The Cart Pod- Bubba Bernie’s

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12th and Hawthorne

Date of visit: November 4, 2009

Price for 1: $10

It was a lovely and unseasonably warm fall day in Portland, so we decided it was time to try the carts on the corner of 12th and Hawthorne. I should note that this is really more of a “drunk at 1 am” kind of spot than a lunch spot, but a few of the carts are open for business during lunch hours. The only real reason we’d never eaten at any of them before is Jared hates eating outside. But I will let him explain that because he going to guest blog about the Mexican cart he ate at while I tried out Bubba Bernie’s BBQ cart.

Before we get to the food though, I feel like I need to talk about how amazingly ridiculous this whole set up is. Only in Portland are food carts actually known for their quality of food. You can find some incredible cuisine in these semi-permanent structures all over the city. The Hawthorne cart pod includes 7 carts, but only 3 of them (El Brasero, Peirerra Creperie and Bubba Bernie’s) were open during our visit. But enough about that.

At Bubba Bernie’s, I ordered a breaded catfish Po’ Boy, which must be a popular item since the next three people to walk up ordered it as well. And I had plenty of time to observe what people ordered because my sandwich literally took 20 minutes to be ready. Now I will admit we were on the early side, and the lone worker was obviously still setting things up, but he also happened to the the slowest human being in existence. After waiting a few minutes for him to notice I was even standing there, I ordered and he let me know in his mellow hippie tone it would be a few minutes. About five minutes later he stuck his dredded head out of the cart to inform me of a total bum out, man. Apparently he’d forgotten to turn on the fryer when he arrived for the day. Since I still wanted the the same thing, and I had no where to be, I said I’d wait. I had about 15 minutes to enjoy the sunshine and watched befuddled hipsters walk around trying to decide what to eat before a sandwich finally came out. Jared was long done by the time I got to eat. Fucking hippies.

The good news: It was delicious. Flaky fish with crispy skin, flavorful remoulade and fresh veggies. It was everything I wanted in a catfish po boy, except maybe some chips on the side.

Speed: LOL

Veggie options: Like all the carts, there’s a pretty solid vegetarian menu.

bubbabernies

Breaded Catfish Po Boy

  1. thomas

    damn that looks good.

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