Cartopia Food Carts

Literally every food option .
Pizza, Egyptian, Mexican, crepes (salty and savory), beer, wine, soda, water … Literally everything there’s to much to type .
They do have two port o potty bathrooms (super clean).
Tried a couple different vendors and they were all amazing. There is a tent with lights and tables to sit and eat there .
A lot of vendors are open till at least midnight, some till even later (3am).

Big overhaul goes a long way!
Cartopia, one of the most well known and oldest food cart spots in Portland. 5 – 6 years ago if you’d have asked me to go here I would have had a look on my face that could only say…“Mmmmmmm nope”. They have obviously put some money into this small area and the spruce up has gone a long way to entice me to stick around. Newer picnic tables with umbrellas, lights, and a proper patio has replaced a once dirty, garbage filled square.
The food trucks here are some of the best. My friend and I sampled from three, Potato Champion, Pyro Pizza, and Tahir. It was a feast from the Gods! There is also a chicken based food truck, creperie, a and a great looking Mexican food but it was closed.
Pizza from Pyro was fantastic. Tough to do wood fired pizza via food truck but these folks make it work with a built in clay oven, and a refreshing and inventive soda machine with Handmade Sodas. Try the fantastic Basil Lime soda, really goes well with pizza.
We had a really well done veggie platter from Tahir. Great mezze with Greek style salad, dolmas, hummus, baba, and some of the freshest and best tasting falafel I’ve had at any food cart.
Poutine is pretty trendy, and let’s be honest, most of them pretty much suck. Potato Champion has the goods and renewed my love for this Canadian classic. Creamy cheese curds, nicely done fries without being greasy, and a veggie gravy that was tasty if a bit too sage-​y.
Overall, I“m really impressed with Cartopia. They’ve really got some fantastic choices, and makes for a great evening out where you can sample a variety of ethnic and comfort foods in a clean environment that’s well managed and taken care of. Big points from this Unilocaler.

Great food, great seating area, fun people watching. Whatever you choose to eat, get your drink from the pizza place. They make their own sodas and they are delish. Refills only .50!

There aren’t many food carts at this place. Maybe it was the timing of our visit or it seems like it would normally be like this because it’s an open cement parking area and only about 7 – 9 carts can fit. The selection was minimal so my friends and I all agreed we wanted to check out the option across the street rather than dine here. None of the smells from the foods got our attention and neither did the food. I snapped a picture and walked across the street to Lardos.

Very cool spot with a big central seating area and lots of options for food! They’re currently sprucing the place up, too — all the carts are getting nice decks for you to step up onto to order, and they’re putting in stone pavers and fire pits. Very cool! Though, temporarily it’s very sandy with lots of tripping hazards. Watch where you’re walking!
My favorite is still PB&J Grilled. You NEED to get the OREGONIAN (grilled challah, duck, hazelnut butter, blue cheese & marionberry jam. It’s SO HUGE it will definitely feed 2 people and it’s only $ 9 somehow?!? I need to go back right now!

Cartopia. Food trucks at the corner. Though smaller compared to other Food Truck pods around PDX the food was big on flavor. Luv Poutine and the price at Potato Champion. They have Egyptian for Egyptian lovers. Gyro’s, Pita, Hummus. Perierra Creperie and Whiffles. Picnic tables to grab a seat and talk hipster topics. Glad I got to experience this. PDX just gets better and better

Average tasting, average quality foods, at restaurant prices. This place is where you head when everything else is closed. I wasn’t a fan of the cramped picnic table set up, the party/​drunk ‘atmosphere’, nor the piles of sand randomly placed about. I strongly suggest visiting the many good restaurants in the area.

So for dinner we decided to check out the Food Carts at 12^th and Hawthorne. We had Gyro’s and Pita Bread & Hummus. We also had Indian Poultine and for dessert had a Sweet Crepes

This was my first experience at a food pod here in Portland. And I’m in love. I grabbed the satay fries at the Potato Champion. It was a mouthful explosion of starch goodness. Why had I never thought to put satay sauce on my fries? So simple yet sooooo delicious.
I also grabbed a sweet crêpe at Perierra Creperie filled with walnuts, cardamon, and lemon I think. Not too sweet which was great as I wasn’t in the mood for an overly sweet treat.
I will frequent this again!

Quite a bit of construction going on and not very user friendly as far as cart pods go. That being said, it’s worth the hassle! Potato Champion! PB&J’s! need I say more? Go, eat, love!

So happy to see the carts moving out to outer SE… So nice not to have to run downtown to get yummy food. My kids and I really love the variety. Can’t go wrong.

Like Hawthorne, Cartopia Food Carts is dominated by eccentric variety. There’s lots of hipsters, both rich and poor with all kinds of earrings. Some of the carts here are good and some are bad.
The carts are laid out in a what would otherwise be a medium-​sized parking lot. Some notable carts include Potato Champion, PB&J, Pyro Pizza, Whiffles and so on. Whiffles is the only really special one there, the other ones have the same old stuff that you can find anywhere. There are some tables, but most of them are under a tent, however none of the tables are indoors.
The bus service is fairly minimal and it will often be out of the way for many commuters. Parking is okay, but not that easy. At Cartopia, none of the carts themselves roar loudly with flavor like at Belmont.
Cartopia Food Carts are okay but there’s better alternatives.

GREAT NEWS, PEOPLE! Cartopia got their lease renewed for two years. I found this out from the friendly crêpe-​makers when I was there last week & asked fearfully when the condo invasion would begin.
So go enjoy the whiffle pies (I’m still not exactly sure what those are… shouldn’t they be sporting equipment?), poutine, Egyptian food, and of course crepes. Bonus: They have pumpkin milkshakes. I don’t know if loving that makes me a basic bitch, but if so, it’s a rap I’m willing to take.

Party people all the time.
That’s how I feel on every Cartopia visit, whether it’s late at night or in the bright blaring sun of day. How can you not, with things like twinkle lights, a carousel, and the general undercurrent of excitement about amazing food things like Pyro’s pizzas or Potato Champion’s poutine? Something about this little corner makes me burst with gleeful joy at life! At Portland! At how eating outside makes everything taste better!
None of the other pods quite pull that off for me, so this is the one I drag all out-​of-​town visitors to. More for me than for them, but whatever… Another favorite feature is being able to take my plates of food next door into High Dive so I can wash ‘em down with a pint of beer; Cartopia isn’t the only pod where alcohol is available nearby, but it’s the only one where I’ve found good IPAs available nearby. Or at least one — the tap list at High Dive is brief but quality.
You’ve got a wide range of goods here from crepes to Egyptian food to grilled PB&Js; carnivores, omnivores, and vegans alike will be thrilled and lucky to wander around perusing the wares. The only sad thing about Cartopia is that it will be closing down soon, so visit and soak in the atmosphere while you can. I know all good things must come to an end, but my little heart will be a bit sadder forever…

I used to live a few blocks from this location and I thank my lucky stars I moved away before things were up and running! I can’t imagine living within walking distance and NOT coming here every day.
I love the tent which offers both shelter from the elements and a fair feel. Add a carousel and it gets more real. Picnic tables are abundant for your dining pleasure. I like the mild mood lighting (not to bright, not too dark) that really sets the tone for a great dining experience. I like the hours here as I often get cravings after 9pm. Late night nosh is just my style.
The selection of carts is diverse — pizza, whiffies, poutine, PBJs, crepes and more. Individual reviews of carts will follow. I love this pod and will be back when I visit again!

Ya know, each cart had something unique, but I was hoping for a little more diversification — like Greek, Indian, Thai or Middle Eastern food. Yes, there was a crêpe cart (representing France) and Mexican, but all the others leaned towards American food. Not that everything wasn’t appetizing and completely satisfying.
A few friends purchased meat filled turnovers (pies) for Whiffies Pies. They looked amazing and I’m told they were.
Others bought Crepes; the dessert kind and the ham, brie and basil kind. Wow! Had I known I could do one that wasn’t sweet… I so would have ordered one!
One friend got a (giant) slice of pie from Pyro Pizza and a refillable glass of the most AWESOME homemade ginger ale I have ever had! (She bragged it up until I made her give me a sip — which turned into a couple large gulps).
I got a pulled pork sandwich — and the best sweet potato fries I’d ever had — at Bubba Bernie’s. They have an array of sauces, so I went all «graveyard» and dumped a ton on mine. It was deeeee-​lish!
At to all that the fact that it was sunny so all 10 of us were able to get a picnic able in the sun (to soak up some vitamin D while we ate; killing 2 birds with one stone) — that all the hipster vampires shied away from.
An added bonus was that parking on the street was easy to find and FREE!
I thought I’d save money doing the food cart thing, but when everything looks scrumptious, I over-​order.
Our brunch club has now decided to try a few other food carts, but this was the first on our list and not disappointingly so.

This is such a cool way to make food carts work for people. You kind of feel like you’re at the state fair, with the tent buildings and converted parking lot feel. There are tons of amazing food carts in here all the time, and they seem to crank through all hours. There are bars right next door where you can take your food, or you can relax and eat in one of the tents or at an outdoor picnic table. We don’t have anything remotely close to this in Seattle, and more’s the pity. These guys are killin’ it with great cheap food and an awesome setting.
There’s even an ATM right on site, though most of the carts do take cards. Can’t say enough good things about this place.

Great group of carts, conveniently located to where I was staying– drove past it one night after dinner, too full to even think about stopping «just to check it out».
Managed to swing by a day or two later. All the usual suspects were there: Potato Champion, the creperie place, PBJ, Mexican food, and the Cajun/​Poorboy cart. Mixed and matched from here and there, reviews on their respective pages.
Really appreciated the diversity found in this group: none of the carts had to compete with one another by repeating cuisines or dishes, unlike other, larger pods where nearly a quarter of them all offer gyros…
Also really appreciated the covered seating and trash cans available!

Cue Victory Music!
We have ARRIVED!
We finally found our first Portland Food Pod. Wee!
I got ADD the instant we stepped into the circle of pods and I looked from 1 to the other.
Which one first? Which one will I go to after? Ahhhh. I can’t focus.
I’m a potato-​lovin whore so, I head to the Potato Champion pod. I asked about poutine since I keep hearing so much about it. He advises me if I hate gravy (I do), not to get it. and maybe try the Satay Poutine, which was a thai-​peanut sauce instead of gravy. SOLD. and wow, what a flavor extravaganza! I can guarantee I will never find fries like that ever again… ever. So danged good!
My man went to the Perierra Crêperie pod and got a mediocre crêpe. What’s the deal with crepes? They’re never outstanding! They’re the façade of good food!
Next up, some PBJ truck that totally ignored the very small line outside of their pod and were too busy cooking. I gave up and headed to the Mexican pod… which wasn’t really a pod, it was simply a boring olé normal Mexican Food Truck with really crappy food. :(
Shame on you for trying to blend in with these other gourmet trucks!
There was another pod whose name I cannot remember and whose beignet wish I had skipped. Totally sucked. I have yet to have a really delicious beignet.
We stepped next door to Pyro Pizza to grab some food to take back to the hotel. They had some of the best bread sticks we’d ever had with giant, robust, roasted cloves of garlic sitting on top… DElicious. But, their pizza? Blech. I took one bite and never went back for more. And my boyfriend, who is the biggest pizza freak of all the land ate one piece and we threw the rest away.
So, after all the Food Network episodes on all the «fantastic» food pods of Portland. we left with bellies full but only with a semi food boner.

Was visiting Portland and the main objective was «surprise surprise» food & drink! I had to go to Potato Champion, where to find them? at Cartopia! They are on the other side of the river but easy to find BTW Portlands public transportation is great. We were here over the weekend and a lot of the Pods werent open on the «other side» There are about 6 – 8 carts. Potato Champion was great!!! Nothing better than Belgian fries!!! If you are in Portland I say go to Cartopia!!!