HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. (KOIN) — Christina’s Cartel in the Happy Valley Station Food Cart Pod is known for its wings and good humor.
Christina Goodall recently celebrated the cart’s first anniversary. She opened it last year after years of bartending left her feeling ready to venture out on her own.
“I’ve been a foodie all my life,” she said. She thinks of herself as an artist, with food as her medium. Friends encouraged her to do something with her creative ideas for unique dishes, so she opened the cart.
Goodall has a ‘gangsta’ theme for all of her menu items. “Which doesn’t necessarily mean the typical ‘gangster’ that people would think about. But more or less someone you look up to, aspire to be. That inner coolness that everyone has,” she explained. “I have fun with it.”
Her specialty is wings and the sauces served with them. She has 15 sauces on rotation and comes up with new flavors weekly. She also has a strict ‘no ranch or ketchup’ rule.
“I want to push people to try new things,” she said.
She would love to eventually move to brick and mortar but is enjoying owning a food cart for now.