Bing Mi (sometimes stylized as Bing Mi!) is a

Chinese restaurant A Chinese restaurant is a restaurant that serves Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora, though other Chinese regional cuisine, regional cuisin ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. The original

food cart A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind. Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit ...

specialized in the Chinese street food

jianbing ''Jianbing'' () is a traditional Chinese street food similar to crêpes. It is a type of ''bing (bread), bing'' generally eaten for breakfast and hailed as "one of China's most popular street breakfasts." The main ingredients of ''jianbing'' a ...

. The

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...

Bing Mi Dumpling and Noodle Bar opened in 2022 and focuses on Northern

Chinese noodles Chinese noodles vary widely according to the region of production, ingredients, shape or width, and manner of preparation. Noodles were invented in China, and are an essential ingredient and Staple food, staple in Chinese cuisine. They are an im ...

and

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

Description and history

Owners Tim Harris and Alisa and Neal Grandy began operating Bing Mi at the Alder Street food cart pod in 2014. Jacky (or Jackie) Ren has also been credited as a co-owner. The

serves many variations of

, and was Portland's only restaurant offering the Chinese

street food Street food is food sold by a Hawker (trade), hawker or vendor on a street or at another public place, such as a market, fair, or park. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption ...

at the time. Optional ingredients include bacon, roast duck, and

spam Spam most often refers to: * Spam (food), a consumer brand product of canned processed pork of the Hormel Foods Corporation * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ...

. In 2017, owners confirmed plans to open a second food cart in

southeast Portland Southeast Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon. Boundaries and features Southeast Portland stretches from the warehouses along the Willamette River through historic Ladd's Addition to the Hawthorne and Belmont districts out to ...

Andrew Zimmern Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman, food critic, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channe ...

visited Bing Mi for an episode of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

's '' The Zimmern List''. In 2020, the business donated proceeds to people affected by local wildfires and partnered with Adopt a Restaurant to help feed people in need during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Ren bought out the other owners in 2020 and re-opened the food cart at the Nob Hill Food Carts in

northwest Portland Northwest Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon, United States. Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A range of ...

's Northwest District, following the closure of the Alder Street pod. In 2021, Ren confirmed plans to open Bing Mi Dumpling and Noodle Bar in the Northwest District in 2022. The

restaurant opened in January, focusing on Northern

and

s. Food cart staff have work at the noodle restaurant during heat waves. The food cart closed on December 30, 2023, to prepare for a reopening in

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildi ...

in March 2024, according to ''

Eater Portland ''Eater'' is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2 ...

''. Bing Mi opened in the

Midtown Beer Garden The Midtown Beer Garden (formerly known as the Southwest 5th Avenue food cart pod) is a food cart pod in Portland, Oregon, United States. The pod is the city's oldest, operating since the early 1980s. Following an update and renovation in 2023, t ...

in 2024. Bing Mi has collaborated with Bark City BBQ.

Reception

Danielle Centoni of ''

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club me ...

'' said Bing Mi "has spawned its own cult following". Matthew Korfhage of ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history '' ...

'' said, "The jian bing is flat-out fantastic, whether with or without the sweet Chinese sausage you can tack on for a buck. Indeed, the meat texture is a bit of a fifth wheel amid the already bustling party of flavors."

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's Drew Tyson ranked Bing Mi at the top of his list of Portland's best new food carts. He recommend the optional sausage and wrote, "The experience is funky and flavorful and unlike anything else you'll find on the streets of Portland." In 2018, the website's Pete Cottell included Bing Mi in his list of "Portland's Most Delicious Food Carts and Where to Find Them". In 2017, Samantha Bakall included Bing Mi in ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'''s lists of

's 13 best "cheap eats" and 10 best food carts. The ''

Portland Mercury ''Portland Mercury'' is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington, called '' The Stranger''. History A prior version of ''The Mercury'' was ...

'' included the business in a 2019 list of Portland's 50 best multicultural restaurants and food carts. Matthew Trueherz included the classic jianbing in

Portland Monthly ''Portland Monthly'' (also referred to as ''Portland Monthly Magazine'') is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers food, politics, business, design, events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 b ...

's 2022 list of "12 Favorite Budget-Friendly Dishes Under $12". In 2018, ''Eater Portlands

Brooke Jackson-Glidden Brooke Jackson-Glidden is a food writer and the editor of '' Eater Portland''. In 2023, she received the Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award from the James Beard Foundation in part for her essay about Either/Or. Jackson-Glidden has been the editor o ...

said Bing Mi "accrued rave reviews and serious lines for its pretty traditional version with egg and chili paste". She and Nick Woo included the business in the website's 2021 "Guide to Portland's Most Outstanding Food Carts", and she and Seiji Nanbu included Bing Mi in a list of "Where to Find Outstanding Chinese Food in Portland and Beyond". Alex Frane and Maya MacEvoy included Bing Mi in ''Eater Portland'''s 2021 list of 16 "quintessential" restaurants and bars in Portland's Slabtown district. Katrina Yentch included the restaurant in the website's 2022 list of "18 Knockout Spots for Affordable Dining in Portland". In 2024, Bing Mi ranked number 77 in

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in S ...

's list of the 100 best Chinese restaurants in the United States.

References

External links

* * {{Restaurants in Portland, Oregon 2014 establishments in Oregon Chinese restaurants in Portland, Oregon Food carts in Portland, Oregon Restaurants in Northwest District, Portland, Oregon Restaurants established in 2014

Description and history

Reception

See also

References

External links