[jyl]

I would have agreed with you Zeke, until the food carts started popping up. There are hundreds of them in Portland now. They have the best street food evah, at least in any US city I've lived in.

Each is one entrepreneur, who has one (or more) specialty dish(es) that he's really good at, and a little capital ($10-20K will start you, if you're handy). All he makes is that one dish (or small group of dishes) and he is an expert at it.

The bad food carts disappear quickly. The good ones multiply and sometimes open restaurants.

I seldom go to restaurants. I cook my own food. I only go to ethnic places, and food carts.