Located in a stripe of food carts at the corner of SW 3rd and Washington, Juniper PDX offers the public delicious hearty vegan meals that everyone is sure to enjoy. Their most popular dishes include their signature sesame noodles, the portobello melt and the samosa bowl.
Atmosphere
The Juniper PDX food truck is part of a very lively string of food trucks and the energy around Juniper matched the bouncy energy of the location. While they are busiest at lunch during the week, they have recently begun serving their dishes on the weekends.
The Owners
Five young women, four of whom are vegan, between the ages of 22 and 33 banded together and opened Juniper PDX in March 2015. On the day we visited Juniper PDX, we met Summer and Lizz, who told us that they became vegan for ethical reasons but have since all learned more about the environmental impacts of the meat/dairy industry.
Summer and Lizz, 2 of Juniper’s 5 owners
Menu
Juniper’s menu is small but suitable for varied tastes. It changes with the seasons but always remains gluten-free and includes sandwiches with home-made bread, salads and various bowls. All entrees can be made as a side dish for half the price and you can choose from a variety of drinks and smoothies to complete your meal.
Mindy ordered the BBQ sammy, and I got the sesame noodles and a side of German potato salad. A ginger julep tonic for me and a mango berry mint smoothie for Mindy rounded out our order.
BBQ sandwich with soy curls, avocado and homemade bread
We enjoyed watching Mindy’s sandwich being made and were amazed how big it was! Both meals tasted great and I was amazed at how much I liked the soy curls – they got a lot of packed flavor into them!
Sesame noodles topped with soy curls and tomato/oyster mushroom skewers
Service and Prices
The food was served with a smile and friendly conversation. Because the servers are also the chefs and the owners, they could answer any questions we had about the menu. The prices seemed a bit on the high side until we saw the huge portions of food. Then it seemed like a steal!
On our next trip to Portland, we will be sure to make Juniper PDX a part of our itinerary.