Chef Mike Aldridge founded the business as a pop-up restaurant in New Orleans in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, then relocated and relaunched as a food cart in Portland in early 2021.

[8] Chef and owner Mike Aldridge founded MidCity as a pop-up restaurant, selling burgers from his porch in New Orleans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[13] Restaurateur Eric Nelson (of local establishments Eem and Langbaan) collaborated with Aldridge to create a new menu featuring burgers, hot dogs, and margaritas.

[14][15] The St. Johns location did not materialize;[16] instead, Aldridge opened a new food cart at a pod on North Williams Avenue near the Moda Center.

[12] Karen Brooks and Katherine Chew Hamilton included MidCity in Portland Monthly's 2021 list of the city's best new food carts.

[29] In 2023, Eater Portland's Katrina Yentch lauded MidCity's affordability,[4] and Jashayla Pettigrew included the restaurant in KOIN's list of the seven best smash burgers in the metropolitan area, based on Yelp reviews.