This used to be a post about a cute little food cart in Sellwood.

Things have changed in the last four years or so.

I’d been hearing about this cart since it opened, mostly by meat-eating friends, but the praise was so loud and so loyal (OMG I LOVE THAT PLACE, etc.), that I figured its vegetarian offerings must be pretty good, too. And there are two veggie choices on the short menu: The St. John’s with marinated portabella, roasted roma tomatoes, herbed goat cheese, and baby arugula on ciabatta, and the Ross Island, with housemade black bean patty, pepper jack cheese, butter lettuce, and aioli on a brioche bun.

Okay.

Picnic tables in olden times. There are still picnic tables outside the Sellwood location

A friendly gentleman greeted us, “Welcome back!” as we walked up for our first-ever visit to the Sellwood cart. Not sure how big the “sliders” are, I asked how many we should order. “Depends how hungry you are,” we were told, but one or two should do it. We ordered two of each of the veggie burgers, plus a side of fries, for a total of almost $18 before tip. This ended up being a good amount of food for us; almost two sliders for each adult plus a “healthy” helping of fries was enough to be satisfied, but not over-full.

The Ross Island’s black bean patty was soft and spicy, and stayed together well, especially with a little help from the pepper jack cheese melted over the top. It was a little too spicy for the toddler, or maybe he didn’t like the visible corn (who knows with toddlers, amirite), so, more for me! This black bean burger is a solid representative of a ubiquitous veggie menu item, and I’d eat it again.

We both preferred the St. John’s, with marinated mushrooms on ciabatta.

Yes, mushroom burgers are  on menus everywhere you look, and they’re often pretty poorly executed: underdone, soggy and dripping, or flavorless. When people make fun of vegetarian food, this kind of stuff is what they’re thinking about.

But at PDX Sliders, things are different.

The portabella mushrooms are wisely cut into smaller pieces, cooked to a toothsome and savory doneness, and given a slight vinegar bite from the marinade. You might need to guard your lap against juicy mushroom drips, but only a few. Our tomatoes weren’t roasted per the menu, but this was the time of year to eat them fresh. No complaints there.

BTW, there’s a kid’s meal, too, which they can do with the house veggie burger. You get the burger, fries, juice, and a treat (!) (I want a treat!) for $6 (slider) or $8 (full size). In my experience, that treat is a Dum Dum.

Vegans can try out the mushroom burger without the goat cheese, and gluten-free eaters can swap out a bun for butter lettuce.

At PDX Sliders, you will get the basics done really well. And that’s all I want from my burgers and fries.

Since they served sliders out of this little cart, they’ve opened up two brick-and-mortar locations: one in Sellwood, and one on Division. They’re still good.

Have you been to PDX Sliders?

PDX Sliders
pdxsliders.com

Original post 7/15/2015. Updated 7/15/2019.