Chop Chop Food Carts Is Coming to Outer SE Portland

Two logos for Chop Chop Food Carts, a pod opening in Southeast Portland, OR.

While doing some research on international markets in the Metro area, I came across a 5-star comment on the Yelp page for Oriental Food Value: “Just a great quality no frills store with kind and happy customer service. A big store with small store appeal! … BONUS: A new food cart complex is under construction at the east side of building!” A little poking around yielded information on said food cart pod: Chop Chop Food Carts.

I’ve reached out to the folks about the pod, but their website is pretty informative all around. First, who they are: “Chop Chop Food Carts is a first-generation immigrant-owned food pod. The owners have been Pacific Northwest locals since the 90s.” One of the people that seems to be behind this project is Tina Huynh.

More About the Genesis of Chop Chop Food Carts

As far as their backstory goes, it begins in June 2019, “in response to a disheartening news article highlighting the displacement of numerous small food cart businesses from the downtown food cart pod to make way for a hotel development.” This would be the Alder Street pod, uprooted for the development of the Ritz-Carlton hotel. In August 2019, the group pooled their saving and got some loans with the goal of getting property on which to host food carts.

Then COVID hit, leading to lockdowns starting in March 2020. This delayed everything, including the opening of the pod.

Fast forward to 2024 and they are getting closer to opening. I’ve seen a bunch of permits for the pod property from late 2023: construction, plumbing, electrical, and utilities. Their hope is to open this spring. It looks like preliminary work was done last summer by Qualico Construction Services.

Location and What To Expect

The location is almost at the eastern edge of the Portland city limit, in the Meadowland Shopping Center and adjacent to the aforementioned Oriental Food Value market. It looks like they can accommodate up to 20 carts, offering cuisines that include Mexican, South American, Chinese, Thai, Korean, and American. Plus boba! I love boba.

There will be onsite free parking available, onsite restrooms, and the pod is accessible via bike and public transportation. There will be landscaping and a grass play area. For vendors, they can expect regular security sweeps and onsite monitoring with video feed in a gated community space.

Here’s a schematic of how everything will be laid out at the site (click to enlarge):

A bird's eye view of the plans developed for the Chop Chop Food Carts pod in SE Portland.

And if you are looking for a pod to participate in, there may still be space at Chop Chop Food Carts. Contact them via email at Chopchoppdx@gmail.com if you are interested.

Hours will be Sunday to Thursday, 10am to 8pm; Friday and Saturday 10am to 10pm. I look forward to checking it out!

Chop Chop Food Carts [projected opening spring 2024]
17150 SE Powell Blvd, Portland
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