A New Food Cart Pod Is Coming to Southeast Division

A food cart pod — adjacent to the new Portland locale of Logsdon Farmhouse Ales — will open this year, home to carts like the eclectic Nacheaux and wonton soup destination Mama Chow’s Kitchen.

Reed Dow, who owns the building once home to the late-great Southeast Wine Collective, filled the vacancy with Logsdon, which has hopped around the Pacific Northwest since 2009. Settling into the new space, Logsdon and Dow talked about transforming the building’s parking lot into a food cart pod, which could provide dining options to revelers stopping by the taproom. After a year and a half of permitting and planning, Farmhouse Carts is hoping for a late 2022 opening.

The pod, which can host 10 carts, currently has six lined up, Dow says: Nacheaux, Mama Chow’s, and Wicked Garden Alchemy have signed on, as well as a few others that have yet to announce their departure from their current locations. Nacheaux’s Anthony Brown will cook out of Southeast Portland cocktail bar Swan Dive until the food cart pod opens, and then reopen his cart within the new pod.

The pod will be home to fire pit tables, a window for ordering beer from Logsdon, covered and uncovered seating, and furniture beyond the typical picnic tables — Dow, who is also a woodworker, agreed to provide handmade walnut, maple, and poplar tables for the covered seating area, as well as hand-carved signs and sculptures. “People say I’m nuts for putting that in a food cart pod, because people may wreck it,” Dow says, “but if they do, I’ll just fix it.”

Dow is also quick to mention that the food cart pod will be fenced, with fully constructed bathrooms and wheelchair access. “I will make certain that the thing is kept clean and orderly at all times,” he says. “People want clean bathrooms, a clean place to eat, and that’s what we’re going to provide.”

Farmhouse Carts is scheduled to open in November at 2415 SE 35th Place.