Chok Dee DEE

Piedmont Food Cart village. The gas station of the North East. This place is right across from the Post office… and does it ever have character. The way you can find this place is to look for the gas prices you haven’t seen since the 90s ($1.99 for a gallon is posted on the cryptic and decaying gas station marquee under this food truck haven.

While it used to be “the pump”, this food cart village is actually a pretty great place to sit and wait for your food (and you can even eat there in the rain, as they have picnic benches under tents).

I’m on the early bird special. At 11am, there is one place willing (or ready) to serve me: Chok Dee Dee. It’s all the way in the back left hand corner. A simple white truck, with logos so small if you blink you’ll miss ‘em. They just arrived in January, and their set up pretty legit. Legit enough to provide NE Portland with their morning curry needs.

The lady who runs the place has a certain flare about her. She’s very forward. Using plenty of hand gestures, she tells me everything on the menu is good, but between the specials for the day, she tells me that if I want curry, I need to get the Pumpkin curry and Chicken.

Pro Tip: Welcome to the 21st century, cause curry first thing in the morning is an EXCELLENT idea

So I’ll admit, the food packaging looks disappointing, but don’t judge a book by it’s yada yada yada.

Pro Tip: Take this one to-go and throw the rice and curry in a big bowl. The plastic equipment just can’t truly hold all of the awesomeness.

I wish they would have given more white rice, but this curry is good. The chicken is succulent and well portioned. You can’t really eat it with chop sticks, so get a spoon. The pumpkin though. I usually get pumpkin that is bite-sized, and rounded to a perfect mashy cube. THIS pumpkin has a surprising and welcoming sensation. They don’t cut off the skin of the pumpkin. You put it in your mouth and can feel the rocky terrain of Halloween hangin’ out in your mouth. And for some reason, it makes you want more chunks. It’s the strangest thing, but Chok Dee Dee’s pumpkin chunks are really superb because they leave the skin. It’s still a mashy texture, but it adds just a little more stability to the pumpkin. The curry was pretty good, but mostly just a vessel for the contents of the soup.

Pro Tip: If you like it spicy, ask for everything they got. I ordered mine hot and was seriously disappointed. Crank up the heat, Chok Double-Dee.

Delicious

For sure.

Enough,

For sure.

Spicy,

…we’ll talk.

Chok Dee Dee. The breakfast of Thai Champions.