Some of Portland’s best Mexican food can be found in a cart tucked to the side of a gas station convenience store along Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. At Tito’s, taquitos are stuffed with fluffy potato and topped with aguacate, cotija, and microgreens — they can be ordered as-is or with the addition of proteins like garlic shrimp, braised beef, or garbanzo bean al pastor. Although the taquitos have top billing here, the tacos, boasting handmade tortillas, are worth ordering as well. To dodge lengthy wait times, diners in-the-know call their orders in or order online.

Bamboo Sushi veteran Yoshi Ikeda opened this cart in the Multnomah Village French Quarter pod in 2019 and has been serving high-caliber fish ever since. Fun, innovative rolls like the lime green roll with sesame-crusted spinach, cucumber, roasted pepper, avocado, and microgreens are only improved with the cart’s ginger miso. Rotating nigiri and occasional hand rolls showcase the super fresh seafood Ikeda sources. The cart is open for phone orders, and doesn’t accept walk-up orders; the pod offers seating indoors and out.

Bing Mi in Slabtown specializes in Northern Chinese-style savory crepes called jianbing. Fermented black bean paste and spicy chile sauce come slathered on an eggy crepe filled with green onions, cilantro, pickled vegetables, and a fried wonton cracker, combining bright, umami-rich flavor with both chew and crunch. Options include loading up the jianbing with bacon, spam, or even roast duck; double up on proteins and egg for a primo brunch.

The food at this Prost Marketplace cart is as maximalist in aesthetics as it is in flavor. Bowls and platters come with colorful condiments and sides, turmeric slaw and seasonal pickles adding a zippiness to bowls of spiced rice and saucy kalonji kale keema, a blend of lamb and kale with a touch of sweetness from butternut squash. It’s hard to leave without an order of the cardamom-chai chicken, brined, steamed and glazed with tea.

Prost Marketplace, home to some of the city’s finest food carts, welcomed Matt’s BBQ after it was booted from its original location. Since then, Matt’s BBQ has become a local legend, with respectful nods from Texas barbecue savants and a popular taco-centric spinoff. Customers order a la carte meats and sides online, as well as sandwiches piled with chopped brisket or North Carolina-style pulled pork, before picking up platters of meat at the cart. Matt’s is known for its tender brisket, peppery spare ribs, and house-made jalapeno-cheddar sausage, but the under-the-radar hit on the menu is its butter-dipped smoked turkey. One thing’s for certain: It’s sacrilege to miss a side of the queso mac and cheese.

Internet sensation Kiauna Nelson built her food cart dreams through self-taught culinary training and a business degree. Now, she serves massive piles of chicken and mac and cheese half the week at her MLK food cart. Kiauna’s (or Kee’s) specials can be found through her social media posts, but any day customers can walk up for sweet-salty fried chicken, crackling catfish, and saucy mac and cheese. Go early to line up; the food sells out sooner than posted hours may suggest.

This Vietnamese-American spot serves comforting classics like thit kho, braised pork belly and soft boiled egg in a broth-y blend caramel, coconut, and chilis, and da lat, fried chicken marinated in nuoc cham. That menu is balanced with Việt Kiều dishes straight from owner Richard Le’s brain, including breakfast sandwiches on pandan rolls and iconic fast food dishes made with Vietnamese sauces and ingredients. Le regularly switches things up, but if the green pandan doughnut is on the menu, order it. Matta is open for walk-up orders, parked outside Concourse Coffee; the move is to stop by for brunch on the weekends, sitting at the picnic tables outside both businesses.

This Couch Street Filipino cart has rapidly grown a fierce following, with specials like jackfruit-and-mushroom sisig, Filipino spaghetti drenched in a banana ketchup tomato sauce, and calamansi cream puffs. However, it’s hard to leave the cart without an order of Baon Kainan’s exceptional chicken adobo, juicy legs tinted with a smoked tamari-vinegar sauce. Baon Kainan shares a pod with Matta, with limited onsite seating.

This fried chicken cart within the Lil’ America pod hasn’t been open long, but it has made a serious impression thanks to the thunderous crunch of its wings and drumsticks’ crackling skin. The combination of rice, potato, and tapioca flour helps maximize the crispness of the chicken, which remains juicy due to the makgeolli in the batter. Get wings tossed in snow cheese or saucy with gochujang or soy glaze; when it comes to sides, the mashed potatoes with curry gravy or kimchi mac and cheese are musts.

Erica Montgomery has parked her bright-yellow soul food cart at various spots around the city, but its latest location — next to labor movement hotspot Worker’s Tap — feels like the ideal landing pad. Here, Montgomery tosses her vegan or traditional chicken wings in a roster of knockout sauces, including a tangy ATL hot lemon pepper or a delightfully powerful Buffalo bacon ranch; for something more like a meal, the cart’s smothered chicken, in an umami-laden gravy, is sure to please. Alternatively, shrimp and grits here balance the acidity of roasted tomato with creamy gouda. Note: The cart reopens in its new location April 29.

This Alberta Street food cart churns out an exceptionally wide range of dishes, from pozole to seafood burritos to various shades of mole. Of course, considering the name, moles here are particularly special, especially when each house variety blankets enchiladas stuffed with tender chicken or stretchy cheese. It’s worth it to eat any meal at the pod, where sopas arrive ladled into colorful bowls.

The main draw of this Cully cart is its cinque e cinque, or “5 & 5”: a layer of torta di ceci, an Italian chickpea flatbread, is paired with jammy eggplant on house-baked bread (those who eat dairy should add burrata). But the full menu is stacked year-round, changing dishes as produce from Portland farms begin to ripen. The Revel Meat Co. porchetta, which gets a slather of both salsa verde and anchovy mayo, is another star, often on the menu; it’s best to round things out with a seasonal salad and one of the cart’s stellar desserts.

For more than 10 years, Megan Walhood and Jeremy Daniels have been churning out Norwegian lefse, potato flatbread, out of their adorable Airstream trailer on Southeast Belmont. The lefse are reliable comfort food for Portlanders, filled with combinations like meatballs with gravy or smoked salmon, dill, greens, and creme fraiche; any lefse pairs well with seafood chowder and lingonberry iced tea.

Located inside the always-delightful Portland Mercado, Tierra del Sol focuses on Oaxacan classics. Arguably the most popular order is the Oaxacan tlayuda, a serving-plate-sized grilled corn tortilla, mounted with a host of toppings, such as chicharron, avocado, Oaxacan cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, and more. A single meaty tlayuda is enough food for two. Tierra Del Sol is open for walk-up orders and online ordering.

At this Sandy food cart just a few blocks from the Grotto, chef Roberto Hernandez Guerrero uses a beautiful, just a touch springy, naturally leavened pizza crust as the foundation for artfully executed pizzas, from the traditional to the truly distinct. The margherita here is a faithful rendition, with a bright tomato sauce and salty fresh mozz; however, it’s worth it to visit for dishes like the pizzaleada, the cart’s take on a Honduran baleada with poblano-tinged sour cream.

The greater Portland area has a number of exceptional birria carts, but Birrieria La Plaza reigns supreme: Here, customers dunk cheesy tacos into consome swirling with the heat of toasted spices and charred peppers, glistening with a slick of chile oil. Owner Oracio Hernandez’s mother is the mastermind behind the recipe, which she keeps under lock and key; mystery or not, the shop’s quesabirria, mulitas, and vampiros are some of the city’s finest. Birrieria La Plaza is open for walk-up orders.