Kesone Asian Fusion — Restaurant in Portland

Absolutely delicious food! I ordered a dish(Nam Kao Vientianne w/Chicken) I'd never heard of & definitely couldn't pronounce properly because it said it was one of her specialties & who am I to argue with the chef? Also snagged some of the fried chicken wings because in my limited experience, pretty much everyone who's schooled in Asian cooking does better chicken wings than the standard American buffalo sauce / hot wings. Those have their place, but they lack almost any nuance when it comes to flavor & depth - great as a beer pairing, mediocre on their own. These wings? These wings did NOT have that problem. They were sweet in a caramelized way, spicy, so tender they fell off the bones & enough depth that you came away with the distinct impression they had more spices involved during preparation than you'd be able to count on both hands.

The Nam Kao Vientianne with chicken? Messy as hell, so many flavors I'd be hard pressed to give you more than "definitely had something citrusy, something crispy, cilantro, a very faint onion & spices I can't identify." And flavor. So much delicious flavor... The crispness of the lettuce was perfect & the greens / cilantro helped cut through any greasiness you might get from your meat of choice. And the crispy rice was really, truly crispy. I'd never had rice like that, even in paella where you expect it.

If you're used to typical Americanized Thai or Vietnamese fare, this place really stands out by comparison. Looked it up after I ate & it says she's been there 6+ years running; for good reason I'd say. She's doing something very, very right. Food carts rotate through Cartlandia with some frequency, but the good ones hold up over time. This is definitely...

I stood in line for another cart while my sister was waiting at this one. I ordered 4 things from the other cart and I received my food before my sister could even place an order from this cart. She was in front of the cart. Not once did the lady working turn around and say at least “hey this may take a while” or something. If she had said this we would have left and gotten food somewhere else no problem. She had seen us but kept ignoring us. I understand that it’s only one person working and that it’s busy, trust me I understand well, but the customer service was terrible. Wait time for me and my sister combined was at least 15-20 minutes. I just left because there was no reason to order anymore. I understand it’s busy but at least acknowledge the people standing in...

I have chatted with Kesone on slow days, she grows her own herbs and takes a lot of pride in creating each dish from scratch without doing shortcuts like keeping a pot of curry cooking all day. I usually order my food to pick up, because her queue can get a little long during rushes.

Cartlandia is getting nicer. They keep redoing the seating situation, but there's usually a warm place to sit. I do miss when she had a restaurant though.

I've been going to her for so many years and met quite a few people who also were big fans and had their favorite dish...