I hate that I love this place. Each time I go, I wait half an hour outside waiting for them to open, and then sometimes up to an hour inside waiting to sit down. Their pizza dough is all mixed by hand –you know that doesn’t happen anymore right?!– and when they run out of dough for the night, they close. That’s what I wait before they open. I’m not going to be the sucker that waits all night and leaves with an empty stomach. And, yes, that happens.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza
304 SE 28th Ave.

Pro tip: Who knew pizza needed a seasonal menu? Ken’s has a Spring, Winter and shared Summer/Fall menu. The dough is artisan perfection and expansive wine list has bottles ranging from $27 to $150.

Bella Gioia
1134 NW Everett St.

I have never been to Italy, but I think this is what Italian pizza should taste like. I would recommend not partaking in the mixed drinks, as they are not strong enough for the $9 price tag. Of course, wine is a great and fitting alternative. If you don’t prefer pizza, homemade pasta is available as well.

The Amazing Potato Champion

Despite our often wet weather, Portland has a phenomenal selection of food carts. Some of my more memorable Portland meals have been at carts.

Now there’s an online resource totally dedicated to the Portland Food Cart phenomenon:  Food Carts Portland.

The site breaks down cart reviews by cuisine and neighborhood, each with a handy map to help you find the sometimes elusive carts.

Some of my personal favorite carts: Sip Portland, Potato Champion, India Chaat House, Taqueria Los Gorditos (which Food Carts of Portland needs to review) and Flavour Spot!!

Food Carts Portland also enables comments and some of the best info comes from reader submissions and updates.

With the presidential election looming most people are myopically focused on voting for president, but the second most important vote you can make right now is with your dollars. Times are tough and not all businesses are going to survive this recession. Already this month several notable Portland restaurants have announced that they are shuttering their doors (Rocket, Mercado, Banh Cuon Tan Dinh and Kalga Kafe)  and more are soon to follow.

The dollar may be down on the world market, but it’s never been stronger here at home. With each dollar you spend you are making a vote, you’re voting for the business that you give your money to and perhaps voting against the places you aren’t. During tough economic times people often default to the lowest cost option out there. Companies like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart thrive because people think they get more for less there – something in tough times sounds appealing. If this current economic mess has taught us anything it’s there’s absolutely no such thing as a free lunch and today’s low low deal might have some unintended consequences tomorrow.

So I encourage you to think about the long haul. Want a beer? Skip Rock Bottom Brewery and pick your beer up at Belmont Station. Want a movie? Rather than Netflixing it ensure the future of independent cinema and local art houses and catch a movie at the Hollywood Theater or Cinema 21.  Want some food? Support local farmers at your local farmer’s market or visit the People’s Food Coop Farmer’s Market.  Chose Voodoo Doughnuts over Krispie Kreme,  Laughing Planet or Los Gorditos over Taco Bell, Pad Thai Kitchen over TGIFridays…. and yes Stumptown, Cellar Door and Z Beans over Starbucks.

There’s never been a time in your life where what you spend and where you spend has mattered more. So pick the places you love and give them your business, odds are they’ll be around to thank you when this whole economic mess is all over.

What local business are you rooting for to survive?