VanSchnitzels

I love me some schnitzel! It’s a lot of food for the money but very tasty too. I like the bun, nice and soft. I also give them extra credit for being in the pod with the enclosure and heat when it’s cold and wet out. Nothing better than German food on a cold day.
I like having the chicken and pork option. I have had the chicken twice but will try the pork next time.

VanSchnitzels is a cool name. Carts can be a little disappointing sometimes when they are not open when the sign says they are, it happens all the time to me anyway. Checked in to VanSchnitzels and they were open this time so I swiftly ordered some Currywurst and a side of Red Cabbage Sweet and Sour Style. Yeah it was ok. Glad I tried this German curiosity that I’ve heard so much about. The Red Cabbage I was disappointed with, I think they said they put bacon in it. If they did it was really small bits of it I could not really taste it, perhaps my mistake maybe they don’t put bacon in it. Could of been ramped up a bit for my taste. I’ll go back some cold and rainy day and sample some more currywurst. It’s just a thing that you like to do.

Stop 11 of 12 in our cart-​a-​palooza yesterday. We hadn’t had a schnitzel sandwich since actually being in Germany, and that was the best thing we ate in Germany. Even though we were thoroughly stuffed, we still found a way to make room for this.
The service was friendly and the sandwich was pretty good. It could have been more flavorful, but I think it was our fault for leaving some toppings off. Really, the schnitzel itself was cooked wonderfully, and that’s the most important thing. It was better than Gustav’s for sure (not that that’s saying much). I’d like to try it again, this time with all the options. I’d put this cart at #4 of the 12 we tried.

Oh, but that curry catsup on the Schnitzel sandwich was incredibly tasty!
Note: the address listed on Unilocal is out-​of-​date. VanSchnitzels is now located in the A La Cart food pavilion at 50^th and Ivon.
On a Sunday afternoon underneath a leaden sky threatening rain, I ordered a Schnitzel sandwich as a meal with spaetzle and gravy as the side.
You can get the Schnitzel as either chicken or pork. I went with the chicken. The sandwich automatically comes with pickle, lettuce and tomato — unless you call a halt on those condiments. The Schnitzel filet was huge, poking way out on all sides of the sandwich roll. The filet itself was low-​key in flavor (but that’s the nature of Schnitzel). Did I already say how good the curry catsup was? Well, it bears repeating! While not particularly spicy, the spicy mayo they also put on the sandwich was good too.
The spaetzle (an egg noodle shaped like a pebble) was excellent — with the right amount of salt and not too oily. The gravy was decent though I wasn’t completely in love with its canned mushrooms.
But all in all, for $ 9, this is a satisfying meal that will fill you up.

Finally made it over to the A La Cart pod on Division. Of course, it was the holiday season/​year end and most of the carts were closed. Oh well. Decided on VanSchnitzels, ordered the chicken schnitzel sandwich with spicy mayo and curry ketchup. It was pretty good — not too greasy, fresh toppings, an extra little kick from the condiments. But it wasn’t particularly… interesting. It just tasted like a breaded chicken sandwich, not a specialty German sandwich worthy of $ 6.50.

Stopped at VanSchnitzels cart for their Oktoberfest event. I ordered the chicken schnitzel with spaetzle and red cabbage. It also came with a side of gravy. Simply put, the schnitzel was very big, perfectly cooked, and delicious. The spaetzle was spot on, and the red cabbage was great. Add to this the fantastic gravy, and it was easily among the best I’ve had in Portland (proving yet again, outstanding food can come out of a cart!). My German mother-​in-​law would approve. Highly recommended, and will go back for sure. Very reasonable price, too.

After eating out with a friend and my daughter at the new 50^th pod, I decided to carry home some takeout-​love to the husband and settled on on Van Schnitzels.
First off they seemed very disorganized. There were only about six orders (I could tell the pod population was sparse tonight) and they were completely thrown, it seemed. Also, the woman taking orders waited until I had paid to say, «Oh, it will be about ten minutes.» Information that might have been useful before ordering as everyone was waiting on me. But oh well, ten minutes isn’t too bad.
Except… it was closer to twenty. Twenty minutes, six orders. Lord, help them if this pod ever gets busy.
But that gave me plenty of time to observe the kitchen, and I have to say, I was disappointed before I even received the sandwich. The gentleman cooking wasn’t shy about flashing about the giant bags of frozen breaded chicken and pork that were destined for my sandwich. Then after they had been fried, I watched the breaded chicken sit… and sit… and sit in the fryer basket getting cold and soggy as they filled sausage orders.
When they finally made up the sandwich the chicken was almost completely cold, and I felt like I had spent $ 7 on a not very glorified fast food chicken sandwich. Add to that bland french fries and we will not be coming back, there are much better carts in this pod.

Responding to a tip from Food Carts Portland, I braved the deluge on VanSchnitzels’ opening day to taste first-​hand what sounded delish. The VanSchnitzels folks couldn’t have been pleasanter while I awaited the golden crispy treat. I opted for the pork schnitzel sandwich, which took just a few minutes to prepare. Using both hands to carry the huge foil-​covered sandwich back to my dry car, I couldn’t wait to peel back the veil. It looked as great as it sounded: golden, crunchy crust; thinly-​pounded, tender meat; fresh lettuce and tomato. Problem was, it tasted like a fresher version of a rather ordinary fried meat sandwich. A light sprinkling of salt and/​or amending the mayo (with herbs, garlic or other flavors) would’ve boosted the flavors and made for a more interesting sandwich.
In short, VanSchnitzels makes a decent sammy, but not one I’d be willing to go out of my way to eat again. That said, yesterday was opening day, so perhaps they just need a little time to make minor but tasty adjustments.