Prost Marketplace Has Amassed the Most Formidable Roster of Food Carts in Portland

While the pod has really fortified its bench in the last year or two, the MVP remains its first big get: Matt’s BBQ.

By Matthew Singer

It’s a worn-out cliché, but let’s please cringe through it one more time: Prost Marketplace is the superteam of Portland food cart pods.

What else do you call a spot that was already the best German beer bar in town, then added the best Texas barbecue, followed by the best breakfast sandwiches (Fried Egg I’m in Love), a spinoff of the best tacos in Vancouver (Little Conejo), and maybe the best smash burger (Burger Stevens) in a city now overstuffed with them?

It’s downright unfair. But while the pod has really fortified its bench in the last year or two, the MVP remains its first big get: Matt’s BBQ. At this point, pitmaster Matt Vicedomini might be better known as one-third of another Portland food superpower, Thai fusion world-beater Eem, but the vintage trailer that bears his name retains a special kind of magic, cranking out perfectly smoky ribs, pillowy soft pork belly and brisket so succulent it made Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor cry.

All of this, naturally, pairs perfectly with a giant glass boot filled with a rare Kölsch from the adjoining bier hall. On a particularly sweltering summer day, though, cocktail cart Bloodbuzz emerges as the sixth man of the Prost roster. Get the Instant Crush, an extra-slushy take on a Paloma spiked with tequila and Steigl radler.

4237 N Mississippi Ave. Matt’s BBQ open noon-8 pm daily. Bloodbuzz open 8 am-10 pm daily.

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