One of the many charming and fantastic components of this city is all the multi-ethnic eateries along the surface parking lots of Portland's downtown.
Many of the places even had some places to sit in the sun while munching.
Scanning down one street . . .
It's amazing to see how open some cities are to this as a form of ligitimate commerce. Los Angeles has been battling these types of trucks in recent months, with the anti-taco lobby firmly entrenched in city council.
click here to read more about the city where carne asada is not just a meal, but a crime.
I opted for the Thai food for lunch:
Ate some pad see ew with generous portions of broccoli, some chicken satay with peanut sauce, and a coke.
All added up: 7 bucks for a nice meal in the sun, from a stand adjacent to Portland State University.
Many of the trucks had murals painted on the side . . .
And here's a Czech place. (the woman serving spoke czech too)
crepes to go . . .
and a good scene for people watching as well. At least, when one is sitting at the curb eating el pastor.
So a question: is this the type of thing that can fly in downtown youngstown?
It might be interesting to hear the opinions of downtown restaurants, especially the ones that require eating inside.
Maybe the existing places downtown need more outside seating. Maybe we should study Portland's policies that encourage immigrant foods to locate downtown, and for possible health reasons, study how they regulate their kitchens.
or maybe I'm so desparate for a thai place in youngstown, i'll accept this form of cooking to a full-blown restaurant.
3 comments:
I do believe that Y-town needs more restaurants with seating outside. Regarding vendors outside, we used to have a hotdog stand downtown. It was a great thing! The city hassled her to death and made her quit. One more stupid thing the city has done in its past.I recall that the woman who ran the stand fought the good fight to keep her stand and actually had a great deal of support from people downtown, all to no avail. I haven't checked lately, but I think that there may be a city ordinance in place against that type of thing. It needs to be changed!
Hey Janko,
Hope you enjoy your visit of Portland. I lived there for 4 years and enjoyed it very much. Besides all of the various street food vendors you talked about, Portland is the city of festivals. During the summer, there are numerous fesivals along the river, the Rose Festival being number 1. Portland is also the best laid out city I have ever seen, you can find your way anywhere and it's almost impossible to get lost with their street address system. By the by, if you havent made it over to NW 13th street area, check it out, it's quite nice........GO COFFEEPEOPLE!!!....lol......Scott
I would give a limb for Thai food, or Indian, to be downtown. A limb, I say. A limb.
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