upright brewing food cart pod
Who would have believed that one day the abandoned filling station at 72nd & Prescott would host a real food cart pod? Certainly not me. And yet, today, it definitely does, with a taproom, coffee, five carts and a restaurant across the street.
This page is the best guide you'll find to all these food carts. Bookmark it; I'll update it periodically with the changes in the pod.
They are carts, though, so opening hours and menus can vary. Particularly, most of the carts cut back on hours during the rainy season, and expand them during the summer. But sometimes, carts are just closed.
The Pod consists of the old filling station and its grounds, and neighboring properties. Inside the filling station is Junior's Coffee in the mornings and early afternoon, and Upright Brewing in the late afternoon/evening. Three carts sit on the Upright/Juniors property. Next door, in front of a disused HVAC shop, are two additional carts. Finally, there is a middle eastern deli (Samo's) across 72nd from the whole complex.
The food cart pod has ample outdoor seating, about 1/3 of which is covered from rain. Because of the angle of the sun, during sunny days you'll want to move around the outdoor seating; only about 1/3 is actually shaded in the aftenoon. Upright/Juniors has a small amount of indoor seating, including three small tables, and around 12 bar seats. If you're eating inside, you should really order a drink from whichever business is open (Juniors or Upright).
Information last updated November 9, 2024
Junior's Coffee
Serves: Coffee, espresso, and tea
Location: Inside the main building
Hours: 7am to 3pm, 7 days a week
Junior's coffee is the 2nd coffee outlet by the folks who also own Guilder (the Princess-Bride themed cafe). They offer espresso drinks, coffee and tea 7 days a week, and a very small selection of pastries. They roast their own fair trade, organic, family-farm coffee, which is also available by the bag.
Juniors/Guilder is the only coffeehouse I know of in Portland that offers shakeratos in the summer.
Upright Brewing
Serves: 10-12 beers on tap, plus assorted things in bottles and cans.
Location: Inside the main building, behind the bar
Hours: 3pm-ish to 10pm, weekdays, noon-10pm Sat & Sun
This is the 2nd taproom for Portland-based Upright Brewing. Their beers skew towards real ale, side-taps, and other artisan service, including sours, a British-style bitter, lager, pilsner, and saison, as well as the mandatory IPAs. Particularly, if you appreciate a lower-alcohol beer (4.5-5.5%) so that you can have multiple pints without falling off your stool, this is your place.
DesiPDX
Sadly Closed
Maybe they'll come back someday. Their original location, in the Prost! foodcart pod, is still open.
Schmunchburger
Serves: Burgers, fries, and the Schnitzelwich
Location: Cart along 72nd ave
Hours: 1pm to 8pm Tues-Sat (usually)
Schmunch adds a burger-and-fries option to the food cart pod, although their burgers are a little special.
Yes, they do have a veggie burger option. They also theoretically have schnizel sandwiches, although those seem to run out a lot.
Niños Birrieria
Serves: Tacos, quesadillas, birria, quesabirria, chips, etc.
Location: truck in front of 7131 Prescott Street
Hours: 10am to 9pm 7 days a week
Niños is the always-open standby for this pod, rarely closed during dining hours. Birria lovers will find lots to eat here, but others have options as well, including fish tacos and taquitos; they have quite the menu for a food cart.
Note that when they say "hot", they mean it. Do not take the "bomb shell challenge" unless you regularly participate in hot pepper eating contests.
They have a breakfast menu too.
They're also a good option for non-beer-drinkers since they regularly have aquas frescas.
R-Haan Thai Kitchen
Serves: Thai standards, including noodles, stir-fries and rice dishes
Location: cart in front of 7131 Presscot Street
Hours: 11am to 8pm Thursday-Monday
R-Haan is the newest cart, and I've eaten there only once so far. The cart offers everything a typical American Thai restaurant would offer, including Pad Thai, Tom Yum and Panang Curry.
Pine State Biscuits
Serves: Biscuits and Gravy
Location: Airstream on the left side of Upright building
Hours: Friday 4pm-9pm, Sat/Sun 8am-2pm
This is yet another outlet of the Portland-leading biscuit franchise. They offer biscuits, biscuit sandwiches, and biscuits with both meat and vegetarian gravy, plus assorted seasonal specials. They're pretty much just open for brunch on weekends.
Samo's
Serves: Middle eastern street food, plus diner griddle standards
Location: Across 72nd ave. from the food cart pod, in the Samo's building
Hours: 9am to 10pm 7 days a week
You may have noticed the lack of a felafel/schwarma cart. Well, that's because Samo's is just across the street. If that's what you have a yen for, hop across the street, get your schwarma wrap, and come back for an Upgright beer.