Wet Hot Beef

Believe it or not, Wet Hot Beef is not the name of something obscene, though it could easily be construed that way. It's the name of a new food cart at Dreamer's Marketplace, just off of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

We came across it via Food Carts Portland and it sounded very yummy, so last week we were in the area and decided to hit it up for dinner.

Deciding to order a little bit of everything, we ordered two sandwiches - the Dressed and Indecent versions - a strawberry soda with housemade syrup, and an order of the housemade sweet onion potato chips. It wasn't busy - I think it was still early for dinner - and our food came out pretty quick.

Let's get the drawbacks out of the way first.

We didn't like the soda. I think, perhaps, the strawberry syrup - made with strawberries from the Farmer's Market - was pretty good, but the mixture wasn't right. Perhaps it was the mixing, maybe it needed something...or maybe it was the fact this nice syrup was mixed with Big K brand club soda. Maybe, I don't know. I do know there is a definite quality difference between something like Coke or Pepsi and a cheap brand (like Big K) cola. Maybe that's the drawback. Or maybe soda just isn't the right choice. Not sure.

The chips were also burnt. They may have been seasoned nicely, but we couldn't tell because all we could taste was burnt potatoes. Maybe it was a bad batch, I don't know, but I won't be ordering those again.

Now the good.

The sandwiches were excellent. The roast beef, as promised, was extremely moist and lean. The bechamel on the Indecent was creamy and good (Wifey would have preferred a tad more). The pickled beets and onions added on the sandwich could have used a tad more flavor - they were overpowered by the meat and the bechamel.

Then again, you aren't coming here for vegetables.

The bread for the sandwich was also pretty good. It tasted fresh and was soft, not overly hard and crunchy. Getting the sandwich in a paper cup was very handy, since there was quite a bit of beef drippage.

Would I recommend this? If you are in the area then sure, but I don't know that we'll go out of my way for it again. And if we do go back, it will probably be just for a sandwich.