Stevie’s Chicken n’ Waffles

So, I got a recommendation to check this place out, so I decided to sample it just before my first dental appointment in 3 years. What the heck, I thought, might as well give karma the finger, and if I have cavities, at least my new dentist will have to find them through a haze of fried chicken skin and maple syrup. They’re about to get cleaned anyway, right? At least I wasn’t showing up with ranch dressing mouth.
So I stopped by and met Chris, the guy who is not Stevie, but who bought the cart from Stevie. Whilst preparing my breast, grits, and waffle to go, Chris gave me a quick run-​down on the development of the chicken and waffle phenomenon, and how it connects to the LA jazz scene from the 1940’s. If you want the story, go talk to Chris while waiting for deliciousness to rain upon you.
Because rain it will!
I got my plate of food to go since I had an appointment to keep, but I would not recommend eating Stevie’s this way. This is definitely an eat-​at kind of meal. I was dying to eat so badly that I made myself a slight road hazard by reaching to pick at the waffle through the bag while I drove to my dentist’s office.
Once I found a parking spot, I couldn’t hold myself back.
The chicken was hot, the breading crunchy, and the meat moist. The waffle, which I’d picked at, had enough pull to take the butter and syrup and not break apart, and the grits were a nice extra carb and fat top off.
Unfortunately, I had to make that appointment, so I had to make the food wait, but once I got home I went to town on that plate.
I plan to go again on a sunny day when I can sit at one of the picnic tables with a friend and enjoy the goodness in the moment. It will really take care of you for the day, too, if you get the breast. That’s a serious helping of protien!

I only listen to undiscovered indie music that nobody has ever heard of and when I visited Stevie’s food cart they were playing rap music from their «boombox» that I recognized, so that was a bummer. But the food was good and not a «sellout» like the Fresh Prince.

So, first of all, I’m pretty sure these guys moved over to the Belmont area, but that really doesn’t matter because DON’T GO HERE.
I get that it’s one of the only few places in Portland to get chicken and waffles (especially after hours), but you’re much better off going to Safeway to buy their family pack of fried chicken and a box of Eggo waffles. For serious.
I was so excited about this place! I mean, how can you not be excited about fried chicken? But I guess the more important question is – how do you screw up fried chicken so badly? It was the worst I’ve ever eaten. It was just so, SO dry. Even the syrup that I lathered on to it could not disguise its dryness. Hell, even the alcohol beforehand I drank did not seem to make anything better (and isn’t drunk fried chicken the best thing ever?). The waffle was okay — but soggy and just disappointing.
Our food cart man who served us also seemed pretty unhappy to be working. As he was prepping up our food, he kept talking about how he hated his boss, his job, this place, etc. Maybe that’s why the chicken was so bad?

All I have to say is, LOL what the fuq! Went here with a brunch of friends because I was pumped about chicken and waffles. What a mistake. Firstly, the food. The waffles were pretty good, fluffy and sweet, but very thin. The chicken was black, humongous (like, seriously, radioactively big), and unbelievably bland. Instead of butter, we were served a crapload of margarine. We ordered habanero peppers but got jalapeño poppers instead. You know, whatever, we didn’t complain and just order another order of habanero poppers. Both of which were disgusting. Spicy, yes, which was good, but the overfilled cream cheese and burnt flour coating was just nasty. I got my order fairly quickly (20 minutes) for it being fried chicken (I’m being generous here) while my friends were another story. And here is where the insanity of service comes in.
OK, so bro had a bad day/​week/​life so we listened compassionately while he was talking about the fuqed up misadventures around the cart and how he was going to quit after tonight — which was sad because he seemed cool and kind of funny. But this was only moments before he acted cracked the eff out. Needless to say, he forgot many a orders, confused them and then passively aggressively blame us for not getting what we ordered. Walking on eggshells the whole time because knowing that he was going through tough times, it was just awkwaarrrd.
All things considered, I should have just gotten some grub from Pine State biscuits and defrosted an eggo waffle or something. Jesus.

Man, oh, man! do I love chicken and waffles.
There are few things that go as well together as fried chicken and waffles. Add a side of something simple and southern you’ve got one hell of a recipe for delicious.
You just gotta fry that chicken up good and crispy. Deep fried, double fried rolled up in savory seasoned batter with a little kick to it, just do what you gotta do. Get those traditional southern sides piled up right with maybe some buttered grits — maybe red beans and rice or even greens if they’re cooked right. Serve it up hot, and I am a happy man.
I’ve had my eye on this cart for a bit but don’t make it to that hood often enough. I had this image in my head of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles served from a ghetto fabulous cart. I rolled in late and the service was friendly and welcoming as I ordered and waited for the b-​boy special…
Meh. I’ve had better.

So lets do a standard Unilocal cliché, ready? Chicken + waffles + foodcart + plus late hours, i.e. until midnight or 3am (but closed on Sundays… It’s okay though cuz we’re all lazy and watching tv in our underwear on Sundays not ever leaving the house anyway right? Am I right???) + Portland = mama likes. Like a lot. Oh yes, there are vegan options too that’s the Portland I know! I’m more partial to the waffles than the fried chicken but the combo is great especially for late night eats. Don’t even get me started on the carne asada fries at muchas gracias. I’m sorry haters but I’m now in the land of no carne asada fries, also known as Chicago. So back to this cart and its chicken and waffles. Yeah it hits the spot. They also have fried pickles and fried twinkies on the menu. Pickles yay! Twinkies… Fried? (nay) I’m scared. Do you really want to go to taco bell now?

Where do I start? It took about an hour to get our waffles, granted they were only working off of one waffle iron tonight, but there were only two other people there. We finally got the chicken and waffles only to find that the chicken was very pink inside. We told the guy about it and he just threw it back into the fryer (after we had taken a bite). When we finally got the chicken back we could not choke down more than one bite. I still cannot get the rancid taste out of my mouth and it has been over an hour. I feel bad that maybe they were having an off night, but if I think about going back to give it another try I may throw up a little.

To be honest, I don’t remember much of Stevie’s. I mean I do, I remember I went. I remember that I was at the Aalto and had just done a shot (my stomach just turned when I typed shot, gross). I know I had to wait because the dude was frying some chicken, so my wings took a hot minute.
…nevermind, I remember more than I thought.
Because what I really remember, is that those wings and waffles were freaking delicious. And the guy working was pretty awesome, in the sense I’m sure he deals with more drunk than sober people (myself included), and didn’t pull attitude.
The cart was pretty cool, Colt 45s (as mentioned) everywhere, and some lights. I was digging the old little TV and boom box (like it’s 1980).
You’ll see me again Stevie’s, perhaps under circumstances where I can remember more of you than the smell on my breath the next morning.

let’s start off by saying i went into this expecting extreme delciousity and walked away 90 minutes later with tears in my belly and a stomach ache. right off the bat, he was out of bacon, so no gristle missile. that’s okay. i went for the billy dee and a coke, my friends ordered two b-​boys. the guy seemed extremely stressed out and it took him roughly 2 minutes to ‘add up’ my order in his head which was $ 7.75+$ 1.00. i let that slide because his mind was elsewhere, probably in the fryer thinking about the chicken we could smell burning. so 50 minutes go by and i finally get my food. i’m starving so i put it down in 2 minutes. pretty good waffle, but i wasn’t really impressed with the chicken. my friends still don’t have their food and people that ordered after us are getting their food. we sit and wait patiently. twenty minutes later he calls their names. they grab their food and sit down, and one of them is not a b-​boy. the frantic man in the cart yells «sorry, ran out of breasts» and goes back to frying. turns out the breast was the wrong choice anyway because it was completely uncooked in the middle and bloody. we had been there too long to say anything about it. i think it’s safe to say that i never want to eat here again. can i suggest hiring another person to help take orders?

This is the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Stevie’s got something special in that batter. And the waffles are out of control. Just go.
Plus he has a few picnic benches so there is plenty of room to sit and get down on your tasty food.

Chicken, waffles and a side of awesome. That’s the recipe at Stevie’s, and it works out just fine.
The fare itself is good but not amazing. The waffles, made with Colt 45 in the batter, are tasty and made up fresh. The chicken is your basic fried chicken, and mine was a tad overcooked. Add on some syrup and hot sauce, and you have a classic drunk meal or early dinner on your paper plate.
What garnishes the extra stars here are the, as Adam R so aptly puts it, Style Points. The graf-​covered cart is topped with a slick low-​rider bicycle and one of those huge marquees crowned by a flashing lit-​up arrow. The boom-​boxes out front rock the random beat-​selection of the day. The gratuitous use of the stenciled image of Billy Dee Williams over a waffle with two 40’s of Colt 45 as the logo is genius. The dookie gold chains are simply a major plus.
Overall, the food is good but the extra stars roll with the heavy dose of kla$s that Stevie serves up with his fare.
I’m tempted to buy the T-​shirt.
PS: They have vegan options!

As a vegan, I’m a little conflicted about patronizing an establishment that prominently features chicken as a main feature of their menu. However, as a vegan who loves anything made with batter that can be eaten with syrup, I had to try one of their vegan waffles. I think they were having problems with the vegan batter, because I was the only customer and my waffle took a long time to cook. But the owner was extremely apologetic and gave me my drink for free. And he was very interested in how I, as a vegan, liked my waffle. That being said, I don’t think I’ve had the privilege of having eaten any other vegan waffles, other than the frozen variety. Steve’s vegan waffle was definitely a step or two above frozen… I think I was expecting a fluffier, thicker waffle though, so I was a little disappointed… but at only $ 3.50, I would definitely go back again for a tasty snack.

The chicken didn’t have much flavor, the waffles were soggy, and it took over 30 minutes to get our food.

Absolutely horrible! Do not go here! We went late night and the food was inedible! The pickle chips were way too salty. The chicken was fatty, blandly deep, deep, deep fried, and the grits were tasteless. The Eggo-​like waffle was the only redeeming factor, and that was only because it was dredged in butter and syrup. We could have easily made these items way better at home and quicker… it was a 20 minute wait with one guy in front of us, who got his food at the same time. Very disappointing for a food cart in this area of Belmont. Move it out and get something edible and wonderful in.

This place gets an extra thumbs up for atmosphere. The combination of it’s location and the novelty of the whole experience make it a primo place for hanging out. As for the food, I’m no friend chicken expert, but I do know i really enjoy it every time I have it. The fried pickles are hands down the most delicious thing on the menu. And the waffles have the perfect balance of colt 45, Enough to taste it, but not to the point as to where it’s overwhelming. I would say it’s def worth a visit.

Great late night food on Belmont, I have a really severe dairy allergy, and they have several vegan options, that actually taste good, way better than the french fries or tots that my allergy usually limits me to late night. Will def. go back.

Solid dudes. Not the kind of food you should be eating on regular basis if you want to keep your hipster figure, but bulimia is always an option because the food rules!

Rockin Beats, ROcKin EATS!
This place IS the epitome of Portland! If you’re looking for the pdx foodcart experience… you know that one place you want to take your parents when you want them to get a feel for what Portland is all about (because you can’t afford the Portland City Grill and you don’t want to wait in line at VooDoo) this is it.
They Run 2 for 1 specials all the time. So keep your eye out!