Koi Fusion’s Cart Lab Complex Announces Opening Date

As Cart Lab prepares to open, it appears Koi Fusion’s Bo Kwon is about to deliver another Portland take on the food hall. Located in a whopping 7,000-square-feet venue just south of Tom McCall Waterfront Park (formerly Lil Cooperstown), Cart Lab will house a bar and five micro-restaurants, all from restaurateurs that started as food carts.

Kwon now tells Eater Cart Lab will be soft open beginning November 1, 2016, operating Tuesday through Saturday, from 5 to 9 p.m., and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The grand opening will be held November 9.

And there’s more: Kwon’s ready to announce the fifth player inside: Tight Tacos, the street taco food cart launched this summer. It will join the aforementioned micro-restaurants by Koi Fusion, PDX Sliders, Wasabi Sushi, and FoMo Korean Fried Chicken. Kwon also says there will be a rotating dessert option: Gelato Maestro.

The restaurants inside Cart Lab will share an industrial kitchen and serve food directly through windows into the bar, in an area nicknamed "food cart ally." You can pick up your food there and either take it to-go or eat it at the many tables onsite. The bar area will have drink service, televisions, and a sports theme, replete with vintage Nike memorabilia.

Cart Lab will open November 1 at 1831 SW River Dr. Beginning November 9, it will offer expanded hours, but they have yet to be confirmed.

• Koi Fusion's Huge Food Cart Complex Releases New Details [EPDX]
• Cart Lab [Official]