A fun way to get to know an area’s food culture is by checking out local food carts around the community. Eugene is no exception — native and out-of-state entrepreneurs showcase their love of cooking and service in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood.

Check out one of these three food carts on your next sunny evening out for a unique dining experience.

Ton Ton Sushi

Ton Ton Sushi is an innovative take on traditional sushi presentation, most well-known for its sushi donut. When owner Amy Sripan took over the cart, she wanted to introduce a new style of sushi presentation.

Ton Ton, named after the nickname of its sushi chef, offers sushi balls, burritos and donuts (sushi served in a cylindrical shape). For $7, sushi donuts are just as filling as getting a traditional sushi roll.

Ton Ton also offers a poke salad with either rice or greens, topped with a unique homemade sauce. In terms of food carts, Sripan said she thinks her cart is successful because sushi is most commonly served in restaurants.

“For food carts, I think that Japanese food isn’t popular the way Thai food or Mexican food is,” Sripan said.

Grateful Gringos

Since August 2024, Grateful Gringos has created Mexican inspired dishes using gluten free ingredients.

Owned by Marc and Dorene Williams, Grateful Gringos was started when Marc was diagnosed with celiac disease three years ago.

Doreen said the decision to open the truck was easy because they had wanted to serve Mexican dishes for a decade. Many Mexican ingredients are gluten-free, but when running a dedicated gluten-free business, sourcing ingredients without cross-contamination is crucial.

Marc says that many of their customers don’t notice a difference in ingredients, and especially not in quality.

“People get this connotation that gluten-free food is dry and bland,” Marc said. “We just left the flour tortillas out, and there’s no flour added to anything.”

Grateful Gringos serves a variety of dishes, from tacos and nachos to their “bowlitos,” which is their take on a taco bowl. The signature “gringo tacos” are served in corn shell with their unique spicy slaw at $3.50 for chicken and pork, and $4.50 for beef.

The Apple Chipotle Pork is the first dish that Marc came up with, and is what he says drew in most customers at the beginning. Marc and Doreen roast the pork with chipotle peppers and apple juice, adding a sweet tang to savory Mexican classics.

Hot Honey & Co

Hot Honey recently breached virality online as foodie creators posted videos adding the sauce to ground beef, pizza and even fried chicken.

Hot Honey & Co, a food truck located next to Oakshire Brewing, celebrates this newly popular condiment, selling juicy, hot honey chicken sandwiches and local brews.

Hot Honey serves their signature Hot Honey Sandwich with fried chicken thighs, pickled onions and a hot honey drizzle on a brioche bun. The sandwiches come in paperboard boxes, which owner Andre Marquis said helps customers see all the ingredients of their creations.

Hot Honey opened just over a year ago and Marquis said the cart originally served brunch primarily, but made a pivot to fried chicken due to seeing less demand for brunch over the summers.

Marquis and his crew create the hot honey from scratch, and Marquis said that even those who aren’t into spice should give it a try.

“If you tried the hot honey by itself, it’s got a little bit of a kick to it,” Marquis said. “But when it’s on that chicken, it melds nicely and cools it down a little bit.”

While they aren’t solely a brunch cart anymore, Marquis’s favorite is the hot honey benedict — chicken and waffles with hot honey drizzle, poached eggs and hollandaise, served exclusively on weekends.