BLOG

Southern Oregon Dining News

________________________

Danielle Custer’s food truck project has wheels at last

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2012/04/danielle-custers-food-truck-project.html?page=2

________________________________________

http://www.facebook.com/LD.Donuts

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.419675954724869.118679.406434606049004&type=1

___________________________________________

Another day, another new food truck.

Lynn Rehn says she’s looking to roll out My Chef Lynn in two weeks. The Issaquah-based chef has planned a menu revolving around purveyors from there. “I want to get a taste of Issaquah in peoples’ mouths.”

To wit: all proteins are sourced from Fischer Meats, including the ground lamb Rehn uses for her “must-try” sliders laced with Sambal, a southeast Asian chili sauce. The sliders are lacquered with crunchy peanut butter and even more sweet chili sauce and garnishes including cilantro, mint, and green onion. Finding a bun to cradle all that goodness wasn’t easy. Rehn ate her way through numerous local bakeries before settling on the brioche from Grand Central Bakery.

The rest of the menu is heavy on smoked meats; chicken thighs, spareribs, brisket chili, even the potato salad get the smokey treatment. There’s also clam chowder that’s “all about the clams, not the potatoes.”

Rehn has cooked in kitchens throughout the area, including the erstwhile Sweet Addition, and has served as a restaurant consultant. Last April she was watching The Great Food Truck Race when inspiration took hold. “I like driving. I love a good road trip,” so pursuing a mobile operation seemed a natural idea. Her husband Tony, a car dealer, helped secure her set of wheels. Since then it’s been a family affair readying the truck, which now boasts a 32-foot flat screen and an awning for rainy days.

Rehn plans to travel primarily on the Eastside but does hope to hit up the Fremont Sunday Market. Track My Chef Lynn’s whereabouts on Facebook.

________________________________________

PDX 671

Congratulations to the Sablan family and their new location at the D-Street Noshery. 3221 Se Division St. Porland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUhX63WyFPE&feature=youtu.be

_______________________________________

Big Ass Sandwiches latest creation. Staunch supporters of our Portland Timbers, Brian and Lisa honor the team with a great after-match tummy warmer for your ride home. Come see them at their cart on SW Ash & 3rd. Downtown Portland.

_____________________________________________

http://www.foodcartsportland.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/7703.jpg

Green Castle Reopening and Seeking Carts

Green Castle customers were disappointed to see the temporary closure of the food court due to zoning issues. Now that everything has been worked out with the City, the food carts are on their way back to the Green Castle site at 20th and NE Everett (1930 NE Everett St.), between Sandy and Burnside. The new and improved gathering site includes covered seating, unique healthy food options, and a strong neighborhood connections. Onsite parking, bus lines and plenty of bike racks allow for the convenience of transportation options.

Come celebrate the re-opening of this neighborhood gourmet food connection. Meals start being served mid-April or sooner. Stay tuned for more information about our Grand Reopening Party!

If you’re a cart owner looking for a new home, the lot has onsite grey-water disposal as just one of the amenities to provide you with a positive vending experience. There are cart spaces available so please contact Debbie at 503-313-3865 or email at deb@jmwproperties.com for more information

________________________________________

Another amazing year for Portland’s food carts. We were named the #1 street food city in the world and continue to be written about by national and international press. We saw growth, but we also saw some significant closures both with carts and pods. I enjoyed some amazing food and was able to see one or our carts represent the city in San Francisco. 2011 was yet another great year to be a cartivore in this fine city. Read more: http://www.foodcartsportland.com/2011/12/19/food-cart-review-2011-edition/

Looking for the best Portland Food Carts?  Portland is renowned for its extensive list of portable eateries known as food carts! At last count we had over 500+licensed food carts in Portland. That's 500 tiny little restaurants serving up every manner of cuisine through their windows.  Everywhere you look, Portland is mentioned in the press for great food, and lately it is all about the food cart explosion and our mobile cuisine.

http://www.portlandneighborhood.com/portland-food-carts.html

Holiday Cart News

If you’re a long time Portlander like myself, you are very much aware of Peacock Lane, the Christmas light extravaganza in SE Portland. Such a great experience to wander down a fully lighted street with a cup of cocoa in your hand on a cool December night. This year, you can pair cart food with your evening with a stop at Good Food Here on SE 43rd and Belmont. The carts plan on staying open until 7:30pm in the evenings with heated and covered seating. Caroling will also occur starting tonight through Christmas.

Big-Ass Sandwiches is celebrating 1 year open with a party at Ash Street Saloon across from the cart on Saturday night. There will be live music, food and some special guests along with a screening of their upcoming commercial. Congrats Big-Ass on your success!

Read more: http://www.foodcartsportland.com/2010/12/15/holiday-cart-news/

______________________________________________________________________________

Save NYC Food Trucks: "Due to a recent court ruling in February, it is now illegal to sell food from a food truck at a metered parking spot in New York City (including the outer boroughs.) This video was created to help gain support and to encourage NYC to remove the ban."

Show your support for the movement by signing the petition https://www.facebook.com/SaveNYCFoodTrucks and following them on Twitter: @savenycfoodtrux
Save NYC Food Trucks from Brad Gallant on Vimeo.

Sal Zizzo of the Portland Timber's is opening his own Italian food truck. Yes Portland, your beloved Italian midfielder will be shelling out some of his favorite cuisine during the MLS offseason. He is currently working on the logo and menu with his business partner and friend who will be in charge of the day-to-day operations. You can currently pre-order Zizzo's F.C. shirts on the website. Connect with Zizzo's on Facebook and Twitter for more information.

I'm a little bit of an advertising geek, so when I saw a couple of the spots from Travel Oregon I was thoroughly impressed. Their new campaign is focused on the ever-expanding wine and food scenes that are gaining national and international prominence. Check out the Travel Oregon website for more information and deals.

ABC's "The Chew" is the foodies "The View". The media giant is expecting "The Chew" to boost daytime ratings after ending the long time soap opera "All My Children". Blending a talk show and a cooking show actually sounds like a novel idea. Here are a couple clips from the new series:

Libbie Summers is the official pork queen and her new literary adventure "The Whole Hog Cookbook" is filled with hundreds of ways to cook pork. It's time to expand your horizon's because there's more to pork than bacon and chops.

If your mouth isn't watering by the end of this video you need to go see a doctor.

The Whole Hog Cookbook from Libbie Summers on Vimeo.

I was browsing through Bon Appetit this morning and I stumbled upon the article about Faviken "the world's most daring restaurant". It was a little perplexing how this 12 seat restaurant in the Northwestern region of Sweden had gained so much world-wide attention. If you have any interest in local, seasonal and sustainable cooking practices this is an inspiring read and the visuals aren't too bad either. Click here to read the entire article.

Get excited!
Here's some visual evidence that My Chef Lynn will soon be on the road in and around the Seattle metro area.

Giddy-up Partner! Seattle's Mobile Food Rodeo is almost here. This Saturday from 12-7 over 26 mobile food vendors from Seattle and Portland will gather to celebrate the Northwests great food culture. You can purchase General Admission tickets here.

Here's a great video from Fox Business about the local food cart scene in our hometown of Portland, Or. Featuring local food celebrity Brett Burmeister from www.foodcartsportland.com

We are very proud to announce the opening of the newest NMK produced Food Cart: Yolk Yolk is the offshoot of the popular SE breakfast joint Toast and it will feature a breakfast-centric menu. The cart will be parked at SE 48th and Woodstock from 9am-3pm. Here's a sample of the menu highlights from Breakfast in Bridgetown: Hashes: Toby Jones – Summer corn w/heirloom tomatoes, avocado, serrano chiles, sunny side up egg + basil, lime, sour cream $8 Mary HAD a Little Lamb – ground lamb over roasted potatoes, braised greens and summer squash tossed with mint and herbs topped w/ sunny side up duck egg $9 Sandwiches: The Sandwich – Ham or braised greens, egg, cheese, on housemade English muffin $4 — yes $4!!!!! Glendale – Sauteed onions and peppers with ground sausage, scrambled eggs, Italian cheese on baguette (this is soooo good – like an east coast grinder – Yow!) Brother Bad Ass – Maple glazed pork belly with Beecher’s cheddar cheese, over medium egg and dijon tossed frissee on a pretzel roll. Attention Seattleites: Groupon has a deal going on today for 50% off Mobile Food Rodeo tickets! These tickets are good for admission on September 17th. The Mobile Food Rodeo will feature over 20 different food trucks from the Seattle and Portland area. Check out the Groupon Deal here. If these short films don't make you want to get up and travel you might need to check your pulse. These 3 films aptly titled "Eat" "Learn" and "Move" chronicle the travels of 3 men as they make their way through 11 different countries in 44 days. EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo. LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo. MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo. The Cooking Channel Frozen Treat Truck will be at the Westlake Center today in Seattle and at the Saturday Market in Portland on 9/3. Cooking Channel star Chuck Hughes will be at both events. Check out the Cooking Channel website for more information. The biggest music festival in Portland is back and better than ever for its 11th rendition. MusicFestNW will be rocking September the 7-11th. With well over 150 bands playing in this years festival there's a little something for everyone. Check out MusicFestNW.com for more information and show prices. MusicfestNW 2011 Commercial from MusicfestNW on Vimeo. Last Thursday: The Greatest Hits Edition Once a month Alberta St. in NE Portland closes down for a street fair that encompasses a little bit of everything that makes Portland so unique. We've put together a list of photos that will help explain what happens on a "typical" Last Thursday. For more information on Last Thursday check out Twitter @lastthursday and use the hashtag #lastthursday. www.lastthursdayonalberta.com The American dream is alive and well in San Francisco thanks to the La Cocina program. This incubator kitchen is focused on helping low-income women start up their own food businesses. For more information on La Cocina check out their website here. La Cocina Presents Mission: Street Food from Amanda Huelse on Vimeo. One of our first clients Big Ass Sandwiches headed down to the Bay Area this past weekend for the 3rd Annual San Francisco Street Food Festival. We've put together a little Twitter timeline showcasing some of their best photos of the weekend. If you're on Twitter and you're not following BAS you need to get with the program.... they are one of the most interactive mobile food vendors out there. Follow them @bigasssandwich Get down to the Deschutes Bewery Street Fare tomorrow night from 5-9 on NW 10th and Davis! The grilled chicken & coconut flatbread from PDX671 with the Green Lakes Organic sounds pretty good to me. (Screenshot from FoodCartsPortland.com) Top 5 Mobile Food Apps from Mashable- Mashable recently released their top 5 apps for food carts and trucks. Some are free and others cost a few dollars. Which apps do you use and what ones did they miss? 1. Food Truck Fiesta: Is the go to app. for the Washington D.C. area. .99 2. Eat St.: Available for Android and iPhone. This app also allows you to see the recent Twitter timeline for the cart you are looking at. 3. Roaming Hunger: This app is more in depth than most as it offers a blog as well as information on mobile food. 4. Road Stoves GPS: The most in-depth tracker for the LA area. Free for Android and iPhone. 5. TruxMap Lite Food Truck Map: Maps available for over 21 different cities. Click here to read the entire article from Mashable. Season 2 of The Great Food Truck Race premieres Sunday the 14th at 10pm on The Food Network. This years competitors include Cafe Con Leche, Devilicious Food Truck, Hodge Podge, Korilla BBQ, Roxy's Grilled Cheese, Seabirds Food Truck, Sky's Gourmet Tacos and The Lime Truck. We are a little upset that they didn't include any trucks from the Pacific NW or Austin.... maybe next year. Both of these videos are incredible but we don't recommend "stealing" a food truck. A Portland Food Cart | Part One from Juliet Zulu on Vimeo. A Portland Food Cart | Part Two from Juliet Zulu on Vimeo. Holy Cheeseburgers! The billion dollar burger industry and the economics behind our favorite meal. This infographic from Mint tugs at my heartstrings because I've eaten way too many burgers this summer. Note:This infographic is NOT vegan friendly. I recently finished reading a great article on The Portland Mercury about a new company that is taking aim at reducing waste. Personally, I think it's a great concept that could take off if enough vendors join in. It looks like the mobile food scene is gaining some traction in Boulder, CO. Portland has long been revered as a Soccer City. Its citizens have supported the growth of the game wholeheartedly since the beginning. Tonight our Portland Timbers take on the glitz and glam of the Los Angeles Galaxy who beat us in April 3-0. I already ran my mouth on Twitter and predicted a 3-2 win for the Timbers... so a win would be greatly appreciated. If you can't make it to Jeld-Wen to show your support the game will be broadcast live on ESPN starting at 10:30 EST. Here's a little video to get everyone pumped up for tonights game. Alaska Airlines/Portland Timbers "Luggage" from Lightpress on Vimeo. Custom wraps are all the rage these days in the food cart/truck scene. People are starting to realize that branding is a huge part of a successful food business. We've compiled a list of some of our favorite vehicle wraps. Let us know which one is your favorite. Docs of the Bay: Oakland, CA Brunch Box: San Francisco, CA Joyride: New York, NY Dos Chinos: Los Angeles, CA Schnitzel Wagon, Los Angeles, CA I'm partial to the Dos Chinos wrap. You can't really beat a Los Muertos inspired wrap designed by a famous tattoo artist. The Oregon Brewers Festival kicked off this Thursday at the Tom McCall Waterfront and it will be showcasing over 80 different craft beers from around the globe. It looks like the weather is going to be perfect for sipping suds and hitting up a couple food carts. 2010 Oregon Brewers Festival & Parade from Ritch Marvin on Vimeo. I was graced with a little eye-candy in my email this morning. I thought I would show you a couple proofs of the cart we are working on for My Chef Lynn. The Field Group in Yakima is designing the custom wrap that is sure to turn heads in Seattle. Connect with My Chef Lynn on Facebook or Twitter. Even though this article isn't directly related to food I thought it would peek the interest of our readers: Kyle Durrie is a young creative from Portland, Oregon, who is raising funds to start a typography cart. She has already reached her goal of $8,000 through Kickstarter. She is currently traveling around the country teaching people letterpress and leading workshops. It looks like people are starting to realize the benefits of having a mobile office. You can follow her trek around the country via Facebook and her blog. Here's even more proof that Portland's food cart scene is top notch: MSN's delish network just added Big Ass Sandwiches and Garden State to its Best Food Carts in the Nation this weekend! Koi Fusion also made the list. Way to represent Portland and the Northwests budding food scene. Read the whole article here. We got some great news earlier this week from our neighbors to the North. Seattle has passed legislation that's going to allow food trucks to sell on private streets. Read the Seattle Times article below for more information on the bill. Originally published Monday, July 18, 2011 at 9:26 PM Seattle council OKs more food trucks on streets The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Monday in favor of allowing food trucks to sell on private streets. With Mayor Mike McGinn's signature, the new law will take effect in a month. By J.B. Wogan Seattle Times staff reporter In a month's time, Seattle will join the ranks of cities around the country where food trucks can legally do business on a public street. The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Monday in favor of the new rules, which allow food trucks to sell beyond private lots. Mayor Mike McGinn, who supports the bill, has 30 days to sign it into law. Councilmember Sally Clark, who introduced the bill, said the legislation might make it easier for entrepreneurs to open a small business. "The overarching goal: a little more interest in neighborhoods, a little more interest out in the street life," Clark said. The bill also expands the kinds of food that sidewalk carts can sell, beyond hot dogs, popcorn and coffee. Public Health-Seattle & King County will have to approve a cart's menu and food-preparation methods. No public agency tracks how many food trucks operate in Seattle, though truck owners estimate there are fewer than 30 of the new style of gourmet food truck, such as Marination Mobile and Skillet. "We just have not seen much happening," said Gary Johnson, from the Department of Planning and Development, who helped write the bill. Food trucks and sidewalk carts have become popular in cities across the country, from Los Angeles and Portland to New York and Washington, D.C. "I think it's a good time to do it. Opening up a brick-and-mortar is not the most convenient right now," said Tony Yamanaka, of foodtrailersaustin.com, a website he started about a year ago that covers street food in Austin, Texas. Most cities do not allow food trucks to sell from the street, said Dain Pool, a contributing writer to the national street-food website MobileFoodNews.com. Pool's company owns and franchises 25 food trucks across the U.S. Portland, which is estimated to have more than 600 food trucks and carts, allows the vendors to do business from the street outside its central city area, though it rarely occurs in practice, said Dan Anderson, a spokesman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The heart of its street-food scene centers on carts packed together on private property, under rental agreements with land owners, said Steve Cohen, who manages food policy and programs for Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. In allowing food trucks onto Seattle's streets, the City Council also set some limits: • Only two food trucks can park on each side of a street on a single block, unless the city makes an exception. • Trucks cannot park within 50 feet of an existing food business, such as a restaurant or cafe, or within 15 feet of a retail business entrance and exit. • Trucks cannot park within 1,000 feet of a high school, except in commercial areas, where the restriction is 200 feet. • Trucks cannot park in single-family or low-rise residential areas. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will lease parking locations in four-hour time slots at an hourly rate of $2.25. Rather than designate specific locations, business owners will have to apply for a site and SDOT will decide whether to approve it. In cases where two or more businesses competed for the same location and time, the city will use a lottery system. Love the taco trucks; fast, inexpensive, and surprisingly good. Plus I like the smaller... (July 19, 2011, by stephen/seattle) Read more Read all 24 comments > Post a comment > Each application will come with a comment period of 10 business days. If parking is so limited that giving space to a truck would be a problem, the application could be rejected, said SDOT's Brian de Place, who also helped write the bill. Johnson said the biggest hurdle to finding a location might be a requirement that truck employees have access to a restroom within 200 feet of the parking location. Brick-and-mortar business owners nearby would have to sign a restroom agreement, he said. The city would perform both field inspections and inspections prompted by complaints to make sure the trucks met health and parking standards. The most vocal opponents of the proposal were restaurant owners who said food trucks on streets would have such low overhead that they could out-compete existing restaurants that have to pay rent or property taxes. Although a food truck's costs would be substantially less than a restaurant's, it still would pay the typical permitting fees and rent for a separate commissary kitchen. J.B. Wogan: 206-464-2206 or jwogan@seattletimes.com Big Ass Sandwiches is filming for America's Best Bites today! According to their Facebook America's Best Bites "is in search of the BEST Bites across America. The hosts, Ted Brunson and Natalie Forte, are on a mission each week to find affordable dishes and must-eat items from New York to LA, Dallas to Chicago and all points in-between, based primarily on viewer feedback from Facebook and Twitter." I really like the idea of having a crowdsourced show about affordable culinary options. They will be filming at BAS today from 11:30-2pm so come out and show your support for Portland and the local food scene. For more information about America's Best Bites check them out on Twitter and Facebook. 3 Portland Carts That Will Help You Beat The Heat. Portland is famous for its rain but there's a small period of time when temperatures soar (above 80) and locals look for any way to beat the heat. We've come up with a list of local food vendors that will keep you cool during those hot summer days. 1. Fifty Licks Ice Cream: Fifty Licks is the destination for homemade ice cream in Portland. Their SE 43rd and Belmont location serves up a huge variety of flavors ranging from Stumptown Coffee to Maple Bacon. Visit Fifty Licks Online. 2. Oregon Ice Works: This cool and delicious treat is filled with fresh local fruit and fair trade cane sugar. Located on 3221 SE Division Avenue. Oregon Ice Works Online. 3. Sol Pops: These aren't the otter pops of your youth... Sol Pops delivers a healthy, handmade and sustainable product that will keep you cool. Visit Sol Pops online for their hours and location.