There must be something in the water. In December, Italian food cart Gabagool made the jump from a royal blue cart to a brick-and-mortar space in a repurposed auto body shop in St. Johns. It's one of a handful of businesses to leave its wheels behind and open full restaurants, joining former Mississippi Avenue neighbor Tiffin Asha and 28th Avenue torta shop Guero.

Gabagool's new home serves a beefed-up menu of all the popular dishes from the cart, filled out with new salads and antipasti. Owners Ryan Sherman and Peter Fischer, who grew up on the East Coast and lived in North Portland, are hoping to bring accessible, easy-to-love Italian-American food to a neighborhood in need of more dining options.