Weekend Roundup: Eat Mobile Festival

Last week, Willamette Week was kind enough to gift me with two passes to Eat Mobile, a food cart festival held outside of OMSI on Portland's east riverfront. Stoked to say the least, I was anxiously awaiting all of the pending bites to be had at Saturday's event all week long. 

Over 40 of Portland's food carts duked it out on the twinkly lit blacktop for the prestigious Carty award, an honor crowning the selected spot as the best street joint in the city. The offerings (and people watching, including a few who toted full-on XL tupperware containers to carry their samples...) did not disappoint.

From top left: blackberry shaved ice with dulce de leche drizzle from So Cold Shaved Ice | roasted chicken bowl from Fuego | chocolate, bacon, peanut butter cupcake & Snickerdoodle panna cotta from Hungry Heart Cupcakes | waffle with salami, goat cheese and Kelly's Jellys habanero jelly drizzle from the Gaufre Gourmet | dark chocolate and sea salt brownie with salted caramel from the Sugar Shop | chicken taco, pepper quesadilla and salsa samples from the Taco Pedaler

Hands down, my personal Carty went to Cheese & Crack, located in my hood of SE Portland. Their decision to turn what ultimately had to be a few bites of food into a mini 4 course tasting was a brilliant move.
 

The olive mousse may have been the dreamiest thing I have tasted in a long time, and the charm factor of the mini cheese wedge put it over the edge. Two thumbs up! I will definitely be heading to their cart for a redux sometime in the very near future.

I hope you all had an awesome weekend and enjoyed some equally stellar bites in your own necks of the woods. And lastly, a big thanks to all of the carts for their hard work, hospitality and creativity! Cheers!