#food-carts

#food-carts

In the early twentieth century, a community of Italian immigrants started selling fruits, vegetables, and other fare in Portland's Central Eastside, earning it the moniker Produce Row. These Italian American fruit markets and groceries planted the seeds of what would eventually become the city's farm-to-table ethos. Despite the outsize impact of the Italian community on our food scene, however, Portland isn't exactly a Little Italy town, lacking a dense concentration of ristorantes and trattorias.

The achar cart at Adda had just rolled up on our right, the wide mouths of the jars filled with pickles of mango, caperberry, and pepper gaping like hungry seals. To the left, the table next to us was enjoying the opening chords of the restaurant's coveted butter chicken service, selecting the wood chips that would smoke their chicken from a different cart.