Street food in many US cities has developed from being an unmemorable, on-the-go, gastro-intestinal roll-of-the-dice to being a respectable culinary movement. While a few cities have enjoyed a robust street food scene for quite some time, a truly impressive momentum has been building around the country in the past few years, and nowhere has that momentum been more spectacular than Portland, Oregon.

In addition to classics like hotdogs and tacos, carts are now offering items people might not historically find – or dare to eat – on the street like authentic Italian, exceptional Thai, wood fire pizza, crepes, really good cappuccino, sushi and escargot. And all of it reasonably priced! As of this writing, Portland has some 580 licensed carts to choose from, which probably contributed to CNN/Budget Travel recently naming them the “World’s Best Street Food”.

After being staggered by Portland’s depth and breadth of options while doing a street food research project on over 60 US cities, I quickly made plans to visit and get a taste of the offerings. If you’re inspired to do the same, there’s some great last minute deals on Portland hotels. What follows is by no means comprehensive, or even necessarily the best that Portland has to offer. It’s merely a report on some of the best food I sampled during my four days wandering the streets.

Nong’s Khao Man Gai
SW Alder in between SW 10th and 11th
Nong’s is a landmark, voted earlier this year as the #2 best street cart in the country by Men’s Health magazine. An hour after my plane landed in Portland, I was ordering the one and only thing on Nong’s menu: Khao Man Gai, a labor-intensive Thai specialty originally from Hainan province, China. Chicken is poached in Asian herbs and spices, served on jasmine rice (which is cooked in the chicken broth), with cucumber slices and cilantro. It’s accompanied by a divine concoction called “pungeon sauce”, made from fresh ginger, garlic, sugar, fermented soy beans and chile, which the devout pour all over their food. It’s a singular, toe-curling meal that you’ll be hard-pressed to describe to friends without over-using the word ‘awesome’.

Joslyn’s Ciao Chow
SW 2nd and Stark
She hasn’t been officially sainted yet, but Joslyn has performed a street food miracle in her tiny cart, where she strictly adheres to authentic Italian preparation with simple, fresh ingredients. She somehow produces an ambitious 20-item menu, including eight pasta plates (ranging from $5-9) and items like fresh fish, seared chicken breast with greens and a flank steak wrapped around scallions and cheese. Her penne alla vodka con gamberi (shrimp on pasta in a vodka cream sauce) is superb, without leaving you feeling like you need a nap afterward.

Penne alla vodka con gamberi from Joslyn’s Ciao Chow

SomTum Gai Yang
SW Alder, between 10th and 11th
Being right next to Nong’s, you’d think that the Thai-on-Thai competition would be a little much, but gratifyingly their menus are entirely different. Their signature dish, Som Tum, is a shredded green papaya salad, reminiscent of cabbage, mixed with carrots, cherry tomatoes, green beans and spice, usually ordered with meat (beef, pork or chicken) and sticky rice on the side. However, during my visit I ordered the Palo Gai, a mound of ridiculously tender, stewed chicken with green veg, rice, a boiled egg, gravy and hot sauce. It was second only to Nong’s for being the most unique item I ate all week.

Palo Gai from SomTum Gai Yang

The Sugar Cube

All I ordered here was the Chocolate Potato Chip cupcake, drizzled with their homemade salted caramel. There’s really nothing to add beyond the picture.

Chocolate Potato Chip cupcake

Pyro Pizza
SE 12th and Hawthorne
Located at the Cartopia pod (food carts are arranged in clusters around the city, known as ‘pods’), a legendary late-night street food destination, Pyro is preceded by their sister cart Give Pizza a Chance located downtown. Pyro has unimaginably built a fully functional, volcano-hot, non-life-threatening wood fire pizza oven in their cart, baking their thin pizzas in about five minutes. Though most people rave about the Traditional Margherita, I ordered the indulgent White Truffle ($8), a white pizza, with romano cheese, black pepper, brushed with white truffle oil, because I’m physiologically incapable of saying ‘no’ when the word ‘truffle’ is uttered.

Perierra Creperie
SE 12th and Hawthorne
Also in Cartopia, they do an exhaustive list of savory and sweet crepes, like Nutella and banana; gogonzola, pear, walnut and honey; or smoke salmon, cream cheese, arugula and lemon. I chose the chocolate and prosciutto ($5), which was erroneously listed on the ‘sweet’ menu, as there wasn’t enough chocolate to warrant this classification. It was nevertheless delicious and unique.

Photo Credit Robyn H.

Again, this sampling barely hints at the incredible variety available on Portland’s streets and no reasonable visit to the city will be enough time to appreciate the whole picture, much less sample it. Though, no one will fault you for trying – especially the locals.

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