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Minority & Small Business Week
October 2, 2019
Kee’s #Loaded Kitchen Cooks up Soul
C ontinued from p age 5
Spring
Special
Sweet Street Food Cart
Located at 15th and Alberta
call 503-995-6150 to place order
Mon. - Fri., 11:00am - 7:00pm • Sat. - Sun., 11:00am - 5:00pm
Wednesday Special: 3 Wings $3.00
Friday Special: Rib Sandwich, Beef or Pork, $5.00
5010 NE 9th Ave
Portland, Or 97211
Phone: 503 284-2989
We specialize in a variety of cuts for men and
women, hot towel razor shaves, braiding, hair
extension, Shampoo, blow dryer and Platinum fade.
Call Today or Walk in !!!
for three years and in her present
location for the past two years.
As she spun around the food
cart’s small kitchen, which has
bench seating outside, she quick-
ly chopped up a half dozen onions
before stirring a big pot with what
will become the cheese sauce for
the mac and cheese. She does have
one daily staple, serving fried
chicken every day.
Nelson said she learned a few
things about cooking from her
mother – like how to chop up an
onion really fast -- but most of
what she learned came from the
many cookbooks she perused,
long before the Internet.
“I didn’t just read the recipes, I
read the fine print,” she said, add-
ing that she learns better by read-
ing rather than watching someone
else prepare a dish.
Most of her business comes
from people who find her online,
Nelson said, through her Face-
book page, Kee’s #Loaded Kitch-
en, or on Instagram at KeesLoad-
edKitchen.
Kee’s #Loaded Kitchen was
named Best Food Cart by Willa-
mette Week in 2018, and this year
came out on top in the newspa-
per’s Best of Portland Reader’s
Poll. The food cart has mostly
five stars on Yelp, with comments
similar to this ecstatic review:
“We have been to Kee’s Loaded
photo by b everly C orbell /t he p ortland o bserver
Kiauna Nelson, owner of Kee’s #Loaded Kitchen, stirs a big pot of
cheese sauce for her signature mac and cheese. The food cart is
a Portland destination for good eats, known for its mouthwatering
soul food and servings big enough for leftovers or sharing with
friends.
Kitchen a few times. Every time only eat small portions, Nelson
the food and the service hits it out joked, “Maybe this isn’t the place
the park. The meat is cooked per- for you!” But customers can al-
fect, the sides are delicious and the ways ask for to-go containers, she
dessert is always bomb. Her por- said, and perhaps only half kid-
tions are huge. You could share, ding, added, “Smoke a lot of weed
before you come, and then you’ll
but nah...”
When asked about people who be hungry enough to finish it!”