Yesterday, I drove down to Portland and back to drop my dad off at my grandmother’s house. My grandmother is 97 and lives with my uncle and a caretaker. On the way to my grandmother’s house, I insisted that we stop for some kind of vegan meal in Portland. I chose the Homegrown Smoker BBQ food cart because I thought it would be a quick, easy lunch that wouldn’t take much time away from visiting with my grandmother. I have been hearing about all of Portland’s amazing vegan eats for quite some time now and have been itching to try some of them. Once we recovered from getting a bit lost, and found it, The Homegrown Smoker did not disappoint (well, maybe except for the fact that they were out of deep-fried dill pickles when we arrived).
Nestled amongst about a dozen other food carts, the menu was a little overwhelming and I choked a bit when it came to ordering.
I would have liked to try one of their bbq sandwiches with mac-n-cheese on top, but instead I ordered the ‘chili-mac,’ which was absolutely delicious. Now, I’m not usually a fan of fake-meat and fake cheese options. I have not yet met a vegan mac-n-cheese that I really liked. But this meal takes the cake. It was a pile of mac-n-cheese with a pile of chili on top of that, and a pile of scallions and no-cheese sauce and cheese on top of that:
All I can say is YUM! I’ll remember that food for a long time. I also had a minted lemonade, which was very good, though a bit sugary. My dad ordered the chili dawg, which was decorated similarly to the mac-n-cheese (chili, onions, cheese sauce, cheese) and made with a chipotle field roast. I’m not a big fan of the chipotle field roast; I think it’s a bit overpowering in its spice and I’m a person who likes spicy food (I much prefer the apple-sage or italian field roasts). Nonetheless, I had a bit of this chili dawg and it was pretty good. The toppings really made it:
Every city should have one of these carts. I can’t wait to make another trip down to Portland to try some of their other offerings and hopefully make it there when they haven’t run out of deep-fried dill pickles! Oh, and the best part, was that the guy working there offered Maizy a ‘bone’ and held up a kale stem. Awesome!
The visit at my grandma’s was nice, but too short. The view from her house is spectacular. When Mt. St. Helens erupted, she had a complete view of the eruption. Wild.
Thanks Portland! You’re lovely, as usual! Have any of you all been to the Homegrown Smoker? What did you think?
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Yet another thing I have in common with Maizy – We love Kale stems!
And I got…to go to work 🙁
ouch.
This food cart is why I’m broke. The Fu-Fish Fillet and Klammich (Breaded soy curls made to resemble clams I think) specials are a must go kind of day for me. Nothing good on special? Welp, time for a Loafaroni (only the densest vegan sandwich ever concocted!)
I also can highly recommend the Macnocheeto. The Chili Dawg is what made me fall in love though. 6 dollars for a massive spicy dog with chili on top.
A side of Mac never fails! Oh, I hope you get to try the fried pickle at some point… it’s really good, vegan ranch to go with it!
Beware of the fried Oreos or tofutti cuties…sweetness overload.
Wow, I’m impressed by your Homegrown Smoker BBQ knowledge. I would be broke, too, if I lived in Portland and got to go to this cart frequently. Would be hard to avoid it, since there are so many delicious things to try. I can’t remember what the special was on the day we went. Definitely can’t wait to go back. Thanks for the suggestions!