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Beaverton has long banned food-cart pods, a major stumbling block in efforts to enliven the moribund downtown of Portland's second-most-populous fourth largest suburb. But cart operators are nothing if not resourceful, so if you venture to Bethany Village, you'll find they've basically reassembled a pod in unincorporated Washington County, inside a row of shoebox kitchens with outdoor seating. The old gang is here: OG Korean cart Koi Fusion, Cartlandia's famous Maine Street Lobster Company, and Cackalack's (Not Quite) Hot Chicken Shack.
You'll also find the only cart I know that serves a plastic to-go container of Chinese-style marinated pig ear—little slices of soft cartilage and flesh served cold. That's Taiwan Eats, a micro restaurant with a tiny but hyper-authentic menu of cold-smoked five-spice beef, noodle soups and pork belly over rice.
The best thing we had was beef noodle soup ($10) with beef shank, baby bok choy and fresh, al dente noodles in a rich brown broth. Pair it with a cup of housemade plumanade ($3), a faintly sweet, dark purple elixir of smoky dried Chinese plums and orange peel, and you have a very nice meal. Meanwhile, a soup of pork and pickled greens failed for lack of depth, and the only notable thing about the pork belly and rice plate ($7) was a deep brown marinated egg with wonderfully earthy flavor. It's the kind of thing I'm always pleased to find at a cart, or even at the closest thing Beaverton can muster.
Order this: Beef noodle soup ($10) and plumanade ($3).
EAT: Taiwan Eats, 4708 NW Bethany Blvd., Suite E6, 888-2378, taiwaneatspdx.com. 11:30 am-8:30 pm Tuesday-Saturday.
WWeek 2015