Back Like We Never Left..

After a couple days off to regroup (our apologies if you came by the cart and we were closed), we are ready to forge through the winter months and serve our folks some delicious food!  We gotta give the people what they want!!

But first, we still need to get our name out there...

I did my best "tagging" the door.

I can't tell you how many people come to the cart and ask "what's a slider?"  (I know, right.)  It's okay... we'll let it slide (r) this time, but we also thought it'd be good to have some more signs telling people what we serve at our cart.  So, since the sun was out for a couple days, I took advantage.

More sandwich boards promoting our cart.

We've had a bunch of special guests stop by the cart as well.  One of them was Ian Winters, of Winters Farms in Troutdale, Oregon.  He supplies us with all of our russet potatoes.  He came to see what we've been up to and what we've been doing with his potatoes...

 HE WAS IMPRESSED!

He loved the burgers and gave the fries 2 thumbs up!

And our friend, Franklin, from the Rebuilding Center, came by and passed along the first dollar from his cart.  He loved the food and was thoroughly impressed with the cart itself.

AWESOME!

Please go to our facebook page and LIKE us here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Grillery/190508621016996

And check out some of the great reviews here:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-grillery-portland-2

Ahhh, the LOVE

Brandon and Charles paid us a visit from VANYLA... & you gotta check out their blog...period.  Filled with amazing content and interesting articles, this site is a must read. The photography is amazing, and the blog post about The Grillery, well (blush) is pretty great too!

www.vanylapdx.com

Thanks for the love, y'all.

Settling In

One month down....HOLY SMOKES!  Sometimes Travis and I look at each other like "what the hell did we get ourselves into?"  Starting a new cart, in the fall, in Portland, as first timers is TOUGH.  But we're gettin' it...(and we're still having a blast!)

Our customers come in all shapes and sizes.  

 REPPIN' Portland to the fullest, so we had to take a pic.

(His heart is in NE, as you can see)

He obliged, obviously.

That's the thing about our cart business so far... we literally LOVE all the people who come through and try our food.  From our friends and family who stop by (thank you!), to our new friends at the hospital and Red Cross, to the "locals" who reside in NE...y'all are awesome!  We've really enjoyed chatting with our customers and getting to know them. 

We love our four legged friends too!

Charlotte

People have said that our food gets better every time they come, so that means we're doing something right.  Travis has concocted all sorts of new sauces.  Next time you come for lunch, don't be afraid to try the chipotle ketchup, garlic aioli, sweet BBQ, or our SECRET Grill Sauce...you won't be disappointed!

Our hours have changed a bit too.  We are currently open Monday-Friday 11-7 and Saturday 12-5.

Check out our reviews on YELP here:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-grillery-portland-2

Hope to see you soon!

New Grillery Shirts for sale.

($20 limited supply)

SLACKIN'!

So sorry about the MAJOR delay in postings...I've been eating (literally), sleeping (rarely) and LIVING food cart life for the last month, so I've been slacking... forgive me?

We did more pickling!

...because our first round was a HIT!

You know we gotta add some SPICE.

They look beautiful!

Third week down and we are still learning every day!  We have gotten some great advice and feedback from our friends, family, customers...annnnddd...our first FOOD CRITIC!  Check it out here...

http://www.foodreviews.aaronwakamatsu.com/2011/09/grillery.html

I think overall it's a great first review...Aaron was super nice and gave us honest feedback, which we appreciate.  We have been trying to perfect our fries (because we like 'em crispy too!), so hopefully next time he comes back, we'll get a higher rating!  Not too shabby for week 3 though.

Sometimes when it's slow, we get our color on...

Nana and John

And, Adam.

As always, we love the support from everyone and appreciate y'all stopping by the cart!  Be sure to LIKE us on facebook!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Grillery/190508621016996

BUZZZZZZ

Week 2 down and we're rockin and rollin!  

Farmer's Market on NW 19th and Everett

Winters Farms Stand

(our potato vendor)

So now that we are OFFICIALLY moving into fall..(thanks for the 2 week summer, mother nature) we are lucky to have local markets to go to to get our produce.  Winters Farms is located in Troutdale, Oregon (about 10 miles outside Portland) and they come into town almost every day to sell at the local markets.  Because we are on a mission to do the LOCAL and FRESH thing, this works out nicely for us!

I think the funnest part for both Travis and I is meeting all of our customers.  We get to tell them our story, talk about the food and get to know a bit about them as well.  It has been awesome.  So far, I would say we have the BEST customers around!!

This was one of my favorite guests so far...

Beautiful Buca

Glad y'all are loving the food!  Remember to LIKE us on facebook and read our amazing reviews on YELP here...(I swear I didn't bribe anyone to write these...)  http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-grillery-portland-2

Week One...

We just wanted to give a big THANKS to everyone who has stopped by The Grillery to try our food, hang out and experience our opening week with us...it has really been GREAT!

Our fun menu by the AMAZiNG Abby Marten

Travis and I have been spending every waking moment at the cart...finishing up all the little details (do they ever stop??), cleaning, trying new recipes....you name it!  There is no end to the day.  It's been super fun (still!  can you believe it?!), and we are learning a TON!

 A homemade sign out of an old barn door...

Not bad, eh?

It is REAAALLLYYY hot in Portland right now, so business has been up and down.  The biggest hit on our menu thus far is our very own Fiesta Corn!

Fresh corn from Troutdale, Oregon

After adding "Grill Sauce," Cotija cheese and a lime wedge

The feedback on our food has been amazing!  Everyone LOVES the corn, we've gotten rave reviews on the fries and people say they can really taste the quality of our beef.

Come by and see for yourself!!

Getting Our Groove

So we did it...sorta.  We had a "soft" opening, and it went well.  We learned the ins and outs of working in a veeerrrry small space, in the heat, for the first time, with the spotlight ON.  I would give us a B-...maybe a B.

Gotta start somewhere, right?

First major setback...?  Almost chopping my finger off and spending the morning in the ER.  

Minor surgery on my pinky finger

And by "surgery" I mean stitches.

Still have all 10 digits (and hopefully a jumper.)

I hustled back from the hospital to get going on the rest of opening day duties.  Turns out, fingers get in the way of EVERYTHING and you will bump them on ANYTHING that might hurt.  OUCH.  We had our friends and family over to taste the food and allow Travis and I to get into The Grillery grooooove. 

We even had a few paying customers as well...

Of course I had to ask our first customer for a picture...

(Oh, and HE LOVED THE CAJUN FRIES!!)

There are so many last minute tasks to complete before we are fully operating.  It consumes us.  Once we finish one thing, it seems like there are 15 more on the TO DO LIST.  It's constant.  We are so anxious to get this baby open, and give the people what they want!

Tuesday is the day.  The grand GRAND opening.  Come by and try our tasty burgers, give us all the feedback you want, hang out and be part of the Grillery Family.  

N Fremont and Vancouver...

We can not WAIT to serve you!

Don't forget to LIKE us on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Grillery/190508621016996

Ready....Set....

And we are READY...finally!  After so much preparation and TALKING about this damn thing opening, it looks like it's all happening on THURSDAY.  September 1st sounds like a nice date to bring this thing full circle.

I've used this picture a million times, but this is the first time we had the cart in our possession.  

It's mind blowing!

Trav and I have given up EVERY single Saturday for the last year (and lots of Sundays...and many other weekdays sprinkled throughout as well) to work on this cart.  Having "real" jobs has definitely made this journey interesting.  We have learned the value of hard work and seeing something through to the end...(but really, as a business owner, there is no end!!)

The Masterpiece

Do you like our sign?  Well, just like (almost) everything else, it's homemade.  We went to Home Depot and got the cheapest piece of recycled wood we could find.  Then we used pictures from our phone to draw out a "cookie cutter" shape of Oregon in pencil. (Ummm...this step definitely took the MOST time)

Then we primed and painted it white.

Then we taped off a border.

Painted the border GREEN of course...

Then put the finishing touches on it.

The best part about this whole journey, hands down, is how much fun we've had.  From the actual construction (in rain, wind, snow, sweltering heat, more rain, freezing rain, sleet, you name it...), to picking out our vendors and farmers, painting it in the pearl and filming our journey, to road trips everywhere imaginable, to learning how to "pickle" and trying different recipes, to family pow-wows and brainstorming sessions...ALL OF IT HAS LEAD UP TO THIS DAY!  It has been so worth it.

We are here on official Grillery business y'all!

Flying Colors!

WE PASSED OUR INSPECTION!!

Cheers to us....

Now the real test...How's the food??

Sometimes...

...life throws you a curveball.  And you know what, you gotta just go with it.  When things seem unfair, upside down, inside out and backwards, there is usually a reason.

Sometimes, the reason is simply to test your resilience.

I'm still working on this...

Moving right along...The Grillery is GREAT.  Things are really coming together and we make progress every SINGLE day. We've gotten to the good part where we get to pick out and buy all the fun stuff for our kitchen.  DING DING DING...this is where Heath comes in... our favorite places so far are The Goodwill (omg, you can find GREAT kitchen stuff there...seriously, GO!), Pitman, Hong's Restaurant Supply, and City Liquidators...FUN!  Everything in this store either fell off a truck somewhere, or was imported from a foreign land.  ITS AMAZING.

Hidden Treasure in SE Portland

We also enlisted help from friends (ahem, Suli) to help us transport our cart to a temporary location to test out all of our equipment...

Following the grill down the streets of PDX

Make room for US!

We now have power and water and working appliances....YAYYYEEEE!  It is really coming together.  Can not WAIT to serve up the GOODNESS that is undoubtedly going to come out of this bad boy.  Thanks to all who have shown your support during this crazy time... WE APPRECIATE YOU!

STILL HAVING FUN NO MATTER WHAT!!

Eeeeekkkkkk!

Sooooo....we think we found our spot.  Like, our location.  Like, the place we are going to be SERVING THE FOOD WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR THE LAST YEAR!

PLEASE PREPARE FOR TAKEOFF!

This is just so exciting!  We were put on a wait list for some of the more desirable lots around town.  It's really a "pick your poison" deal because some places are great for lunch, some are better for late night, and some aren't really that great for either.  There are also a ton of factors that go into picking a place.  Obviously LOCATION, but also, the surrounding carts (i.e. competition), foot traffic, nightlife, ATM's available, shade, power sources...and the list goes on!!

Happy Grillmore on 3rd and Washington

Might take a few pointers from them, but don't necessarily want to be next door.

(ya know what I mean?)

And also not trying to "pioneer" our own spot...quite yet.

(11th and Washington)

We really want to be accessible to the cart any time during the day, so downtown makes the most sense.  We set out to find a place that will be great for lunch and late night diners, so the location we found has a healthy mix of both.

Not yet.  Gotta put the deposit down before the big reveal!  Stay tuned and be ready to come to the grand opening VERY soon!

(Look at us now, OH!)

Quick Question..

...is this a politically correct name for a pickle?

Exciting things happening with The Grillery...stay tuned for all the updates!