Tasty Tuesday : Phat Cart & Portland Food Cart Festival

A Cordon Blue chef may not be what you would expect to find preparing the menu at your local food cart. In fact, should you believe that you’d be mistaken as many of the carts are run by trained chefs. The Phat Cart (of which there are two) is one of those carts who has a Cordon Blue chef in the kitchen.

Proprietors of both the Phat Carts, sisters Rika and Pink (who is a Cordon Blue-trained chef), offer their Thai version of Asian Fusion cuisine. Having traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia from their hometown of Bangkok, Thailand, the influence of the different cultural cuisines discovered by the sisters makes for a truly outstanding menu.

Phat Cart offers sandwiches and bento boxes featuring slow-cooked stewed pork, chicken, beef and for the vegetarians among us, pan fried tofu.

The Hawaiian Bento has the pork with pineapple soy, Japanese Kewpie mayo, spring onions and pepper all served with sautéed zucchini rounds on a bed of rice. The Larb Gai Tod bento is crispy chicken (which has some heat, but in a good way), shallots, spring onions, spicy lime vinaigrette, crushed roasted brown rice, served over Japanese rice and a bed of Romaine lettuce.

You can find the original Phat Cart located right by PSU at SW 4th and College with the sister cart located in the Hillsdale Food Park on SW Capitol Highway at SW Sunset Blvd in the Hillsdale district (right by Wilson High School). Phat Cart is open 11 AM – 7 PM Monday through Friday and from Noon to 4 PM on Saturday.

Phat Cart will be one of the participants at the Portland Food Cart Festival being held July 18th, 2015 at the Rose Quarter Commons which is right next to the MODA Center. The Portland Food Cart Festival benefits the Portland non-profit ALSO. The VIP portion of the event starts at Noon and admission for the general public begins at 2 PM.

Listen now as Steven Shomler and Ken Wilson talk with Rika of Phat Cart about how the travels of she and her sister Pink have brought a singular menu to Portland. Lucky us! Steven and Ken also talk with Todd Edwards of Olé Latte Coffee about about his participation in the 2015 Portland Food Cart Festival not only as a featured vendor but as a promoter as well.