Creme de la Creme

A few weeks back Wifey emailed me this post on Food Carts Portland about a new cart specializing in French food called Creme de la Creme. It sounded pretty dang good, so last week Wifey, Misaki, and I headed out to SE 43rd and Belmont to the new Good Food Here pod of food carts to check it out for lunch.

One nice thing about this pod? They have parking spots! Can't say that for Cartopia on SE 12th and Hawthorne or Mississippi Marketplace on N. Mississippi.

Creme de la Creme is housed in a converted school bus - with lots of bright colors - at one end of the pod. There are plenty of spots to sit down, at picnic tables under some trees on the periphery of the pod and spots with umbrellas within.

The "cart" - colorful, clear menu, friendly people.

Simple French food is the carts specialty, with sandwiches, soups, salads, and a couple basic desserts. We opted for the French Onion soup and a Croque Monsieur sandwich.

French Onion soup

The soup came with a piece of bread roughly the same size as the bowl, topped with melted gruyere. All elements of this soup were simply pretty dang perfect. The bread, despite soaking in the soup, still kept it's shape and the gruyere added a great additional flavor the normal soup flavors. The onions were well cooked, the broth rich, and we'd absolutely get this again.

Next up was the Croque Monsier, a toasted sandwich with black forest ham and gruyere inside, then topped with more gruyere. I love gruyere...

Croque Monsieur

We had eaten half the sandwich before I remembered to click a picture, so imagine two of those halves. The sandwich was good. The bread was crunchy, the flavors melded well, and I'd order it again - or maybe go the Croque Madame route next time and get it with an egg. It came with the small side salad topped with a fresh vinaigrette.

One of my favorite things about eating at food carts is we can always take Misaki with us. She wasn't the only dog there at the time, but everyone was properly respectful of personal space, a trait Misaki prizes.

She also, apparently, wanted to try some French food.

Misaki working her Shiba Mind Control

Sorry pups, not on your diet.

Creme de la Creme was a great meal and we will return at some point. If you are in the mood for something quick and French, this has to be at the top of your list.