Magic Beans

decent food, staffed by friendly folks who seem to love the food cart community.

Went this past Saturday afternoon at 5PM. It was mildly busy in the Miss. Marketplace. My kids wanted a falafel wrap. We were second in line. After the people in front of us ordered 2 wraps, the guy said, «Sorry that will fill up our fryer for the next 5 – 10 minutes» No Problem, we’ll wait. Then he says, «Oh, we are out of falafels for the next 30 minutes or so.» Now that is a problem, «See ya.» 2 other groups behind us groaned in dissatisfaction and searched elsewhere.
You are a falafel cart. One order wiped you out of falafels? I am all for freshness, but one could take a look at the Marketplace and see they will need more falafels between now and closing time (2 hours or so). Did they think 6 falafels would get them through the rest of the day?
I remember during the Street fair, they were the only cart closed. This was because, you guessed it, they were out of falafels. The busiest they will be this year and not enough product. It seems they are in the business of not making money. Or the business of making money for someone else. My 2 kids ended up having 2 delicious Native bowls instead.
If you try this place and when they are out of falafels or their fryer is full, try Native Bowl’s Hollywood Bowl. It is a Greek inspired bowl with tahini sauce and will cure you of your Greek/​middle eastern flavor itch.

How was your falafel? They asked me.
Falafel-​y? I answered.
I think I’ve had falafel before, but I couldn’t tell you when or where.
It was okay. There’s only so much you can do when there’s no meat (and am I ever craving a freaking hamburger right now!) but this stuff was spicy (with actual spices, not, y’know, capsaicin), lightly crunchy on the outside, the pita and veggies were fresh.
If only they’d been meatballs…
However, the real story of Magic Beans has nothing to do with beans. Unless the french fries are garbanzo. Even if that’s the case what they really are is awesome. They’re shoestring like, which is normally a no-​no for me. If you hit this pod, no matter which cart you hit you should get some fries from Magic Beans.
Falafel, fries and iced tea (with infused simple syrups!) was $ 6. Not bad. Wish there was something dead in there, but it’s the Missihippie pod, what’cha gonna do?

Stopped in during the street fair and the entire marketplace was packed. To the gills. With the fair and World Cup stuff at Prost going on, every hungry person on the block was in line for food at the carts, yet somehow I snuck into line at Magic Beans and got a fab falafel plate pretty quickly. The guys working said the temperature in the cart was 15 degrees above outside… which was sweltering. HOT damn, I thought, and they are still so chipper!
$ 4 later I had the falafel plate in front of my face, a pretty simple, super healthy snack of three small falafel topped with a nice sauce and a salad with crisp, crunchy veggies and tons of pepperoncini (love). I do say ‘snack’ not ‘meal’, because it was not a lot of food, but it was good. You can pay up fifty cents to add more condiments or feta. $ 6 will get you a falafel (in a pita or plate-​style, like I’d gotten), fries and a drink.
Nice cart, nice guys. I offered them my Unilocal fan to try and cool off, they said «Nah, we can handle it.» HOT.

I was there on a Friday at about 12:30, and the guy was surprised that people were in line for food. Which was odd — I know it had been raining, but this is Portland, and there is covered seating.
It took awhile for him to take our order. I got the falafel sandwich & split an order of (rosemary) fries with a friend.
The falafel was fine. Little dry. Not bad — definitely edible. The pita tasted like stale store-​bought pita that had never been heated or softened. My lettuce was filthy. Big chunks of dirt. Big. The iced tea was okay (my friend didn’t like it).
With all those ‘ehns’, you may be asking yourself why I still handed out three whole stars.
The rosemary fries were HEAVENLY. So good. Fried just right — a little crispy without being burned. Freaking delicious.

well i wish i could say that the food is great here but i can’t because every time i go there during operating hours it is closed or they are «out of food» 4 hours before closing time, or they «aren’t taking orders because they have to make dip». It’s a great location and a great idea for a food cart but its too bad they don’t have their shit together and the workers are rude and standoffish to friendly inquiring customers. I guess they don’t need the business. And honestly their $ 6 special isn’t much cheaper than any other Lebanese restaurant’s falafel sandwich deal.
I’ll try it one more time just so i can give an honest review on the food, that is if they actually serve food during operating hours.

I’ll give them more stars when they heat their flat bread (cold doughy pita made the meal less than desirable) and keep the filling on one side of the pita. All in all the flavor was good but could have been better with just a little more effort. Our wait was long, considering the falafels were made ahead and cold, having lost any sense of crunch on the outside. Thinking about our mediocre experience I’d put my money on another food cart in the marketplace and let Magic Beans go.

So I am obsessed with this place. But it has won me over even though their hours are unpredictable.
This weekend I caught them open and opted for the $ 6 meal. If I wasn’t already infatuated with this place, I am now. Tasty falafel, delicious fries, huge cup of iced tea (hibiscus while I was there). All for 6 bucks. Very satisfying.

Beans are the magical fruit, you know (yes, I went there!) The falafels that Magic Beans make are pretty tasty and filling. My sandwich had three big falafel pieces with a bunch of toppings. If you get the works, you’ll get hummus, baba ghanouj, feta, and horseradish sauce (I opted out of that one). I got some of their fries, too, with lemon pepper seasoning– a tasty add-​on to my meal. While it wasn’t the best falafel I’ve had, it hit the spot. For you vegetarians out there, Mississippi Marketplace really is the place to get some good options and Magic Beans is one of them.