In today’s installment of “What Did Spencer Eat For Lunch?” I visited the food cart Chochu Local Island BBQ that is located in the Rose City Food Park. They serve chamorro food, which is indigenous to Guam and the Mariana Islands with a focus on BBQ. They have been around for 4 years or so and took over the cart and space from a former pdx favorite, pdx671, which I loved and was the first time I ever tried chamorro food. I have been a fan ever since, especially the chicken kelaguen and titiyas, as well as the addictive and ubiquitous fina’denni’ sauce. Chochu Local is continuing the tradition of great chamorro food. There is a reason they have a coveted 5 stars on Yelp. Super nice folks. I highly recommend this cart if you are interested in unique flavors and/or BBQ. The portions are huge with reasonable prices and compared with other BBQ joints in town are way cheaper. I love ribs, but sometimes the high price point dissuades me from ordering them. Not here! Go visit, you won’t be disappointed, but you will be very full!

The main part of their menu is based around Island BBQ, with protein options being chicken, ribs, or pork belly. All are delicious. Or you can get the Fiesta plate (pictured above) which includes 2 large ribs, bbq chicken, red rice, salad and fine’denni’ sauce. Ooh that sauce. It’s spelled various ways, but it is a super tangy soy sauce based blend that I believe includes vinegar, lemon, onions, chilis and probably some other magic. It’s great on everything. I like pouring it over the red rice, since red rice to me is always kind of bland. The salad is a nice light foil to the very meat heavy dish. This dish could probably serve two people, though I like to eat it all by myself. The ribs are always on point, and the chicken is great. They’ve got an mesquite charcoal grill that adds nice smoky flavors to all the meat. I also highly recommend the chicken kelaguen, which is a dish like no other and got me hooked on this cuisine years ago. It is a cold, spicy chicken “salad” dish uses similar ingredients to the fine’denni’ sauce in addition to coconut. Spicy, tangy, citrusy, addictive. Traditionally eaten with titiyas, a coconut based flatbread. Happy eating!