Cultured Caveman

So disappointing! I love the idea of a food cart where everything on the menu is safe for me and my finicky diet, but wow, the execution was so very lacking. Five stars for the paleo offerings and cheerful service, and maybe two for the actual food. These dishes weren’t seasoned well (tried the chili, Ethiopian cabbage, and mini meatloaves), and I don’t mean that they weren’t salted. I have no idea what they meant by Ethiopian cabbage, but it didn’t taste like any veggie dish I’ve had in Portland’s myriad Ethiopian restaurants. It was just… odd. The chili was fine, but nothing special. I guess it was warm on a cold night. Again, no zip or even very exciting ingredients. And finally, the mini meatloaves were just that… mini. They did taste fine, and I appreciated the presence of offal to boost the vitamin content, but seriously, they were gone in just a couple of bites. It seems as though this place is making its mark by being safe for celiac folks, but I didn’t taste anything that was remotely worth the drive to get there. Texture and taste just felt like it could have come out of an average home kitchen on a weekday. I hope, hope, hope that the chefs in charge come out with a way to make this «Wow» food with taste, texture, and even presentation to make it worth a trip out.

Had the bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates and loved them.
Pro tip: They go great with the garlic dill cheese curds from New Seasons.

I am a HUGE fan of CC overall but this location seems to be having some quality control issues lately. My last two times have made me sad — one time the aioli was broken — basically an oily mess. This last time the oil (tallow) used to make my chicken tenders was clearly burnt. I tried to eat the chicken, hoping it didn’t taste as bad as it smelled, but it had the burnt oil taste. When I took them back, the employee — though definitely gracious — said maybe it was just the way the tallow tasted. That was a bit confusing because 1) shouldn’t she know how they taste normally? and 2) tallow or any oil shouldn’t taste burnt. She took them back and gave me my money back but I was left with an empty stomach and a sad heart. I can’t really think of any other cart in SE that could replace CC for me but on the other hand I don’t know that I want to go back to this location and be disappointed again.

Tasty, good service, authentic paleo-​friendly food, and reasonably priced. The food didn’t blow me away, but that can be hard to do while remaining strictly paleo.
Be warned though that the full menu listed on their website is for their restaurant, and only a few items are available at the foodcart.

The food is cheap and absolutely delicious! The bacon wrapped dates. HOLY TOLEDO BATMAN! So Good! The chicken tenders are incredible as well! The sauce that comes with the chicken is out of this world!

Are you kidding me? A adorable cute little hut with gluten free, soy free and dairy free menu. Grass fed chili, bone broth, honey roasted bacon wrapped dates with almond and Kale ginger salad. Super inexpensive. Nice service with seating area out the back. Short walk from Kure juice bar.

Just went today for my first time. I got the meatloaf and beet salad. To be honest after reading the menu I almost walked away because I was unfamiliar with some of the ingredients or cooking styles. But the woman working, Morgan, was super friendly and informative. Her customer service skills helped me out with information, feeding my belly and putting a smile on my face! Thanks Morgan it was delish! And affordable too! I recommend this place and the food for sure!

I really wanna like this little cart because it’s so close to where I live, but most of the times I’ve been here I’ve ended up disappointed.
The very first time I went, I received a really wonderful set of chicken tenders. If only I could duplicate that experience! The next few times I went, there was a different cook and the tenders came out very soggy and soaked with grease. Bleh. And that’s if they actually HAVE the things, they’re constantly out of half the menu by evening, which is when I usually go. You think they’d figure out eventually how to keep enough stock to get through a whole day but I guess not.
I do enjoy the collards as well. I might stop by once in awhile if I’m craving them. The chili was very runny and meh, and I didn’t care for the sweet potatoes either.
Perhaps my one good experience was a fluke. There’s so much other good food in the area, I think I’m going to drop this place from the rotation.

Hail! Hail! To The Mighty Cultured Caveman! This place is a lifesaver. I keep coming back… What would a caveman or cave woman say to this food? UMMMYUMMMMM…

The bacon-​wrapped dates may actually be the perfect food for all of mankind. I could end my review here, but that wouldn’t be very Unilocalish.
I visited the Hawthorne cart location, and it’s a typical food cart. The employee was helpful, but definitely keeping Portland weird. Most of the foods are decently good. I liked the chili, but the sweet potato mash was not great. The cart had run out of one of the menu items, which is poor form.
But in truth, there’s really just one word you need to know for Cultured Caveman:
BACON-​WRAPPED DATES!

They made me like kale which was amazing
I’ve never eaten anywhere where I can eat everything they serve, nice
They use expensive ingredients like coconut flour, it’s a bit pricy
Hey, put a correct phone number and get an extra star from me!
I tried the number there and got Albuquerque and somebody who gets a lot of calls for this place then I tried the same number yet with 503 and got another wrong number :-(

Great to have a paleo option here in Portland where I don’t have to watch the menu at all! The flavor was wonderful on everything we had. We ordered the mini meat loads, chicken tenders and kale salad, as well as a coffee. My only complaint is it was so very cold and there just is no shelter at all to even hide behind here, so waiting for your food to be prepared is miserable if the wind is blowing and it’s cold.

The chicken strips were pretty good, but that was all we ended up ordering because there was nothing else on the menu that looked interesting. I will confess, I was fairly disappointed with the whole experience and don’t plan to go back.

It’s just OK. The food is overpriced for the portions you get, and the guy who runs the thing just stares at you (no «hi», or «how are you?» EVER) until you awkwardly realize he’s waiting for you to order. Though this place has given me great inspiration to cook at home using better ingredients! Meh.

Very small portions, food is weird. The flavors are not very rich. I would not come back here ever.
Spent $ 21 for three people and everybody is still starving.
There was no line and only one person came by who did not even buy. This was a prime time for eating, if the place was good there should have been a line.
I don’t know how you got so many good reviews but they must be from people with defective taste buds.
If you weren’t a tiny business, I would have asked for a refund.
People that gave this place a four star review, go see small pharaohs, don’t even eat there, just look, and you will see the difference. Obviously you guys have never been out to a decent place if you think this place is worth anything more than one star.
Wife keeps insisting that it smelled like poop outside, but I didn’t smell anything (may have been the food) the thing I didn’t like was baking in the sun while trying to force the food down.
I’m sorry for being so brutal, but I would like someone else to take your place. You are a dried up empty soul. No smile, no friendliness, no taste.

Gluten free coconut floured chicken tenders! Very good! Beet, carrot & kale salad was fresh. Prices reasonable. Kelcy, who served us was friendly. I’ll be back with a different friend so we can make it a day and visit Powell’s book store too !

I’ve been gluten free for the past 9 months and while Portland is pretty GF friendly it’s always a fear of being accidentally «glutened» when eating out. But with Cultured Caveman I can rest easy knowing all my food has been kept far away from all things that could potentially make me sick.
After following Cultured Caveman on social media for far too long I finally decided to check it out for lunch earlier this week. Dammit, it was just as good as I thought it would be. This was my fear! Now I’m going to have to make this a weekly treat whenever I don’t feel like making lunch.
The girls working in the cart were so friendly and my food was prepared pretty quickly. I ordered the chicken tenders and an order of bacon almond dates. The sauce that comes with the chicken was delicious and the dates were downright amazing.
You can tell that the people that run Cultured Caveman really love what they’re doing and take great pride in the food they’re preparing. It’s always refreshing to have food made by people that love to cook and make people happy.
I’m tempted to stop by the cart again this week and try out the chili even if it is 90 degrees outside. And of course I’m also tempted to make a run to North Portland and check out their brick & mortar restaurant.
Keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll keep coming back.

We came up to Portland for two reasons on Easter. The most important was eating at your Hawthorne cart. Holy crap! You cook up some awesome chow.
Everything was tasty, the service was with a smile, my 3 year old fell in love with you and those mini-​meatloaves were insane. My wife and little guy had the moist and delicious chicken tenders and the kale salad and the beet salad balanced the meal nicely. Enough gushing. Thanks for making the trip worth it:)

The menu at this cart is intense. It’s so meaty that you can smell the meat smells within about a 10′ radius of the cart. And everything on the menu aside from a couple of salads is pretty much pure meat. This is neither the time nor place to engage in a discussion of my perception of the merits of this type of diet, but I’ll leave it at that I’m currently on what could be considered a paleo diet for health reasons, and this cart came in pretty handy the other day. I essentially don’t have to think about what I’m ordering when I order food here — it all fits my diet. Yay!
The chicken tenders are fairly tasty. Even for someone who can eat regular tenders in non-​diet mode, I still liked the light, tasty coconut flour «breading» on the outside, and whatever’s in the dipping sauce is tasty. It’s not a huge portion for the price, but it serves. The mini meatloaves look intriguing and the collagen-​packed bone broth is something I’ll have to try some time. I bet it coats the tongue.
I did have a kale and ginger salad as well that wasn’t really all that. Either the dressing was off (it had a scent like wine left out too long) or the flavor profile wasn’t attuned to my palate (which is rare). Either way, I wasn’t a fan.
Otherwise it’s cool to have a cart that caters to this specific niche diet. I can’t be eating this meat-​heavy food all the time (my heart would never forgive me) but when in need, it definitely fulfills.
UPDATE: I got a nice note from the owner of this cart, and I guess ½ of the items from this cart are vegan! I guess the meat smell comes from the fact that they cook some of the meat things in beef tallow. However, I had to add this tidbit to my review to ensure accuracy.

I have been following the Paleo diet (on and off) for over a year now. I was really excited when I heard that Portland has opened up a Paleo food cart! When I visited the city a few weeks ago, I made it a point to have lunch there.
LOCATION/​AMBIANCE: The cart is located between two brick&mortar businesses. The cart is fairly narrow, but they placed a chalkboard sign out front that made it noticeable. There is a seating area in the back; a little secluded, and covered with a tent for rainy days. Lots of tables, but no trash can (there is one in the front). The cart is cutely painted and has pictures of dinosaurs and other «Paleo”-like items.
FOOD: I ordred the chicken fingers, and the bacon-​wrapped dates. The chicken fingers were alright; I guess you can’t expect coconut flour to produce the same crispy batter that is widely loved (and unhealthy). The dates were yummy, but they must have been pre-​made because mine were a bit on the cold side. If I had more time in Portland, I would’ve liked to try the chili and meatloaves; maybe those would have been better.
SERVICE: The lady was very nice. She was working alone, which made waiting a little annoying. The man in front of me was asking about every item on the menu, and she patiently answered all his questions. He did end up paying for a fairly large order to-​go, so I can’t complain but maybe they should have more people there during busier hours so people aren’t just standing around and waiting.
VERDICT: The food was ok. What a great option for people on the Paleo diet; it is hard to always make home-​cooked meals, and this is such a convenient option. They have another location (flagship location on Alberta), but I assume the food is the same. It’s nice to see that they are doing well enough to expand their operations!