Tacos Fita, the mesquite-grilling taco cart recently named one of Portland's best new food carts, has expanded its footprint at The Heist pod on SE Woodstock Boulevard with a brand-new sister cart called Fitas Cocina. The addition gives owner Rafael Dueñas a second kitchen dedicated to dishes his original cart never had the space to cook, including crispy fish tacos, citrus-marinated ceviche, zarandeado-style shrimp, enchiladas verdes, and sizzling fajitas.
According to OregonLive, Dueñas said the original Tacos Fita menu had become packed, with guests frequently asking for dishes the cart's kitchen simply didn't have room to execute properly. That original cart built its reputation on mesquite charcoal grilling, turning out items like the 10-ounce arrachera steak, picaña and mesquite-grilled ribeye tacos, along with grilled cactus. Per Toast, that grilling setup required dedicated grill space, which meant there was no room left to prepare seafood or sizzling platters in the same cart — the exact gap Fitas Cocina now fills.
A Second Kitchen at a Themed Pod
Fitas Cocina now joins The Heist's existing roster of carts, which includes Bark City BBQ, Kim Jong Grillin, Amani Jollof Bowl, and Frybaby — the cart named 2023 Cart of the Year, per the same OregonLive report. The Heist pod, located at 4727 SE Woodstock Blvd., is one of two sister pods tied to the project; the other, Modhaus, sits at 3829 SE Division St. and spans 14,000 square feet, purchased by developers Michael Shall and Brandon Johnson for $1.825 million in 2024 to convert a shuttered restaurant into a 15-to-16-cart pod, according to Willamette Week.
The Heist itself opened in June 2023 on the site of a former U.S. Bank branch that had closed in late 2020, according to Wikipedia. The old bank building was converted into a full-service indoor bar and seating area serving the surrounding carts. Its financial theme — safe deposit box walls, penny-tiled floors, and an open bank vault — was inspired by a September 2010 armed robbery at that same branch, in which three suspects made off with $11,490, as Willamette Week reported separately.
Building a Brand Across Portland
Tacos Fita's growth extends well beyond SE Woodstock. The brand also operates a cart at Pioneer Courthouse Square, the downtown civic plaza known locally as “Portland's Living Room,” where it serves as one of five permanent vendors, according to Travel Portland. In February, Dueñas expanded into a brick-and-mortar space at 4725 SW Lombard Ave. in Beaverton, sharing the building with Kasa Coffee, a day cafe run by his son Sam Torres and daughter-in-law Ximena Alcocer — a morning coffee shop that turns into Tacos Fita's dining room for afternoon and evening service.
That kind of multi-location, multi-cart approach reflects a broader pattern among Portland's most successful street-food operators, who lean on adjacent carts or pod-and-storefront combinations to get around the physical limits of a single mobile kitchen. Portland's food cart scene remains vast, with roughly 500 active carts operating across an estimated 25 to 30 pods citywide as of 2025 and 2026, per Wikipedia — a scale that makes cart pods a low-cost entry point for local food entrepreneurs compared to traditional restaurants.
Regulations Behind the Scenes
Running a full-service taco cart that cooks raw meats comes with strict oversight. Under Oregon Health Authority rules enforced in Multnomah County, carts like Tacos Fita and Fitas Cocina are classified as Class IV Mobile Food Units, the state's strictest tier for plumbing, wastewater, and commissary requirements, according to the Portland Food Truck Permits Guide. Host properties like The Heist and Modhaus also carry their own obligations: Multnomah County requires any property hosting two or more carts continuously to hold a Food Cart Pod License and pass routine sanitation and infrastructure inspections, ensuring adequate drinking water, power, and waste disposal for tenants, per the Multnomah County Health Department.
The expansion also comes on the heels of a rough summer for pod security. The Heist was among several Portland-area food cart pods hit by overnight break-ins in June, part of a broader burglary spree that swept the metro area, as Hoodline's earlier coverage detailed. Despite that setback, Tacos Fita's footprint keeps growing, with Fitas Cocina now serving as the latest proof that Dueñas's family-run brand is betting big on Portland's cart culture rather than pulling back from it.
