Earlier in September, a food cart in North Portland burst into flames, but the owner was determined to quickly get back to doing what he loves.
Pepe Chile’s Taqueria is now back in service after weeks of building back, and nearly $100,000 in fire damage. Julio Mendoza, who owns the food cart says it began when he took his dog Pepito for a walk, “and then boom everything happened.” A massive blast caused extensive fire damage to the Pepe Chile’s Taqueria food cart, taking away Mendoza’s livelihood.
“I haven’t slept for almost two weeks,” Mendoza said. Friends helped him move away the rubble, “eight days in the road, getting tons and tons of materials that were burned.”
He moved a food cart he already had back to the location of the initial one.
“This has been really a challenge,” Mendoza said.