Thursday, april 29, 2021 • ThE BullETiN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 13
FOOD
TRUCKS
& CARTS
p.14
bendbulletin.com/goeat
Continued from previous page
While they had been selling small amounts
of hamburger to various restaurants, they felt it
would be a better business decision to open their
own food cart. The Wagyu Wagon is now the
only place to get a 2Sisters Ranch Wagyu burger.
As the number of animals on the ranch is limited,
they knew they couldn’t serve 200 burgers a day.
They couldn’t be part of a busy food cart pod.
They brought in fine-dining chef Ingrid Rohrer
(who has been the chef for 10 Below and the Bro-
ken Top Bottle Shop), to create a gourmet burger
menu.
There are only three burgers on the menu —
the Umami Burger, Green Chili Ranch Burger,
and the Wagyu Grass Roots Burger. All ingredi-
ents on the burger are made from scratch and are
served on Sparrow bakery buns. Burgers come
with French fries or potato salad for $20. The
price is reasonable when you consider that some
burgers run upwards of $13, and fries can cost an
extra $5.
I tried the exotic Umami burger. Black gar-
lic-foie gras aioli added umami (meaty) flavor
and creaminess. Bacon jam and fried shallots
bring a sweet earthiness. It’s balanced by fresh,
cool butter lettuce and house-pickled cucumbers
made with fresh dill. For those foie gras fans, an
extra slab of foie gras is available for $7. While
most burgers can be messy and drip from an
overabundance of sauces on the sandwich, this
burger dripped from the juiciness of the meat.
Still, the Sparrow bun held together through the
last bite.
We also had the Wagyu Grass Roots Burger.
It is a more traditional preparation with sweet
caramelized onions, tomatoes, butter lettuce,
and pickled cucumbers. Garlic aioli and Havarti
cheese add a creative touch.
Burgers come with French fries. Fried in rich
tallow (rendered from their cattle’s fat), you can
choose plain or fries sprinkled with shiitake
mushroom or green chili. The fries come with a
burger sauce for dipping.
On a subsequent visit, I tried the chili cheese
fries. A generous serving of potatoes is smothered
in a well-balanced house-made chili with chunks
of meat, beans, and tomatoes. The pile was
topped with cheddar, raw red onion, and a dollop
of sour cream. These could be the highest quality
chili fries I’ve ever tried.
NORTHFRESH SUSHI
When visiting a food truck, it’s unlikely that
you think of getting sushi. One might be con-
cerned about the freshness of the fish. But your
fears can be assuaged by the food cart’s name
“NorthFresh.” Regular deliveries of high-quality
fish and many customers assure that it will not
only be fresh, but it will also be tasty.
Owner Jeffrey Berneski seems to be aiming for
NorthFresh Sushi Food truck at the Bite in Tumalo.
More Information
NorthFresh Sushi at The Bite in Tumalo
19860 Seventh St., Tumalo
503-457-5918
Wagyu Wagon
135 NE Norton Ave., Bend
perfection in his NorthFresh Sushi cart at The
Bite lot in Tumalo.
Following the success of his first food truck in
Salem, Berneski opened the truck in Tumalo ear-
lier this year and is poised to do even better with
this second location.
Although he’s not serving sushi in a restaurant
on a plate, he is exacting about how the sushi is
placed into a box. The plating should artistically
enhance the high quality of the fish. Berneski
discussed that restaurants spend their money for
servers and rent to create ambiance. With a food
cart, he can focus his budget on buying the best
fish. The price of the rolls, poke bowls, and so
forth directly reflect the quality of the fish he uses.
High-quality tuna and other fish is flown in from
Hawaii and California. Ōra King Salmon is flown
in from an Island off New Zealand. It is so fatty
and tender that this Chinook salmon is called the
“Wagyu of the sea”.
The salmon’s flavor was remarkable. It was
fresh, bursting with a rich salmon flavor and a
sweet finish. I had the salmon on the Legend
roll. Like a Rainbow Roll, the Legend roll is also
topped with hamachi, tuna, shrimp, and avocado.
Equally noteworthy, the roll had crab inside.
Chunky pieces of wild-caught Canadian deep-sea
crab were sweet, full-flavored meat without a hint
of fishy ocean flavor. This roll was indeed near
perfection.
Good fish can be ruined by stale, poorly
cooked rice. The well-made rice at NorthFresh
enhances the fish. Tender, chewy, and fresh, the
rice is often served lukewarm to make spicy nigiri
taste even better.
I also had a poke bowl. This is not the kind of
poke I’ve had in Hawaii where the tuna is mari-
nated. Instead, chunks of tuna, cucumbers, and
red and green onion are served on rice and driz-
zled with a house-made poke sauce and a spicy
Sriracha mayo. Despite the Sriracha and big
chunks of jalapeños, the bowl has only a mild
kick. Individual flavors were distinct and fresh
but blended nicely in each bite.
Next week, I will cover Steve Draheim’s Shim-
shon Israeli Street Food and the Feast Food Com-
pany by Chris Leyden. Both are fine-dining ac-
complished chefs who bring their creativity to
food carts.
e e
Reporter: barb@barbgonzalezphotography.com