Sunday, February 12

Win Free Cart Food For a Year

PDX Cartathalon II

Food & Drink Put your eating pants on, Portland: Willamette Week's now annual Cartathalon is back! The Cartathalo... More

Feb 1, 2012 01:30 pm by Ruth Brown  | Comments 0
 

BagelGate: Kettleman to Become Einstein Bros.; Portlanders Hit Back

Food & Drink News that Portland's Kettleman Bagels had been sold to the vastly inferior national chain Noah's Bag... More

Jan 31, 2012 12:45 pm by Ruth Brown  | Comments 10
 

Hair of the Dog Heads to Belgium

...and other Oregon beer news

Food & Drink For the last five years, much-decorated Belgian brewmaster Dirk Naudts, who develops beer recipes fo... More

Jan 30, 2012 02:50 pm by Brian Yaeger  | Comments 1
 

Portland, These Are Your Coffee Champions

PDX sweeps North West Regional Barista Competition

Food & Drink Competitive coffee making: yes, it exists, and it's serious business. There's music and costumes and... More

Jan 29, 2012 08:50 am by Ruth Brown  | Comments 0
 

Restaurant Cheap Eats Drink Devour
 
 
April 21st, 2010 JOANNA MILLER | Food Reviews & Stories
 

Sweet-Talker

Kir Jensen’s Sugar Cube is back and more addictive than ever.

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CHERRY CHERRY: The Sugar Cube’s Tahitian vanilla bean panna cotta with Morello cherry pureé.
IMAGE: chrisryanphoto.com

“Dessert Awesomeness” is the apt legend scrawled across the top of the menu of this North Mississippi cart, which is painted in three fat horizontal bands of brown, white and pale pink like a gigantic brick of Neapolitan ice cream.

But rest assured: The housemade, from-scratch desserts exiting the window of pastry chef Kir Jensen’s sweets shack far surpass anything being pushed by the neighborhood ice cream truck. No endless loop of “The Entertainer” being pumped out of a Dodge panel van here—only a solid lineup of thoughtfully concocted, top-notch creations served on charming vintage china plates and saucers, giving a noticeable boost in classiness to cart society.

Several of Jensen’s now signature delights have survived the closure of her original, downtown cart last year, a move across the river and a monthlong hiatus this winter when both the cart’s pipes and Jensen’s butter froze solid: The Triple Threat Cookie ($2.75), a layer of dark chocolate ganache sandwiched between two espresso- and pecan-laced chocolate-chunk cookies, will kick you in the ass. Another favorite, the fabulously moist Amy Winehouse cupcake ($3), is a riff on the 1960s classic brandy-infused Harvey Wallbanger cake. This version snubs the excessive mountains of buttercream suffered by so many bakery cupcakes in favor of a just-right coating of ganache. Milkshakes ($5), including the Banana What What (Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, bananas and meadowfoam honey), are too thin and milky, though. Fruit smoothies are also available for a more nutritionally virtuous pick-me-up.

The bruléed passion fruit panna cotta ($5) had me mercilessly dueling spoons with my 7-year-old tasting partner/nephew. A dessert I usually find cloying, this tropical fruit treat’s flavor maintained a graceful low profile against a remarkably smooth and velvety cream.

“Most of what I make is an extension of my childhood, but I like to put an interesting spin on basic items and expand people’s chocolate and vanilla horizons,” says Jensen. While there are those who initially shy away from a warm brownie sprinkled with fleur de sel and grassy olive oil or ginger ale lifted with a splash of Japanese plum drinking vinegar, Jensen has found that most people become converts to “challenging” flavors quickly. Traditionalists are welcome, too: The warm, tart cherry pie ($5, made off-site by Lauretta Jean’s) is a slice actually worthy of Warrant’s “taste so good make a grown man cry” line. If you can’t find something to love at this sugar party in your mouth, well, then, God help you.

  • Order This: Amy Winehouse cupcake ($3).

  • Best Deal: Triple Threat ice cream sandwich ($5).

  • I’ll Pass: Milkshakes could use more muscle ($5).

EAT: The Sugar Cube, 4237 N Mississippi Ave., 890-2825, thesugarcubepdx.com. Noon-7 pm Wednesday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday. $. See website for custom orders.
 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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04.23.2010 at 11:02 Reply
I have wanted to try this cart but have never seen it open, and yes, I have stopped by during the hours posted above. This has been my dilemma with the whole Mississippi cart pod- stopping by during posted business hours and finding half of them closed. I am hoping that warmer weather remedies this because there are quite a few I'd like to try.

 

04.28.2010 at 02:27 Reply
Hi Franny,

I have had the same experience as you with regard to the cart not being open during its posted hours. I actually wanted to include a suggestion in the article that it is a good idea to call before visiting, particularly if you are coming from across town. I have also noticed that only about half-3/4 of the carts are ever open concurrently, which sort of takes away from the whole idea of there being a cart "pod".

 

 
 

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