How Portland am I? I’m underemployed, a fixture at the dog park and I wear a hoody. Plus I love micros, local pinot noir and dining at the city’s premier food carts. It’s this last bit I’d like to tell you more about.
Gourmet Magazine recently profiled eight of Portland’s not-to-miss carts, and I’ve enjoyed two of them this week (and it’s only Wednesday).
To me, dining out is partly about the adventure. If the restaurant or food cart serves ethnic food, I want to travel to that far away land, edibly speaking. Cora y Huichol Taqueria on SE 82nd and Holgate really delivers in the transport department. It’s a short journey down SE 82nd, but when you arrive at this concrete corner and eat the dishes made by skilled and caring ladies, you’re no longer in Portland at all.
image courtesy of Portland Food Carts blog
Marissa Robinson-Textor, writing for Gourmet, says:
the moment you taste the Nayarit and Jalisco specialties at this little white truck, you’ll be riding the waves with the best of them. In a city brimming with quality Mexican food, items like tacos al pastor certainly hold their own, but it’s the seafood dishes—a tangy, spicy “ceviche†and tostadas de camaron—that will hook, line, and sinker you.
I ordered two ceviche tostadas and lightly decorated them with salsa habanera. I’m always on the hunt for good ceviche and it is an elusive dish, indeed. But now I know who in Portland has their ceviche game together. The tostadas were filled to the brim with a shrimp and octopus (I think) mixture, drowning in lime juice. The shrimp was perfectly marinated, and the tostadas were thick enough to handle the generous toppings.
I can’t wait to return to try some other items from Cora y Huichol Taqueria. I’m thinking a torta might be my next call when I’m out that way again.