PORTLAND, Ore. — A new food cart pod is open in downtown Portland.
Midtown Beer Garden sits on the corner of Southwest 5th Avenue and Oak Street. It offers room for 27 food carts, including a drink offering by Fracture Brewing, seating for 300, a performance stage and restrooms. The pod is also fully fenced in with two security guards posted at each entrance during all hours of operation, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
"I like how it's so enclosed," said Rebecca Mendak, who brought her 3-year-old daughter to dinner on Thursday night. "Feeling pretty safe and bringing her here back to downtown has been really fun. I can really tell a difference down here and I really appreciate it."
Midtown Beer Garden soft launched this week. It will hold a grand opening on Sunday.
"We've been full even though we're not open, so that seems to be a really good sign of things to come. Our focus has been on creating an oasis here,” said Kurt Huffmann, owner of ChefStable, a Portland restaurant company. They're running Midtown Beer Garden, which replaces the food cart lot that previously occupied the space.
Photos: Midtown Beer Garden in downtown Portland
"The pod had fallen in disrepair," Huffmann said. "The worst thing that happened was one of the propane tanks exploded and damaged a bunch of buildings around it."
One of those damaged buildings is home to Expensify, which paid to revamp the cart pod to create Midtown Beer Garden.
"I think the concern comes down to, are people coming back to the city," said Expensify founder and CEO David Barrett. "It doesn't feel great to go into an office and have this amazing experience and you walk out and you see this depravity on the streets. We just view it as this is our neighborhood, for us to enjoy our own space, we need to make the surrounding area good."
Barrett signed a seven-year lease with two five-year extensions. Expensify built up the infrastructure, like access to natural gas for all food carts, including Great Tang Chinese Food.
"This food cart pod is so lovely," said owner, Zoey Yu. "All the neighbors are good, the managers, amazing."
Customers like Dre Turner can feel the difference the cart pod is making in the area.
"I came here during the middle of the pandemic, so I saw it at its worst and it's been slowly building back," Turner said. "Places like these opening up has been really encouraging more to come down here."
After so much struggle, Barrett said he just appreciates this moment.
"We're just one piece of the solution," Barrett said. "But definitely not the whole thing."
Midtown Beer Garden will celebrate its grand opening Sunday, Aug. 20 at 3 p.m. Live music starts at 5 p.m. with headliner The Last Artful, Dodgr taking the stage at 7 p.m.