Honduran Tamale Factory

Not a fan, sorry. The Mexican café with Tienda across the street and east a few blocks, is a much better nosh for the price, and always tables open, including a couple outside.

I wanted to like this place. I really did. Having passed by all the other highly regarded food carts (Grilled Cheese Grill, Cultured Caveman, DesiPDX, etc) I wanted to give this lonely food cart a chance. I’m pretty down with South American cuisines and Honduran was a first for me so why not.
This food cart sits by itself on this big lot with a covered awning of some sort as well as outside tables, so it’s really accessible and you can actually sit down and eat rain or shine. The owner was really friendly despite his broken English and I had no problem ordering (and my Spanish is all of «Si» and «Gracias»)
Since I’m not a big fan of Tamales (I know, why go to a place called Tamale Factory when I don’t like Tamales, right?) I ordered a pork pupusa and what they call the «Typical Plate» which is supposed to be a typical Honduran meal. It came with a meat dish, beans & rice, crema, tortillas, salsa, and fried plantains. The meat was really good. Well seasoned and slightly spicy, which went well with the beans and rice. But the fried plantains were a gooey oily mess. I was expecting it to be nice and crispy but these were badly burnt and dripping with oil. I actually didn’t do a takeout order thinking I wouldn’t want my fried plantains to get soggy but it was really soggy right off the bat so that was a moot point. (If you want delicious fried plantains, head over to El Cubo de Cuba. Those guys make it right)
Then came the doughy, underseasoned mess of a pupusa. It was super greasy and had hardly any flavor. $ 3.50 for this? Ugh. (if you want to try good pupusas, Sabor Salvadoreño is the way to go)
Spent $ 11 and still was hungry. (meaning, portion sizes are rather small, which I’ve never encountered at a Latin/​Hispanic eatery) Gah, shoulda just grabbed a burrito from one of the Mexican food trucks for $ 6…

The veggie pupusa and chicken enchilada were really good and the chef mama, who I’m assuming is the owner, is so sweet! See you next time)

Honduran Tamale Factory serves decent Central American food and offers nice accommodations for its diners. It’s not the best I’ve had, but it’s definitely filling and cheap.
I hadn’t had pupusas since I was in Guatemala in 2008. I remember how much I loved them when I was there, so I jumped at the chance to have them again here in Portland. I ordered one with pork, beans, and cheese, as I was quite hungry at the time.
I’ve never seen a pupusa as big as the one I had at the Honduran Tamale Factory before. One was a small meal! At $ 3.50 a pop, that’s a good deal. That said, I wasn’t exactly blown away by what I had. Way more doughy than those I’d had from the little Salvadoran café in Guatemala, it was rather bland, and had relatively little pork, cheese, or beans in it, with most of the room taken up by tortilla. Not at all the little pocket of flavor I remembered. That said, it wasn’t bad, and a meal for $ 3.50 that tastes decent is still a valuable thing in its own right.
My coworkers liked their meals better, generally. I tried the platanos that one of them had, and found them to be good, though not on the level of some others I’ve had in Portland. While I didn’t get to try the carne asada plate, my other coworker seemed relatively satisfied with it. Also, if you’re trying to give your food some more fire, they also have a great array of hot sauces set up for diners to choose from. If I’m in the area again and come back here, I’ll definitely avail myself.
Honduran Tamale Factory is a really inviting place. I had a nice chat with one of the cooks (I think he’s also the owner?), who later came out and joined our table and talked about Last Thursday and city politics with us for a nice while. The fact that it has a covered patio set up with tables and chairs, and even bring the food out to you while you sit and wait makes it a place that’s easy to just hang out at over a leisurely late-​night dinner.
Overall, I wouldn’t say that this is a great cart, but it’s not bad, either. If you’re hungry for late-​night grub, I can definitely see this being an option. The best thing about this cart, though, is not its food, but its hospitality. It may be better to chill here over a snack than to focus on the meal alone. Plan your visit accordingly.

Quick rehash for non-​Central American folks. They are called «Pupusas,» they come from El Salvador, things that come from El Salvador in English are called Salvadoran (not Salvadorian, ElSalvadoreen, Dorian, Dorial, Doriiiiing). And Hondurans, being one of the country’s closest neighbors, are keen on exchanging cuisine with us. This is a Honduran food cart that happens to sell Salvadoran cuisine — like Pupusas.
Now you’ve had your first crash course in Mezo-​American food.
As for this particular cart, I saw the words «pupusa» written on the side of the wall and had to run in there. I got one bean and cheese pupusa and one chicken tamale wrapped in a banana leaf. The family that owns the cart was sitting outside, the kid working on homework, the man very friendly and mostly a Spanish speaker (please don’t complain about this — I know you know how to ask for a tamale or a cafecito in Español and if you don’t just bring a damn dictionary or a smartphone because this food is worth it).
The food was just really amazing, the pupusa had the perfect mixture of beans and cheese, and the chicken used in the tamale was tender and cooked in a tomato sauce that drenched the corn meal as you slowly cut through.
I wanted to buy a coffee but it was a bit later in the day so I held off. But the coffee truly does smell wonderful and it looked like they were using Honduran coffee beans. If there’s one thing Central America does great it’s coffee (and sugar!). I’m coming back with the goal of eating an empanada and some coffee. One of these days!

The tamales are first rate, as are the people. Anxious to return and try the rest of the menu.

Honduran Papusas taste more doughy than the El Salvadoran kind. It’s a toss-​up for me which I like better. They were good here, an ample size for $ 3.50.
The $ 2 Honduran coffee (imported beans) was made slowly in a 1960s looking kettle.
The lady was very nice, you want her to succeed. Her English is very limited and things really move slow here.

So it’s true, Bullwinkle put this page together for this groovy tamale cart on Alberta – extra points for me.
They have a limited menu: tamales, pupusas, and a couple other items (check out the pic for details) and the prices are steep (starting at $ 3.50 per item). This said, the texture of the tamales were fantastic and the accompanying sauces, for both the tamales and pupusas, were excellent. The guy who was working the truck was super nice and friendly.
Probably a three-​star place but I haven’t had everything and it’s their first review so I’ll start it off proper.

With such a far-​reaching and promising name on this food-​cart, I was more than a little bit expecting a singing and dancing troupe entertaining us while they whipped up our victuals. to the beat of classics like «Gonna make you sweat.»
I am beyond delighted to have HTF up in the ‘hood, and am hoping beyond hope they see fit to stick around for a long time. I felt that as a brand new food cart on the scene, they are a strong presence that is sufficiently different — and high quality— from the mexi-​cart in the same small cart pod, to warrant plenty of attention and business. Having done many medical missions in Latin America, I was at once comfy with their menu and particularly liked several items. I’m not normally much of a tamale sorta guy, but these were rico y delicioso. They were the size and shape of your average microwave burrito, it, a couple of these would be enough for most people’s appetite, and there you’ve done lunch for under $ 5!
They also offer Honduran style pupusas, which I thought was interesting. I ordered some with Chicharones and cotija. I thought the matron quite gracious, in conceding that Salvadorians own pupusas, but that they are quite popular all along la frontera (the border) straddling E.S. and Honduras.
I also really liked the baleadas, which are gussied up quesadillas with meat, egg and cotija cheese, as well as several other possible options. Again, quick easy, super cheap, delicious, and just about a perfect meal. One or two of these and you are set for your day/​afternoon back at the grind.
Wishing HTF supreme and lasting success. La Dona was muy amable and gave all the credit to her sister, who is apparently back in Honduras, for starting up the business. Apparently la Hermana is usually the cook as well, but I didn’t find much fault with the skills of this cocinera… I will say their pupusas had much smaller ratios of crunchy cabbage salad to accompany them, as you see routinely at Sabor. But certainly I will be back and ready to spend some dinero on this wonderful alimiento. No puedo esperar!
Buen provecho, tipos!

I’m not well versed in this cuisine and while I couldn’t tell you what’s ‘authentic’, I can tell you this is solid cooking. They really know what they’re doing here. They use organic and local foods as much as possible, and that’s really neat for a food cart if you ask me! It’s also very apparent they have put a lot of work and love into this place. My one critique is that it’s difficult to figure out the menu. I wish they had pictures or brief descriptions. Pardon my ignorance, but I really don’t know what most of the stuff is.

The best thing May not even be on the menu. Run by an unassuming abuela who speaks Spanglish to you even though you may not, the food speaks for itself. We ordered two lunch tipicos and a pork tamale. Honduran comfort food. Lunch tipicos included stewed meat, rice (had beets in it), killer beans, a sort of pickled salad, corn tortillas, some crema type of stuff, and sprinkled with queso. Simple, flavorful, not greasy at all, the best hispanic food we’ve had in Oregon so far. All enjoyed on a sunny day at a picnic table in the lot where this food cart is located. Don’t forget to ask for the habanero hot sauce at the counter.

Wow, first off, I was surprised that there wasn’t any reviews nor was this place on Unilocal already. Seriously, this place is REALLY good!
I tried it out one night after passing it by many times and being curious. The day I went, I bought their special. It was a nice mix of samples of their amazing goodness. I was in heaven.
I took my boyfriend there the other day and he loved it too. He ordered another special of the day. We also ordered an Enchilada and a type of Honduran pancake. Everything was equally as delicious and made right there. The service was top notch. Very friendly and polite. The pricing is also very reasonable. You can get a lot of food for your buck for sure.
I highly recommend checking them out. You won’t be disappointed. I live right down the street, so it will be hard to try not to go back every single day. ;)