Like Philadelphia, Portland Oregon is a city known for good food. And also like Philly, much of that food can be found at food trucks. You really cannot go wrong when choosing a truck at the Mississippi Marketplace (corner of N. Mississippi at Skidmore). The Ruby Dragon Café and Teahouse offers a delicious vegetarian menu, with an emphasis on raw foods. I order the Tiger’s Paw Quinoa Pancakes ($4 for one, which was filing enough for me! Or $7 for two).
Made with ground quinoa and ginger, these gluten free pancakes have a delicious, slightly nutty, flavor. I add berries and dark chocolate chips (.50 each), and while I wish there were just a few more berries in my pancake, the ones in there were juicy and plump. Served with the perfect amount of real maple syrup, I wish I could figure out how to replicate this recipe! It tastes so much better than one might imagine.
A Brunchmate orders the Grandmaster Scramble. A blend of various Ethiopian spices, tempeh (or you can substitute tofu), yams, bell peppers, spinach, onion, garlic, cashews, and veganaise, this dish is a flavor explosion! The sweetness of the yams compliment the curry spices—as described on the menu, this dish truly is the “Bruce Lee of scrambles.” We also decide to split 2 herbal life raw truffles ($1.50 not pictured). Made with dates, spices, coconut, and cocoa these were not overly sweet or deserty. Unlike most anything you’d order from the Sugar Cube:
The Sugar Cube’s owner is super friendly and offers suggestions on what to order. Temping items on the menu include the Amy Whinehouse Cupcake (with boozy yellow cake, $3), Bruleed Passionfruit Panna Cotta ($6), and Black Cow Float ($5). We decide to go with the Triple Threat Ice Cream Sandwich ($5).Two espresso, pecan, and triple chocolate chunk cookies surround a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everything is covered in an incredibly delicious salted caramel sauce. This decadent dessert is best shared!
Sushi Tree’s Specialty Mega rolls are no joke. These rolls come so big that it was actually hard to fit this into my mouth! Not something you’d want to be eating when trying to impress anyone…
I order the “This B Stuffed” roll ($8), filled with asparagus, sprouts, green leaf lettuce, sunflower seeds, smoked tofu, red cabbage, cucumber and avocado and rolled in sesame fried panko breadcrumbs. I would have never thought to put sunflower seeds in my sushi, but the crunchy flavor of the seeds totally makes this roll. It’s a subtle lingering flavor that you do not even taste until you are almost finished.
I cannot remember the last time I had a real California roll. It is possible that I’ve only ever had one once, which would mean I was 10. I remember that roll because it was the first time I ever had sushi. I cannot fairly compare Sushi Tree’s vegetarian version of the California roll to the original, but made with soy crab salad, avocado, green leaf, and cucumber this is one tasty roll.
I wish I had room to try every item on the menu at Sushi-Tree! Philadelphia sushi-makers take note: vegetarian sushi can be so much more than your current offerings!
A brunchmate orders a Chickpea Sandwich ($6.50) from the The Garden State Cart . One bite of this sandwich and I was suddenly wishing that I had ordered one as well (despite how delicious everything else is). Wow. Crisp fried garbanzo cake, lettuce, lemon aioli, and roasted butternut squash served on a ciabatta roll. Little piece of heaven for even the biggest carnivore!
I am very glad that gave into my last minute craving for juice, and ordered from Dogfeather’s Organic Coffee and Fresh Juice.
Other people claim to offer fresh juice, but after drinking from Dogfeathers, you may begin to doubt them. I had an orange-strawberry juice that was so refreshing and delicious that words cannot do it justice. This picture cannot do it justice either:
If you happen to enjoy a cold alcoholic beverage with your food truck fair, Prost!, a German pub adjacent to the trucks, allows you to bring your food into their beer garden (or indoors on a colder day). Rather than compete with each other, the restaurant and food trucks have created an atmosphere where patrons can enjoy the best of both worlds.
If you go:
- Mississippi Market Place 4233 N. Mississippi at N. Skidmore, Portland OR
- Phone: Some trucks have one
- Hours vary by Truck.
- Mississippi Marketplace
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