Bbang opened on Wednesday, February 18, next to Holy Ghost Bar on SE Gladstone Street, specializing in Korean-influenced burgers and sandwiches. Owned by the same folks as Korean barbecue cart Doyaji, the menu includes a kimchi smash burger, a fried shrimp burger, a tofu katsu sandwich, Korean fried chicken, and sides like cheese corn and potato salad with smoked pork belly.
Food carts are a staple of New York City dining, dispensing everything from dosa and doner kebabs to dogs and dim sum in short order. But no matter how enticing the aroma of a cart's food, the smelly gas generators that keep the lights on threaten to put customers off their meals. Cart owners and customers may not have to suck on fumes much longer.
In the early twentieth century, a community of Italian immigrants started selling fruits, vegetables, and other fare in Portland's Central Eastside, earning it the moniker Produce Row. These Italian American fruit markets and groceries planted the seeds of what would eventually become the city's farm-to-table ethos. Despite the outsize impact of the Italian community on our food scene, however, Portland isn't exactly a Little Italy town, lacking a dense concentration of ristorantes and trattorias.
The achar cart at Adda had just rolled up on our right, the wide mouths of the jars filled with pickles of mango, caperberry, and pepper gaping like hungry seals. To the left, the table next to us was enjoying the opening chords of the restaurant's coveted butter chicken service, selecting the wood chips that would smoke their chicken from a different cart.