Clays Southwest Flavors

I’m from Arizona and I grew up near the reservation where having Navajo Frybread was a near «daily» snack or meal. Since moving to Portland over 11 years ago, I have missed frybread dearly. I am so beyond stoked that Portland now has an Arizona couple representing southwestern flavors (and especially frybread) THE RIGHT WAY! I HIGHLY recommend trying this food cart! And if you have never had the awesome opportunity of trying frybread, I definitely recommend busting out of your shell and getting a taste of «The Original Frybread» or trying the ever so delicious Frybread with honey! I will frequenting Clays a whole lot now :) YAY!!!

As far as southwestern cuisine goes, this food truck is phenomenal. Delicious crispy frybread, fresh veggies, fantastic meat. To top it all off, Clay is super friendly and personable. I highly recommend stopping by!

My first Unilocal review. Normally, I feel like I don’t really have the time to type out reviews, but I feel compelled to let other folks know about this little gem of a food cart.
Seems Clay’s is more known for their Fry-​breads, which I have never had the pleasure of eating… yet. Chicken wings, on the other hand, are very familiar to me (I’m from NY State, went to college near Buffalo, where we all know the WING got its glorious start), and I am qualified to give a well experienced opinion.
Clay makes some seriously excellent chicken wings. Only been here once… so far… and I ordered a dozen wings with the classic buffalo wing sauce that wings originally were made with (and IMO, still the best choice). I ordered these with the blue cheese dressing (he also offers ranch). Price: $ 10 for a dozen, better price than the other wing joints I’ve visited. I got ‘em to go. Once home, I proceeded to devour.
My review: Well Done, Clay! Truly excellent, tasty wings, perfect amount of heat for most diners, if you like ‘em REAL hot I would let him know to increase the fire. I noticed that the wings had something added to them (was it in the sauce, or put on the wings before being sauced… not sure)… I thought it may have been little flecks of crumbled blue cheese. I called Clay up to inquire about this and he told me that he adds just a tiny bit of grated parmesan cheese and diced garlic… anyway, it was a great addition, added a little bit of texture and flavor to the wings and this ended up being a good thing.
The wing meat almost fell off the bones. The skin of the wings had a nice crispiness to it, which is one of the things that is most important when making wings… nothing worse than getting wings with barely cooked skin. The perfect combo of crispy skin and fall-​off-​the-​bone meat is what you want in a well done wing, and Clay know this.
Regarding the wing accoutrements… the side of celery/​carrot sticks he sends along with the wings is very generous, and this makes his product shine above the other chicken wing restaurants in Portland. I’m accustomed to getting celery sticks that resemble twigs… Clay’s celery sticks are the fully celery stalk, cut into 3 inch lengths… SO much better, and the right way to do it.
These nice large celery sticks are important, especially with Clay’s wings, because what you will end up dipping them in is THE BEST blue cheese sauce/​dressing that I’ve ever had come with wings. This is even true for back in NY… the blue cheese dressing can easily become an afterthought, and the differences you find in dressings, even at stellar wing joints, is typically the difference between whatever grocery-​store-​bought blue cheese dressing the wing joint purchases off the shelf. Very very few take the time to make their own sauce, but Clay made sure to tell me that his wife makes their blue cheese sauce. She knocked this sauce out of the park. Seriously.
Let me finish with this… I ordered my wings at the end of the day, about 8 pm (he’s open to 8:30) on a day where the temp was 95 degrees. When I first approached his truck, I could tell it must have been as hot as an oven in there. Even in this heat, Clay was friendly and personable to me, and he really wanted to talk about his food. I could tell this guy really cares about his product, and that is the quality, in any cook, that is the most important. That’s really what inspired me to take the time to write a review… Clay isn’t just a good cook who cares about what he presents to the customer, it’s easy to see he is a nice guy to boot. Here’s hoping he finds much success, soon as possible. I will certainly be trying the fry-​breads that others have been raving about soon…
One last thing… the address for his cart is listed as being on SE Division (at 50^th), but the carts are really located off of 50^th, just a stone’s throw off of Division. If you are driving an automobile, park accordingly and save yourself a little walk.

In the interest of self disclosure, I lived in Arzona for 6 years and was able to get the authentic frybread off the reservation. The frybread here is just as good! For those of you who haven’t had a change to sample frybread you can either get is as a meal with green chili, meet, lettuce, tomatos, sour cream ect. or you can order a dessert version with cinnamon sugar, honey or other sweet things on top. It’s basically the Southwest’s version of an elephant ear only in my opinion better!
I was here with a friend of mine who also lived in Arizona and knew the authentic stuff. We split a Ultimate frybread (coms with carne asada) and a dozen wings. First off, it was a lot of food and there was no way we could finish it all. The Mango Habenero and Buffalo wings were both awesome but not for you if you don’t like spicy food! These wings pack a fabulous punch! Prices here are superreasonable, run by a friedly famly that makes all their own sauces. I’ll definately be back when I need my SW fix.

I had the vegetarian supreme and it was delicious! I ate it all while reminiscing on eating fry-​bread with native friends tribes in CA… However, the supreme could easily be shared between two people. Had I had more time in Portland and more stomach space I would have loved to try the sweeter versions of the fry-​bread. Great stuff!

After a frybread cart in downtown Portland shuttered, I didn’t know of any other place that sold frybread in Portland until hearing about Clay’s cart. Frybread recipes are generally different depending on the area and people; each Indian family seems to have their own take on it. Clay learned about the recipe he uses when visiting a reservation in New Mexico. Each frybread ideally walks the line between crispy and puffy.
Although they had been open for quite some time, Memorial Day weekend was their official Grand Opening.
The «Supreme» ($ 7.50) is a frybread with ground beef, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, green chile salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Sriracha can also be added upon request. Didn’t have to tell me twice to add that rooster sauce!
The beef and beans get a great helping of Southwest seasoning, and I really enjoyed that. Adding the green chile salsa added to that Southwest flare. Fresh vegetables.
The frybread was a winner. It has that pleasing slight crunch with some chewy qualities.
You can try to fold it and eat it like a giant puffy taco. But dang, the size of the frybread made me do a double-​take. It was probably a good 8 to 9 inches in diameter. When adding all the toppings listed above, it becomes a good-​sized meal for the average person. $ 7.50 is a very reasonable price.
If you’re a vegetarian, the «Original» frybread choice ($ 6.50) leaves out the ground beef and substitutes in vegetarian refried beans.
While Clay offers his savory frybread choices, there are also a few sweet options to satisfy that particular craving. Holy damn, there’s a frybread apple turnover with cinnamon and sugar, topped with caramel! It’s $ 2.50 and it sounds like I’d want about 24 of them. My poor wallet…
And watch out, they also get the sinful chocolate involved. Yup, this includes deep fried Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! My poor body will be all sugar shocked.
So now I re-​enter the savory realm and see their chicken wings. $ 9 for a dozen and $ 5 for a half-​dozen. All sauces are made from scratch.
The Buffalo wings I had here are some of the best I’ve ever had. Just an ideal flavor and consistency on the sauce. Beautiful job on the wing frying, a crispy outside and juicy inside. Clay mentioned one time he received a great compliment from a customer who happened to be from Buffalo. I believe it.
The barbecue chipotle sauce is equally addicting. It’s got that KC-​style sweetness and a bit of smokiness from the chipotle.
I even told Clay and Cherise I’d be willing to drink both of those wing sauces. Simply addicting.
At their recent food cart grand opening weekend, a mango-​habanero wing sauce made its debut. Simply amazing. A burst of sweet mango flavor. A muted habanero heat eventually attempts to show its face. Over time, people should feel the burn.
And then you’ll have some nutcase (me) eat a couple dozen of these with ghost pepper powder added:
I wish Clay and Cherise the best with their food cart. I’ve enjoyed every item that’s come out of here. While this foodie loves to explore and try new places, this is one that I highly recommend people to visit.

Ever get the craving for carnival food without all of the trashiness of the actual carnival?
Well look no further than Clays Southwest Flavors! Clays serves up all the guilty pleasure carnival style fried desserts featuring the Indian fried bread (aka elephant ears for those of you who grew up in the midwest) and other assorted fried snacks (Snickers bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, etc).
While I had initially come to the a la carts Food Pavilion for just a burrito, I couldn’t help but be lured in by the prospect of having my favorite junk food, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups… wait for it… deep fried! And the result was SO delicious!
If you are like me and eating mere mortal junk food simply isn’t unhealthy enough for you, come to Clays and bring your snacking to the next level.

Okay, I may not have the most discerning tastes, because while my head knows that this is purported to be the only authentic Navajo Fry Bread this side of the Sexton Pass, my mouth keeps telling me that this is like the BEST elephant ear I’ve ever eaten. And I’ve been known to go pretty far out of my way for the love of an elephant ear.
Shmemantics aside, they come in both savory and sweet varieties, the savory offering all kinds of tostada-​like toppings, or just plain ol’ delicious cheese… but instead of loads of toppings on weak little tortillas, you get this thick, deep fried, slightly sweet doughy heaven. Instead of ordering whatever it’s called on the menu, try ordering «Tostada on a Cloud, please.» Actually, that’s probably a bad idea. Just order whatever it’s called. This actress has not been compensated. Except in the form of deep-​fried joy, in exchange for my dollah dollah bills, y’all.
I can’t quit you, fried dough. And Lord knows I wouldn’t try. Not with Clay’s just around the corner from my favorite watering hole.

Being from AZ and loving the frybread tacos on the reservations, this was like a taste of home.
His supreme frybread, red chili, tacos were delicious!!! The bread was light and flaky and doughy all at the same time. The meat was spicy and flavorful.
Cannot wait to get back to try the traditional bread with honey and powdered sugar.