Seven food carts are parked at Midtown Yacht Club.

The Midtown Yacht Club is a food cart pod and bar pavilion whose only relation to its name is that it is in Midtown (E. Fourth Street near Revere). The decor gives a slight nod to its nautical theme, and the outdoor area is covered in shade sails.

The bar has 20 taps with beer and wine. There are plans to add prosecco for brunch mimosas when customers come to watch the bar’s TVs during the fall football season. Cold cans of beer, hard kombucha, cider and hard seltzers are available to go.

Six food carts surround a wood-chipped outdoor seating area that can become crowded on weekend nights. During the week, it is quiet and airy.

There’s a wide variety of food. Two carts, Alley Dogz and Tots are what might be called gourmet “junk food.” Lively Up Yourself is all vegan. There’s ethnic south-of-the-border Barrio and Thai 2 Go. If you’re looking for comfort food or to carb load before a race Cowboy Pasta has you covered.

Cowboy PastaIf you like having a chunk of garlic bread with your spaghetti, you might enjoy Cowboy Pasta. All of their pasta dishes are served in bread bowls, similar to how clam chowder is served in a hollowed bread round. The Big Ed’s bread bowl is first smeared with garlic butter, then filled with pasta and your choice of carbonara, red sauce or pesto. Rip off a piece of bread or cut into it for a forkful of pasta and bread together.

The cart’s name refers to Vicki Mays and her husband’s love of rodeos. When they started Cowboy Pasta, they sought help for their recipes from another food truck chef and chose the Italian theme. The sauces are ordinary but acceptable. The red sauce is mildly spiced and mixed with pasta, so the flavor blends into the background. The pesto bowl was equally dry. Mays explained that she uses chopped hazelnuts in the pesto. It explained why, although I saw nuts, I didn’t taste any fresh pine nuts that are usually used to complement the basil-based sauce. There were no chunks of tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, or other fresh ingredients in the sauces.

The meatballs were the star of the cart. Made from locally raised ground beef and pork, they were cooked to the right level of juiciness and spiced with pepper flakes, onions and Oregano. The two meatballs are smothered in red sauce and cheese.

Barrio

This Barrio cart is in addition to the other locations. Steven Draheim’s years of experience as a chef is evident in the flavors of each dish. Shrimp ceviche was served on a crispy corn tortilla, creating a raw shrimp tostada. Fresh chopped tomatoes, corn cut from the cob, guacamole and red onions are marinated in lime and the chopped shrimp. It’s served atop a bed of spring lettuce, guacamole, and black beans.

The Barrio Bowl is available with Chipotle Chicken, Beef Birria, Mushroom/Corn or Pork Carnitas. We chose pork. It was a symphony of flavors starting with nutty brown rice, black beans, onion, cilantro, Pico de Gallo and guacamole. Curtido, a Salvadoran sauerkraut-like slaw, added a sourness. Crumbly, Cortija Mexican cheese and smoked poblano crema brought a creamy contrast. The slightest hint of cinnamon and orange peel added another dimension to bring it all together. Each bite was like a Latin dance in my mouth. Note that the wet burrito also has most of these ingredients.

Alley Dogz

One of the goals of owners John Davis and Tyler Dominy was to offer a hot dog that could be a meal unto itself. Clearly, they were successful as the Cowboy Dog satisfied my appetite. The dogs are 8 inches long and a quarter-pound of 100% beef (no fillers). Each dog is loaded with toppings to the point that Davis uses fresh, chewy sandwich buns because a regular hot dog bun won’t hold up to all the ingredients.

That was especially true for the Chili Dog that had a thick, satisfying topping of chili and nacho cheese. A pile of pickled jalapeños took the place of adding relish. Pickling jalapeños removes much of the spiciness while adding a zing to each dog. While I was happy with the flavors, I wonder if it would be even better with melted cheddar and onions instead of the nacho cheese.

Whichever dog you choose, you are free to ask for the toppings you want — onions, relish, sauerkraut and more.

Tots

The Tots truck turns grated fried potatoes into a full meal. These are not the pre-packed taters that came in our school lunches. They are housemade and scooped into ping-pong-sized balls of tot decadence. Each tot has hints of parmesan and pepper and is made to order. The tots can be fried with lime and salt, dill relish, avocado (egg-free), spicy wing flavor, salt and vinegar or truffle. I tried the Truffle Shuffle made with shaved black truffles, and a hint of truffle oil that offered flavor without being overpowering. The leftover tots made great hash browns for breakfast.

The loaded tots are more of a meal. Like a loaded baked potato, they are topped with bacon, cheese, sour cream and chives. It’s always a perfect pairing.

Lively Up Yourself

This cheerful cart that gets its name from a Bob Marley song, is a gold mine for vegans or those who want to take a break from animal protein. Chef/Owner Sarah McKay creates vegan versions of popular meat dishes using Sietan (wheat protein) and jackfruit. Jackfruit can have the consistency of pulled pork or, as I tried, barbecue jackfruit seitan ribz.

The “ribs” were served atop mac and cheez—made with cashew vegan cheese. It tasted enough like short ribs and Mac that I was satisfied without the meat.

The cart doesn’t serve dairy products. It was surprising to learn that the raspberry and cream shake I ordered had no dairy. Coconut ice cream and oat milk made up the “cream.” I would never have known it wasn’t ice cream.

Thai 2 Go

If you are in the mood for Thai food, Central Oregon has several fine restaurants where you can go to satisfy your desire. If you find yourself at the Midtown Yacht Club, you have other good food choices before settling for this Thai cart. I tried several dishes at Thai 2 Go. The Tom Kha soup was made with the usual flavorful coconut milk and lemongrass with button mushrooms floating. It was so watered down it appeared that just a little soup flavor was added to a lot of water.

The Panang Curry had a similar problem. Again, the flavors at the heart of the curry gave a hint of tasty Thai cooking, but it was mixed with so much coconut milk that it became an orange-tinted white cream sauce. The chicken was tender but the potatoes were hard and undercooked. Finally, we had the gyoza (potstickers), which was probably the best flavor and preparation of all the items but were still very ordinary. Usually, my favorite is crab rangoon, cream cheese and crab wrapped in light, airy wontons. The crab rangoon at Thai 2 Go were packed into heavy, dry, thick, fried wonton envelopes that I promptly sent to the trash.

While the Midtown Yacht Club might not make you feel like you’re out boating, it has a good variety of food that should satisfy everyone in your family.