Epicure
Brett, a tall, bespectacled,
gregarious individual with unique
mutton chops, has been talking and
writing about Portland’s food carts
since 2008. His tours cover not only
the history of the carts, but also the
conditions which helped them grow
and thrive. Of course, the tour
includes tasty samples.
Along with about 15 other people,
we met Brett in a parking lot filled
with a dizzying array of food carts.
Everything from gyros to dumplings
to pizza to luscious items we could
not even identify were being
consumed, and the delicious smells
wafting about were enough to make
anyone abandon any idea of diet
plans. Brett introduced himself
and began telling us about the
food carts, which was extremely
interesting but in reality, we were
probably all thinking the same
thing: Bring on the food!
The Dump Truck
food cart
ABOVE-LEFT
Brett Burmeister,
our affable host
Finally, after walking around for
several minutes and showing the
amazing choices, Brett began offering
us food. And what food! This was not
the hot dogs/funnel cake/barbecued
sandwiches we were used to at
special events in our home city; this
was delicious, unique, amazing, and
please can we have more?
to family-friendly locations and small
shops and restaurants have sprung up
in the nearby neighborhoods.
The astonishing variety of
delectable selections can be a little
overwhelming – where to start? Our
foodie tour with Food Carts Portland
would help us learn more about this
trend and sample some of the most
popular offerings. With over 600
food carts offering food from all
over the world, it helps to have an
expert along, and Brett Burmeister,
the owner and managing editor of
Food Carts Portland, is just the guy.
We visited several different food
cart pods on our tour, strolling from
one to the other and enjoying the
beautiful city of Portland and the
friendly residents. We chowed down
on items from a number of carts and
a number of countries, including
taco, pizza, and gyros but a couple
were absolute standouts.
The Dump Truck is a bright yellow
food cart owned by Julia and Reid
who discovered the joy of dumplings
when they lived in Beijing in 2007.
Taught the secret to making perfect
dumplings, they came to Portland
So many choices
- and not enough
time!
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