Whenever a food cart pod gets shut down, its parking lot surface dug up, replaced by a hole in the ground and, eventually, another boutique hotel, a debate breaks out about the future of food carts, and of the pod format itself.
After a handful of visits, I think Hinterland Bar & Food Carts, a new cart pod and cocktail bar built into a former acupuncturist office on the western edge of Mount Tabor, offers a possible solution.
Portland has hundreds of carts spread across dozens of pods. So why does Hinterland set a “new standard” for pods, as Matt’s BBQ Tacos owner Matt Vicedomini put it earlier this year? Here are three big reasons, roughly in order of importance as I see them:
The bar: There’s a reason “Bar” comes before “Carts” in the pod’s name. Among owners Ryan Schenk and Rowan Dunlap’s first hires? Taylor Gehrts, a bartender with experience at Trifecta and Smallwares. From Hinterland’s big open bar window, Gehrts and his team pour a dozen taps including a Bohemian pilsner from Chuckanut, a hazy IPA from Ruse and other smart selections from some of the Northwest’s top breweries. The mixed drinks are even more impressive, with two cocktails tailored to pair with food from each of the pod’s five carts. Hinterland belongs with Takibi, Phuket Cafe and the nearby Bellwether on lists of the best new cocktail bars in town.
The carts: Much of the early reporting on Hinterland focused on the big name carts signing up to move to the lot. Indeed, three of the pod’s five food options were among our picks for the city’s best new carts the year they opened, Burger Stevens (2016), Matt’s BBQ Tacos (our 2019 Cart of the Year) and Poppyseed (2021). Joined by Third Culture Kitchen and La Taquiza Vegana, the cart quintet brings more to the table than the usual assortment of carts, with Poppyseed in particular standing out for its elevated approach to food cart food. Pound for pound, Hinterland has Portland’s second best cart selection, after North Portland’s Prost! pod.
The amenities: Instead of the usual paper plates and takeout boxes (or, increasingly during the pandemic, styrofoam containers and plastic bags), food at Hinterland comes on metal trays or renewable bioplastic plates, with proper forks and knives, all washed in-house, a feature more commonly found at a counter-service restaurant or fancy downtown food hall. There’s ample covered seating on patios fore and aft, plus a somewhat underutilized space indoors with a TV often tuned to nature shows or cartoons. Head to the back to find a second large flatscreen TV, where you can probably watch the Stanley Cup or NBA Finals this month, should you so desire.
I’ll still be careful selecting when to visit — on sunny days, the line for drinks can be long, and competition for tables can get fierce (my favorite perch is the front patio rail overlooking Southeast 50th Avenue, perfect for people watching). And the focus on premium carts means two or even three of the five might be closed when you visit, limiting your food options. But even my Hinterland nitpicks seem to be getting fixed in real time — more bike parking was recently added at the front, the indoor area is getting more house plants and decorations to make it feel less like an old waiting room, while a dirt patch at the back where kids have been congregating could be activated soon with some form of play area, Schenk says.
Food carts and their pods have been declared dead countless times over the years, always prematurely. With places like Hinterland, the future looks secure. But Hinterland looks like a model that could be replicated, with an elevated cocktail bar surrounded by carefully selected carts, plenty of outdoor seating and restaurant-quality amenities, with an emphasis on sustainability, all on a relatively small close-in neighborhood footprint.
Here’s what to order if you go:
Burger Stevens: Portland’s OG smash burger superstars are back, serving tasty double cheeseburgers, skinny French fries and hot dogs as dialed in as I’ve tasted them in years. Having tried both recently, the burger fares well against Shake Shack, a recent addition to Beaverton, where this baby blue cart was most recently parked.
La Taquiza Vegana: Granted, I’m not the target audience for these plant-based tacos filled with jackfruit or soy curls, which I found a little dry on my visit. But I do have vegan friends who swear by the cart. Next time, I have my eye on the mushroom “carne asada” fries, which come with shiitakes instead of steak.
Matt’s BBQ Tacos: Our 2019 Cart of the Year makes Austin-style smoked meat tacos on cart-made flour tortillas. Try the tasty migas taco, best when the little bits of tortilla chip retain their crunch, or save room for the G.O.A.T., with its smoked brisket and pulled pork on a pair of cheese-stuffed tortillas, designed as an homage to Taco Bell’s Cheesy Gordita Crunch.
Poppyseed: Tim Willis and Lissette Morales Willis’ elevated cooking always felt a bit out of place at the old Killingsworth Station pod. Here at Hinterland, the couple serve fresh-shucked oysters with a perfect Pernod mignonette, seared rockfish escabeche with tender white beans, flaky little lamb pies and a toasted coconut cake with fresh pineapple for dessert.
Third Culture Kitchen: You can’t have enough ramen or lomo saltado in your life, but this fusion cart — which blends flavors from the chefs’ respective upbringings in Japan and Peru — has impressed the neighborhood most with its fried-chicken sandwiches, served on a brioche bun with or without house hot sauce.
At the bar: There’s creativity up and down the cocktail menu, though my favorites so far are the duo designed to pair with Burger Stevens: a boozy amaretto root beer float and a “reverse Manhattan,” where vermouth gets the spotlight instead of rye. For Third Culture Kitchen’s Peruvian-Japanese fusion, Gehrts made a pisco sour subtly scented with yuzu citrus. For La Taquiza Vegana, an horchata cocktail with a blend of rum, fernet and the cart’s own spiced rice milk.
Carts keep their own hours, but the Hinterland bar typically opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, closing around 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and opening around 9 a.m. — with breakfast tacos available from Matt’s — on Saturday and Sunday, 2216 S.E. 50th Ave., 503-231-4333, hinterlandpdx.com
— Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com @tdmrussell
