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The person with the best design will have their art as the logo for Food Carts Eugene and have a video interview showcasing your art. There will also be multiple winners who will have their art put on some great swaggy t-shirts and what-not (we’ll also name drop you, and link up your website). Don’t think just graphics here. Give us your witty phrases, pictures, and awesome drawings. Additional prizes like free food will be announced as we get closer to the date. Email your submissions to foodcartseugenelogocontest@gmail.com by April 20th. Please send a PDF and if your stuff rocks, we’ll contact you for some different formats.
Disclaimer and waiver: if you give us your art, it’s ours. Sorry, that’s the legal-ness of it. Having said that, if we use your art and need to alter it, we’ll talk with you about it.
 Oklahoma Smokehouse Barbecue Express My favorite barbecue guys have a new cart at 12th and Kincaid. It can sometimes be a problem to keep food high quality and tasting good with a small cart like this, but I know they can do it because this barbecue is VERY good. These are the same people with the cart on Highway 99 that I rave about. They sell a small handful of items. Last time I went there they had a Pulled Pork Sandwich or Beef Brisket Sandwich that comes with a sauce and a slaw for $5. Awesome. You bastards are why I could never go vegetarian.
Price Range: $5
Location: 12th and Kincaid
Hours: Monday to Friday 11am – 3pm
Dave, you Dawg. You may recognize Dave as the guy wearing an apron at the Country Fair that makes him appear fully naked (all the ladies wish, he’s a stud). You may also recognize him as the man with the scrumptious vegetarian fare at 12th and Willamette. Dave started off selling Tofurky dogs and after being asked to to vend at some of the Northwest’s premier fairs and festivals, has expanded his menu and set up a cart in Downtown. One of the Swagmen went down there and tried a couple of the dishes.
There aren’t very many people who are luke warm with faux meat. But Dave has adapted his menu over the years and come up with some dishes that appeal to all of us, not just our dreadie friends out there. We sampled the Polish Dog, the Cheesesteak, and the Reuben. Now, mind you, these are all meat free, but what they have going for them is they aren’t trying to be meat. They’re flavorful with good texture, and decent prices. Oh, and if you bike up, are a student, or it’s rainy, you can get $1.00 off any food item. That’s an AMAZING discount.
 Dawgy Dave Price Range: I should know this. I think they’re around $5 (before discount). Someone please post a comment with the real deal. Confirmed$4.50 to $5.50 before discount.
Location: 12th and Willamette
Hours: Monday-Friday, 11am to 4pm
Truly sad to see any carts shut down, even if it is temporary.
Off the Waffle is off the block. Evidently there was something that made them “get kicked from our spot”. So now their cart is for sale. Hopefully this crisis for the waffle brothers will turn into an opportunity for another. They’re selling it for $4900. Here’s the link to check it out (valid on 01/28/10) http://eugene.craigslist.org/bfs/1538816774.html
Lox and Dogs, the smoked salmon bagel/sausage cart is for sale as well. The price is considerably lower than the waffle cart. It’s going for $2800. Here’s the link for Lox and Dogs: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bfs/1575835957.html
Heard about a stand-inside cart that looks like it’d be a good start for someone. It’s out near Mt. Pisgah. Here’s the link: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bfs/1575848100.html
Well the crew was just sitting around the other day listening to music, thinking and gnoshing on veggies and cheese. This one piece of conversation keeps coming back and now I’ve got this nagging question: Is there anybody out there that wants to review some carts?
WE WANT YOUR REVIEWS!! So see that button over there about two inches to your right that says “Suggest Ideas”? Dump it in there and we’ll get it up.
So go ahead and make Eugene better. Take pictures, take notes, take menus, then give em to us.
The Jolly Swagman
Chic’n'Wraps is very clearly marketed: Chicken Wraps. If you don’t like wraps, then first, “what?!” If you still don’t like ‘em, try one of these first.
 She ain't no chicken! Being completely oblivious to the fact that I had spoken with Elizabeth while advising her on the opening of her purple and green cart, I strolled up and perused the menu. Elizabeth Krause, the cart owner, was kind enough to provide a sampler for us to try out the spectrum of her various inventions that she has been working on developing for the last years.
Around four years ago, Elizabeth wanted to move from Phoenix and somehow landed on Eugene. There are many “dartboard immigrants” in Eugene and I’ve come to meet and know quite a few. “I just packed everything I owned and hit the road,” she said. Elizabeth ended up toiling for three years working on building her cart, getting it ready for selling at 7th and Washington.
There are four savory items that you can choose from as well as “Eye-talian Sodas”, Greek Frappe Coffee, Caramel Cider, and Homemade Arnold Palmers. We started off with a “Famous Chipotle Mango” wrap that had a spicy and sweet thing going for it. It had a hot nip to it, but it wasn’t TOO much for a simple lunch. I know I want to be ready for a spicy surprise and was glad to get just a little heat.
Then we had the Chicken Souvlaki. This was pretty mild. This is definitely for that one friend that we all have. You know the one who only likes really mild foods. Well, here it is. I’m not hating. On the contrary. I asked Elizabeth about the pick and she said she wanted to make sure there was something for everybody, including those people who’s taste buds want to run and hide under the blankets when confronted by scary things like bold flavors or spices.
After the palate cleansing Souvlaki, we ventured to the Creamy Chicken. Mmmmm. This warm little bundle of comfort food has white sauce that Elizabeth makes from scratch and is seasoned quite rightly. The chicken is seared to enrich the flavors, mushrooms and onions are added, and then it gets a little tortilla chip to make it crunch. This was my favorite thing at the cart. It was simple yet unique and a perfect one-handed comfort food.
There’s also a vegetarian wrap, but I was so happy with my creamy chicken that I didn’t want to wake up my taste buds from their pleasure.
Though Chic’n'Wraps is at an inconvenient spot (miss it by ten feet and you’ll have to circle the block), it has some tasty options, warm drinks, and kind customer service. At the bottom of the menu, is a suggestion: “remember to smile, it makes U feel better!!!”. Well, I suggest on the next cloudy, Oregon-y day, go get a creamy chicken wrap and a cider from Elizabeth Krause. It will make you feel better.
Price Range: $5- 6
Location: 6th and Lincoln
Hello cart heads. Thanks for supporting the cart culture in Eugene and look for a lot more from Food Carts Eugene. We’ll be adding reviews on The Blazing Chef, Lonches To Go, and Lupita’s Pupusas as well as going into more detail on some past reviews and adding gigs of pictures.
Thanks a tonne!
The Jolly Swagman
I’ve driven by this bright yellow Thai cart on Highway 99 dozens of times and I am wondering what kind of karma I must’ve acquired to miss out on this heart-warming food for so long.
 Warm curries, noodles, and rice inside When Pla, the “Angel of Ubon” was a small girl, she had to hide in dug-out pits with her eight siblings to avoid the ravages of war that surrounded them. The Laotian Civil War drove them to Thailand where the family scraped by a meager survival by selling fish at the market.
Then, Bill, the successful American contractor went on a month-long vacation in Thailand. One month turned into four months. Then seven months. He had met Pla before returning to the States to sell his properties, cash out of America, and return to the land that he had purchased in Thailand. Well, something happened. It was called the greatest recession in 80 years. You know the one, right? Bill and Pla lost nearly everything.
They picked up the pieces and started their food cart on Highway 99. What they found was a way to make money by selling Pla’s traditional Thai recipes.
I ordered the Pad Kemao, having an aversion to any pad thai dish that I see. The atmosphere of Ubon Thai Kitchen is very relaxing. When sitting at the table under their outside coverings, I am instantly in love. There are dozens of potted plants, fountains, and statuettes, yet it isn’t over crowded. I got my phad kemao and thai coffee and went into their neighboring art gallery where Pla has her artwork on the walls as well as thai music playing.
 As well as cooking traditional Thai food, Pla also paints stark, beautiful images and displays them in the neighboring art gallery. Every thai place has a pad thai, and I don’t really get what the big deal is about peanut sauce and rice noodles. The pad kemao on the other hand had plenty of green peppers, broccolli, carrots, snow peas, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, basil, and red onions mixed with traditionally seasoned wide rice noodles and chicken. The chicken was cooked in coconut milk and the portions were definitely generous for $5.50. I haven’t had pad kemao that was this tasty since I was in San Francisco. The menu is vegetarian friendly, with tofu options and lots of veggies. I wish they had a sampler plate, but everything is made to order, so it’s a worthy trade-off.
Pla’s recipes shine through like the sun on a glistening island morning and If I can’t get a sampler plate, I will definitely be back to try everything on the menu. Hey, they even have a “Eugene style pad thai with vegetables” that I might try.
Price Range: $5.50- 6.00
Location: Highway 99
Hours: 11:00 A.M to 8:00 P.M 7 day’s a week some Sundays. Call ahead for Sundays 541-689-0033!
After being hung up in red tape for nearly a year, Liz and Aaron Speck finally got their smoker fired up on Highway 99 and were able to start selling. When I visited, I tried nearly everything on the menu. The multiple customers who I saw evidently had come to the same conlusion that I would: amazing, succulent barbecue.
When Aaron moved to Oklahoma to attend OU, he heard the natives talk up their Oklahoma style BBQ. He, like me, was not thoroughly impressed with their tradition until he tasted the brisket of his master. Aaron noticed that his mentor was always open “like clockwork” and started smoking and barbecuing for Oklahoma University football games. I’m glad he did.
“Real barbecue doesn’t need to be drowned in sauce to be good.”
I sat down to eat my large combo of beef brisket and pulled pork with a side of ribs. The sauce that I had snagged for my heap’o'meat, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, and cornbread was nice and mild. All of the items on the menu are made from scratch, from the potato salad to the sauce to the dry rub. “The only thing that we don’t make ourselves are the sodas,” Aaron says with a chuckle.
Now, I’ve eaten pulled pork in Cuba and Memphis, two bastions of barbecue. I’m not a person that likes barbecue all that much, let alone to be called a ”barbecue person” but when I tried the fare at Oklahoma Smokehouse Barbecue I was astonished. Liz and Aaron have it down pat and have brought a great product to Eugene.
Try the pulled pork sandwich for $5 or one of the combos. They also cook meat by the pound and have “tailgater” packages for groups.
Price Range: $5- 12
Location: Highway99
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