PICNIC

I met Elle downtown for lunch at Addy’s, at SW 10th and Alder. This cart just opened a few weeks ago. She uses bread from Little-T, the excellent bakery just down the street from me. The sandwiches seem to be very simple. Elle got the brie and cucumber and that’s all it was. I got the duck confit with apricot sauce, (which was really apricot jam.) Both sandwiches were so tasty! Everything else sounds dreamy. The chocolate sandwich is toasted with a big slab of melted dark chocolate. The pate she makes herself. I asked what kind of pate it was and she says, a little nervous, ‘it’s got pork and fat and umm, more fat.’ I’m totally hooked! Also there’s the cutest little porch to sit at.

Well, the little lunch booth at the letterpress fair went very well. I think the sandwiches were pretty popular, people seemed to really like them. The ham and cheddar and also the garbanzo and tomato were popular, but I didn’t sell a single nut butter and jelly. The sign simply read ‘peanut butter and jelly’. The descriptions were all made last minute and were very simply. Originally the ham sandwich was listed as ‘ham and cheese,’ but then Kate changed it to read, ’smoked ham with cheddar,’ at which point it began to sell better. I’m not really good at thinking about the public image and the marketing and all that.

A friend of a friend has a friend, and this first friend tipped me off about their friends friends new food cart. I had lunch there with a friend (a different friend) and we got an apple, goat cheese, spinach, mayonaise, and mustard sandwich on whole wheat bread, (mayonaise and goat cheese is a good combination!); smoked tempeh, tomato, lettuce, and mayonaise, again on whole wheat; and a peanut, barley, tomato soup. They’re at SW 3rd and Washington, ensconced in a little cluster of carts. They were really good and next time I go maybe I’ll try the Satan cheese sandwich.

The amazing thing is that they started putting this cart together one month ago! Another food cart vendor also makes custom carts and they ordered one from him. I’m amazed at their speed. Here I am at month 12.

Check out this video about Portland’s food carts at the New York Times.