What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury’s 2026 Food Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds.
Keeping track of Portland’s thousands of food carts is a daunting task, but the trusty Mercury is here to help with our hand-curated selection of the very best carts in town, organized by quadrant. Some of the best food in Portland is within these carts, offering a space for chefs to do what they do best, without the constraints of a traditional brick-and-mortar. There’s everything from Mexico City-style street food to Korean-Italian handmade pasta to super-smooth Italian espresso to gigantic gooey cookies. For this list, we excluded carts that also have brick-and-mortar locations (we love you, Bing Mi and Jojo!) as well as carts outside of Portland city limits (looking at you, Bake on the Run). Here are our favorite carts for summer 2026.
Northwest Portland
A Comer
Though this cart opened about a year and a half ago, owner Margarita Martinez Estrada is no stranger to the food business—she used to sell tacos de canasta, tlacoyos, and pambazos at her stand back in Mexico City. Unlike a standard street taco, tacos de canasta are drizzled with chile oil and steamed, making all the flavors meld together into a floppy, tender pocket of flavor. Get them stuffed with beans, chorizo (soy or meat) and potato, or pork belly. The tlacoyo—thick, oval-shaped blue masa stuffed with beans or cheese—is crisp on the bottom and chewy on top, sprinkled with tomatoes, cheese, and house-pickled nopales. And this is one of the best spots in town for a pambazo: chorizo and potato on a guajillo chile-drenched bun, dressed with lettuce and sour cream. Aguas frescas are often surprising but always delicious, from taro horchata to guava-mango. Make it your refueling destination after a hike in Forest Park. 2788 NW Thurman, @acomerpdx
Northeast Portland
Kee’s #Loaded Kitchen
You want to see bounty? You want to see a so-called “plate” that takes up four takeout containers and comes with all the sides, plus a drink and dessert? Kee Nelson, who grew up in Northeast Portland, serves the best soul food in town. There’s no such thing as a light lunch at Kee’s, nor are there options for vegetarians or picky eaters—and you’d better get there early before she’s sold out. Menu staples include super-flaky cornmeal-battered catfish, crispy chicken wings, juicy pork chops, and the Tillamook-loaded “mac and Kees.” Kee is also a master with the smoker—grab the ribs if they’re on special. She’s also a talented baker, so keep an eye out for the mini sweet potato pie. 3625 NE MLK Jr, @keesloadedkitchen_
Bari Food Cart
Portland’s only panzerotti comes from this food cart, where Walter Ferrante makes this street food specialty from his hometown of Bari in Southern Italy. Panzerotti, for the uninitiated, is basically a folded-over fried pizza or a fried calzone. But it’s not as nap-inducing as it might sound—the dough is airy and lightly fried, serving as a crisp shell for the gooey mozzarella and tomato inside. You can also add extra fillings, from artichokes (a personal favorite) to sausage to occasional specials like pastrami. Although the panzerotti alone won’t put you into a food coma, adding on dessert just might—this is some of the best cannoli and tiramisu in town. 625 NE Killingsworth, @barifoodcartpdx
Lonchería Los Mayas
This Yucatecan cart is Portland’s destination for the textbook-perfect panucho: a handmade corn tortilla that’s fried and stuffed with mashed black beans, then topped with the meat of your choice, pickled onions, a slice of tomato and avocado, and optional (but highly recommended) habanero salsa. For best results, choose the cochinita pibil as your protein—fall-apart pork that’s cooked in orange juice and achiote. The tacos here are stellar, too, all served on handmade tortillas—but the spinach sope is a strong contender, with spinach blended into the masa for a deep green color, topped with pinto beans and plenty of mozzarella. 2515 NE Alberta and 4205 NE Alberta, @loncherialosmayas
Mole Mole
Mole Mole easily wins the award for most beautiful dishes coming out of a food cart, thanks in part due to their literal dishes—custom-made in Puebla, Mexico with “Mole Mole” painted on the rim—but mostly thanks to their gorgeous food. Mole, of course, is the star of the show, coming in three varieties—dark brown mole poblano, lime-green mole verde, and the standout bright pink mole rosa, made with beets and pine nuts. Try the mole rosa over wild salmon, or get a trio of enchiladas, each with a different mole. The menu is sizable, but full of bangers, from the cozy red pozole to the quesabirria tacos to the aguas frescas—and for vegans, there’s a wide selection of fillings including vegan tinga, tofu, soyrizo, soy curls, portobello, and grilled veggies. 2231 NE Alberta and 4237 N Mississippi, molemolepdx.com, @molemole_mexicancuisine
Chochu Local
Having Chochu Local nearby feels like you’ve got an open invite to a giant family barbecue. This is barbecue, Chamoru-style—the cuisine of Guam and the Mariana Islands. All the way from the parking lot, you can smell the chicken, ribs, and pork belly on the grill. Order the fiesta plate: all three meats on top of red rice, plus salad greens with sesame dressing for a little brightness. Come with friends so you can load up on side dishes, including crispy, deep-orange Chamoru-style empanadas stuffed with chicken and toasted rice, golden lumpia, kimchi noodles. The sleeper hit is the kelaguen, cold chopped meat salad with citrus, chile, onions, and coconut. Usually it’s chicken, but watch Chochu Local’s Instagram for their occasional octopus kelaguen special. Either way, pair the kelaguen with titiyas, or coconut milk flatbread. 5235 NE Sandy, chochulocal.square.site, @chochu_local
J Vein Caffé
In a coffee-obsessed town, J Vein, a little espresso bar housed in a sleek aluminum Spartan Manor trailer, stands out. Other than Spella itself—which is where owner JJ Johnston sources his coffee—this is the best Italian-style espresso in town, whether downed straight or topped with silky foam for a cappuccino. Johnston makes your coffee at the window while you wait, allowing for a little more chit-chat and community-building than you get at most coffee shops. And it’s a treat to watch Johnston at his craft, especially if he’s making one of the more labor-intensive drinks on the menu like a caffe shakerato—espresso vigorously shaken with ice in a cocktail shaker to create a fine froth. Order an affogato for impossibly creamy homemade ice cream in flavors like maple or scorpion chile. The chairs outside encourage conversation with other J Vein regulars, giving the food cart pod a bit of an Italian piazza feel. 5235 NE Sandy, @jveincaffe
Southwest Portland
Yoshi’s Sushi
Yoshi’s serves Portland’s best food cart sushi; we’d put it head to head against many of Portland’s brick-and-mortar sushi restaurants, too. Unfortunately, this is no secret to many Portlanders. Yoshi’s doesn’t even take walk-up orders; instead, the phone lines open at 10 am for each day’s pre-orders. Still, the planning ahead and (gulp) talking on the phone is well worth it. Each kind of nigiri comes dotted with its own garnish: yuzu pepper marmalade on the seared sea scallop, ginger-miso paste and microgreens on the salmon, and grated daikon and green onion on the albacore. Most dishes are gluten-free, and for plant-based eaters, there’s shiitake mushroom nigiri and a signature green roll with sesame spinach and peppers. 3530 SW Multnomah, yoshispdx.com, @yoshispdx
Southeast Portland
Golden Triangle Asian Fusion
The menu at this decade-plus old Lao, Cambodian, and Thai fusion cart is sprawling, but I’ll give you a tip. Make a beeline for the fried salt-and-pepper soft shell crab—it’s crispy, juicy, and not greasy, served with slices of jalapeño and green onion. You’ll also want some kind of noodle, whether it’s the Lao-ghetti, a Southeast Asian take on the classic meat sauce, or the coconut cream linguine with fried shrimp. Some kind of salad is also a must, whether it’s papaya salad, laab, or the nam kao (crispy rice) salad. And there’s no shortage of wings to choose from, including spicy-sweet fish sauce wings, chipotle pineapple, or Cambodian red curry. Keep an eye out for specials like salt and pepper Dungeness crab and golden rolls—turmeric crepes stuffed with ground pork and wrapped in rice paper. 4727 SE Woodstock, @goldentrianglepdx
Kim Jong Grillin’
Owner and food cart legend Han Ly Hwang opened KJG in 2009, serving Korean food to Portlanders long before gochujang was all over New York Times Cooking. The bibim box is a classic Portland hangover cure: your choice of Korean BBQ meat and a fried egg over rice and japchae, with kimchi, daikon, and sprouts on the side. But the KJG Hot Dawg is an undersung hit—a Zenner’s hot dog on flaky banh mi bread, slathered with kimchi mayo and topped with all manner of crunch: sesame oil bean sprouts, spicy daikon, and pickled mango. A couple years ago, Hwang added a spicy pork “Munchwrap” to the menu, and it’s the stuff of stoners’ dreams, with a crispy cheesy crust crowning the whole hexagonal affair. 4727 SE Woodstock, kimjonggrillin.com, @kimjonggrillin
In today’s chicken lingo, KFC can mean Korean fried chicken or Kentucky Fried Chicken. Frybaby, however, incorporates elements of both. The chicken here is as Korean as it gets—your choice of wings (our pick), tenders, or drumsticks in soy-garlic, gochujang, or snow cheese—a slightly sweet Parmesan cheese dust that’s been trending in Korea the past few years. They even come served with gloves for keeping your fingers sauce-free. Many of the sides are Korean takes on fried chicken takeout sides: mashed potatoes with Korean-spiced curry gravy, mac ‘n’ cheese with kimchi cheese sauce, buttery rice topped with garlicky furikake, and classic fries. And while the hype around Popeye’s chicken sandwich has long died down, Frybaby’s chicken sandwich is going strong, served on an An Xuyen butter roll and dolled up with mayo and slaw. 4727 SE Woodstock, frybabypdx.com, @frybaby.pdx
Cookie McCakeFace
If you like warm cookies, Cookie McCakeFace is your place. “Hot and ready in 5 min—like your mom!,” its sandwich board reads. And while preferences on cookie texture are as wildly different as people themselves, these super-thick, round cookies, which could be mistaken for scoops of ice cream at a distance, somehow hit all the notes—chewy, gooey, crispy. You can’t go wrong with chocolate chip, but the other choices are sure to tempt you away from the classic: a blue Cookie Monster-esque cookie with googly eyes stuffed with whole Oreos and Oreo pieces, a cream cheese white chocolate-stuffed sugar cookie with rainbow sprinkles and a frosted animal cookie on top, a S’mores-inspired number made with black cocoa powder and stuffed with marshmallow and graham pieces, and even an oatmeal, butterscotch, and raisin for those with grandmotherly tastes (yours truly included). 4727 SE Woodstock, cookiemccakeface.com, @cookiemccakeface
Bark City BBQ
Bark City is about as well-renowned as barbecue carts come in Portland. In 2018, it was voted Eater Portland’s Cart of the Year; in 2019, Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor called Bark City’s ribs the best in Portland. But this great barbecue almost slipped through our fingers in 2023, when owner Michael Keskin decided to close up shop and move to Arizona. Thankfully, Keskin moved back a couple years ago, firing up the smoker for more of those stellar ribs. You can’t go wrong with any of the other meat choices here, from Texas brisket to turkey to housemade sausages and bacon. And while sides are often a sad afterthought at many barbecue places, the jalapeño mac and cheese with potato chips merits a visit alone. 4727 SE Woodstock, barkcitybbq.com, @barkcity.bbq
El Sazón de Mi Rancho
It’s impossible to overstate the grip the three taco plate has on me: handmade, thick, yet fluffy corn tortillas stuffed with impossibly juicy meats (get the carne asada, which comes in large, tender pieces with grilled onions), silky, fudgy refried beans, and fluffy rice. But the rest of the menu is sizable and full of solid choices, morning through night. A particular shoutout to my breakfast of choice, chilaquiles verdes with melt-in-your-mouth birria and fried eggs showered in cotija and sour cream. El Sazon nails everything down to the details, including the herby, zesty serrano salsa, the orange habanero salsa, and the aguas frescas, which rotate daily and range from cucumber lime to strawberry watermelon. 4606 SE Division, @elsazondemiracho
Merendero Estela
This cart specializes in the classic Honduran street dish: baleadas. At the heart of a baleada is the thick, freshly made flour tortilla, smothered with mashed red beans, fresh crumbled cheese, slices of silky avocado, and scrambled eggs, plus optional beautifully charred carne asada. But in a town full of fried chicken fanatics like Portland, it’s surprising that Merendero Estela’s fried chicken hasn’t gotten more love. The pollo con tajadas involves a juicy, crunchy quarter fried chicken served with thin-sliced fried green plantains, all smothered in pickled onions and creamy mayo. Don’t skip the maracuya juice with crunchy passion fruit seeds or the Honduran-style horchata. 7107 SE 82nd, (503) 757-4702
Nice Time
Making handmade pasta is an impressive feat anywhere, let alone inside a tiny food cart. But that’s exactly what Nice Time has been doing since opening in fall 2025, and it’s some of the best pasta you’ll find in town. Owners Chris and Saki Kim nail Italian classics, from spaghetti with fresh tomato, basil, and burrata to white ragu. But where the cart particularly shines is with its Korean-inflected pastas, including gochujang ragu ravioli stuffed with ricotta, and linguine with perilla seeds and enoki mushrooms. Seafood lovers should try the shrimp bisque oil pasta—which tastes like the essence of hundreds of shrimp shells—or go for specials like squid ink spaghettini or shiso crab pasta. 3757 SE Hawthorne, @nicetime.pdx
Mama Chow’s Kitchen
Jeff Chow of Mama Chow’s Kitchen serves what he calls Oakland Chinatown cuisine. My own family has roots in Oakland Chinatown, and one bite of Mama Chow’s lollipop wings instantly transported me back to my favorite fried chicken counter there: micro-craggy, crispy skin and that unmistakable blend of sweet, fragrant spices. He pairs those with garlic noodles—another dish with Bay Area origins—made spicy to your liking and full of crispy onions. Chow folds every wonton himself, and the soup nails that Hong Kong-style chicken broth flavor. No wonder Mama Chow’s has been a Mercury favorite since critic Andrea Damewood extolled its virtues back when it opened in 2014. 3757 SE Hawthorne, @mamachowskitchen
Makulít
How do you transpose the bold, garlicky, vinegary flavors of Filipino food onto dishes that are decidedly not bold, like burgers and fries? But somehow, Makulit has done it, keeping the Filipino flavors on full blast. Take the Big Bunso burger: a beef and pork longanisa sausage patty paired with tangy papaya slaw and finished with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and fry sauce, all on a sesame bun from Filipino bakery Balong. The adobo poutine, where cheese curds and vinegary pulled pork adobo melt together over fries, is also a must-order, as is the Sticky Chicky, bites of fried chicken in a sweet, peppery finna’denne glaze. 3829 SE Division, makulitpdx.com, @makulitpdx
Hawker Station
In Portland, uttering the slightest whisper of “chicken rice” is sure to draw comparison to a famous former food cart. But this Singapore-style chicken rice, compared to Nong’s Thai khao man gai, is a totally different beast. Just as Nong’s is all about the sauce, Hawker Station’s chicken is anchored by scallion-ginger oil, punching up the cozy flavor of simple poached chicken. The chicken comes skin-on by default, which keeps the meat moist and adds flavor. But the rice is where all that super-chickeny flavor gets distilled down—even the low-carb folks won’t waste a grain. 3829 SE Division,
@hawkerstationpdx
Chick and Pig
This Thai street food cart has a lengthy menu, but heed the house recommendation, whose enlarged photo towers over all the others: the pad kra pow with pork belly. The pork is juicy with crunchy skin, and the basil is freshly wilted in the heat of the wok, paired with a gooey, bubbly fried egg. (That said, versions of the dish with all sorts of proteins—from squid to ground chicken—are on our list for future visits.) Staple dishes are executed solidly here, from papaya salad to pad thai, as are more unusual dishes like fried chicken in panang curry. 3829 SE Division, chickandpigpdx.com, @chickpigthaistreetfood