Food Carts & Vendors

I found this link today: Guide to Food Carts in Portland

This may seem silly but I am really excited about food carts in Portland. There, I said it. It’s just that nowhere I’ve lived had food carts. Saint Louis for example only has ten food vendor permits for the city. PERIOD. Like, that’s all. And they don’t work near each other and there’s not really a selection. From the few I’ve happened to spot they were just hot dogs.

When we visited Portland last October we were in SE (I forget which neighborhood) and happened upon a parking lot with 4 or 5 trucks selling tacos, gyros, and I think one even had Chinese food. Aside from a cheap and fast meal, I think there’s something so wonderful about the EXPERIENCE of it all. I’ve been to other large cities with abundance of street vendors – New York, Paris.. it creates activity and urban camaraderie.

And if I am over-romanticizing the experience of buying food from a small room on wheels, whatever. The whole point of this entry comes down to poutine.

Poutine.

Pronounced poo-teen, it’s a popular junk food in some parts of Canada. It’s french fries covered with cheese curds covered with spiced gravy. I have never had real Canadian poutine, but ever since I learned of it I have been in awe of such a concept of culinary perfection. I have tried to make it myself, but I’m sure it’s not right. For one, cheese curds are difficult to impossible to come by where I live. Chese curds aren’t like curdled cheese (gross), they are just bite-size pieces of cheese that look and taste kind of like mozzarella. They make squeaky sounds in your mouth when you chew on them.

Apparently cheese curds have a very short shelf-life so unless you live somewhere with a demand for them, good luck finding them because it’s not worth it to the vendors to stock them. Luckily I have a connection in Wisconsin, cheese capital of the US, who comes to Saint Louis occasionally bearing curds.

But the other ingredient, spiced gravy, is the part I can’t nail. From my thorough research (haha) I have learned that there is a certain Canadian brand of gravy that makes the poutine. Any ol’ gravy won’t do.

So anyway, you can only imagine my reaction when I learned a couple of months ago that… brace yourself… Portland has a Poutine Truck. A food vendor selling Poutine. Holy Hell.

I don’t know if it will be “real” poutine but I feel so validated just knowing it exists for purchase there. And within arm’s reach until I can make a pilgrimage to Canada.

Potato Champion
Located at the NE corner of SE 12th and Hawthorne Blvd
wed – sat > 8pm – 3am – LATE NIGHT POUTINE YOU GUYS
sun/mon/tues > closed

Official web site featuring picture of awesome trophy exploding with fries.