summer sandwiches: hello again to meat cheese bread, goodybe again to portland

1406 Southeast Stark Street, Portland, OR 97214

http://www.meatcheesebread.com/

Two trips to Portland in as many months and I still feel like there's a ton of places there left to explore.  Els and I wrapped up our trip with a quick stop at Meat, Cheese & Bread for some sandwiches for the drive home.  I was going to pick a cold sandwich because I figured that would keep better during the drive, but the guy behind the counter recommended the pulled pork, which is also what my pal Rob rated highly.  How could I say no?  "Pulled Pork: Roasted pork shoulder, grilled broccolini, salsa verde and aioli on a rustic baguette".  The broccolini was a great touch, adding some texture and a somewhat sour contrast to the mushy savoryness of the pulled pork.  The thing is, though, that this sandwich was so wet and greasy that it was pretty soaked through by the time I got around to eating it.  Not that it was a big problem, just that the physical integrity of the sandwich would likely be preserved by eating it soon after it was prepared.  Still tasty later on, just sloppy.  All in all, I got to try some great sandwiches during this visit- maybe not as many as my first trip- but a good number nonetheless.  I didn't go to any food carts, and wish that I had.  But then, I did try a number of non-sandwich options, including some reaaaaally good pizza from Sizzle Pie ("Steve Caballero: vegan pepperoni, seitan italian sausage, green peppers, white onion and shredded daiya mozzarella 'cheese'")  and Hammy's ("Cheeseburger Pizza: ground beef, bacon, tomatoes and onions, topped with yellow mustard"), not to mention the required stop at Voodoo Donuts:

Portland, I'll be back again soon!  Don't eat all the sandwiches before I get back.

summer sandwiches: fish sandwich and a scotch egg at horse brass in portland

 

 

4534 Southeast Belmont Street, Portland, OR

http://www.horsebrass.com/

It didn't even dawn on me until just now that this was the second "Brass" place Els and I went to in Portland.  We dropped into this British-styled pub for a late lunch with our hosts Nic and Andrew on Monday afternoon.  Looking now at their website, it seems like Horse Brass Pub takes their authentic presentation pretty seriously, but frankly I really wouldn't even know the difference between real and fake pubs.  This one certainly seemed pretty legit while we were there, and I was impressed with their (weekly?) rotating beer list.  The food wasn't bad either, although I definitely wasn't as blown away as I was at other Portland locales.  Maybe it's because Horse Brass focuses on authenticity and tradition, and so therefore their sandwiches are MEANT to be kinda plain and unadventurous.  At any rate, I didn't really have any problems with my fish sandwich, but I did try adding every sauce on the table to it in order to wrangle a little extra flavor out of my lunch.  And, I will add, that Horse Brass afforded me an opportunity to finally try a scotch egg, which I'd been wanting to try for years- actually the fact that Horse Brass has scotch eggs is the reason we went in the first place!  It was pretty interesting, but somehow drier and colder than I'd imagined scotch eggs would be.

summer sandwiches: breakfast at city state in portland

 

 

 

126 Northeast 28th Avenue, Portland, OR

http://citystatediner.com/

I am an idiot.  At this particular moment I'm ruminating on that fact because I believed all day that I was scheduled to work tonight, got all showered and dressed and caffeinated and ready to head out the door only to realize, with the slow burning onset of embarrassment, that I was wrong about today's date and in fact am not scheduled to work.  And I even turned down a coworker's request to cover his shift (which would have paid even better than my regular shift) cuz I thought I was working.  I am a man with some regrets.  Which makes it appropriate that this is the sandwich review I am writing now, because I have some regrets about this sandwich.  See that sandwich up top?  That's the "Cuban", a "flat grilled french baguette with ham, capicola, house pickles, swiss, strawberry jam, and garlic dijon mayo".  Sounds insane and delicious right???  That's not what I ordered.  I ordered the breakfast sausage sandwich, which was "house sausage, egg, muenster".  Don't get me wrong, it was for sure a tasty sandwich.  The house sausage was peppery and not too greasy and the muenster was a great and unexpected choice for a breakfast sandwich.  But for some reason I thought, since it was only breakfast time and I'd surely be eating more epic sandwiches later in the day (in my duties as a Sandwich Journalist of course), that I should take it easy on breakfast.  Get something not too crazy.  Something a little smaller (and this sandwich, served all on its lonesome, was indeed pretty small).  I let the waitress talk me out of getting eggs benedict with "pork belly, apricot jam and arugula".  WTF is wrong with me???  When my reckless devourment of sandwiches finally catches up with me and does me in, it's not the horribly unhealthy feasts that lead to my demise that I'll regret.  I will regret the times I went to an awesome restaurant in a city far away from where I live and ordered something more modest instead of going for the good stuff.  You'd think a dude would Carpe Diem in a place called City State.  Ah, but who ordered the Cuban then, you ask?  Actually in a funny twist of fate, both of my younger brothers happened to be passing through Portland at the same time Els and I were there!  So while I'm bummed that I missed out on the Cuban or Pork Belly Eggs Benedict (or "The Count -  hazelnut challah french toast, smoked turkey, prosciutto, havarti, brie, apricot jam", god why didn't I order that??), I am still gonna have fond memories of getting to have breakfast with my brothers and my special lady friend at a Portland diner with a wide and very appealing menu.  But maybe next time I'll order something as memorable as the occasion.  Maybe if I'm not an IDIOT, jeez.

summer sandwiches: ham sandwich from brass tacks

We got into Portland Saturday evening and met our pal Rob at the weird/run down/honestly kinda scary house he is subletting a room in.  It was being guarded by this cat which didn't seem all that friendly.  We had dinner at Ned Ludd around the corner, but we didn't eat any sandwiches there.  Not that it mattered, because the food was not very good for how much it cost to eat there.  Whatever.

This little fellow lives at the house where we crashed during our trip.  She noticed me eating a piece of bread and got curious.  Then she took a bite.  Then, seconds after this photo was taken, she clawed me and stole it!  I tell you there was something satanic about this cat.  Did I mention it uses the toilet?  Like, the human toilet?  IT USES THE TOILET.  UNNATURAL.

 

3535 N Vancouver Ave, Portland, OR

http://brasstackssandwichesllc.blogspot.com/

 

We were supposed to go to the river with our host and her friends on Sunday morning. but due to a breakdown in communication we would have had to skip out on coffee and our first meal of the day to do so.  "Nuts to that!" we said.  I didn't come Portland to eat snacks bought at Safeway en route to the river.  Els and I took off on our own and decided to check out a spot called Brass Tacks.  The sandwich gods clearly approved of our decision- their first sign of approval was that I recognized one of the owners of Brass Tacks was someone I knew from several years ago in San Francisco!  It was an unexpected and funny coincidence.  Our second sign from the sandwich gods came when we asked for iced coffees to start our hot sunny Portland day off right.  At first they were like "oh we don't serve iced coffee sorry" but THEN it was all "oh hey I guess we have actually exactly two cups of iced coffee that were sent to us as a sample".  So we got delicious, chocolately iced coffee and when the woman behind us in line was like "I'll have an iced coffee too" she got DENIED.  Bummer for her.  I decided to get a ham sandwich, because I reasoned that I frequently see pork sandwiches on offer, but rarely ham.  Few people want to attempt ham sandwiches.  I think ham sandwiches just aren't sexy enough.  Actually, ok, Rhea's has a pretty good ham sandwich and Tartine does those insane ham and gruyere melty things.  But all the same you'll see a dozen fancy turkey sandwiches for every ham sandwich you come across.  I liked this ham sandwich a lot, and what I liked about it was that it was so straight forward.  Maple-glazed ham, cheddar cheese, mayo, mustard, pickles, onions, something leafy and green on a fluffy... ciabatta or something.  It tasted like a ham sandwich and I like ham sandwiches.

What, was that a really boring description of a sandwich?  How about another crazy-ass Portland animal then?  This guy is named Dude, and he is a shy and sweet rescue dog, at least until anyone lights a fire or starts smoking around him.  For some reason Dude loves smoke and spent almost this entire time we were at this backyard BBQ jumping up in the air and biting at the smoke.  Portland animals are weird.

summer sandwiches: turkey from meat cheese bread in portland

 

Meat Cheese Bread, 1406 Southeast Stark Street, Portland OR

www.meatcheesebread.com/

Even before I went to Meat Cheese Bread in Portland, I knew I'd love the place.  There just something undeniably appealing about the simplicity of the name, that really captures the basic essence of sandwiches.... its perfect.  Unless there's no meat or cheese, but rather some sort of.... unnamed "x" variable...... and then, bread only appears in the name once, which might mistakenly cause people to envision open-faced sandwiches.  Still, "Meat Cheese Bread" is ALMOST the perfect name for a sandwich shop, and when showed up on my last day in Portland, the delicious sounding sandwiches on the menu reaffirmed my expectation that this place had a good take on sandwiches.  I went for the turkey sandwich, feeling like my sandwich choices over the last few days had been slightly insane, and wanting to see how this place treated one of the all-time classic sandwiches.  I even put on my "sandwich journalism hat" (not a literal hat) and tried to get some answers to questions I had about the menu, especially why pickles cost $2.5???  It seemed like a lot of money for one pickle, and the guy behind the counter said something about them being hand-crafted and made in the river(??).  Actually I didn't do a very good job of getting answers because I know how rude it is to complain about prices and so I just sort of awkwardly said "uh huh, oh wow, made in the river you say" and shuffled out with my sandwich.  THEN I did a pretty lousy job of paying attention to the sandwich as I ate it, because I was really hungry and the sandwich was really good.  I really liked how soft the bread was, and the turkey was appropriately mild in combination with the salty and crispy bacon.  Also featured were havarti and a sweet onion aioli.  What can I say, the sandwich was good!  I was hungry!  Its not like I'm getting payed for this, is what I'm getting at here.  Fortunately I will be returning to Portland in just a few weeks, this time with my trusty co-reviewer Els, so doubtlessly I will be able to return to this shop and do a proper job of verbalizing what makes their sandwiches so good.  Some of your sandwiches might have evaded me last time, Portland.... next time will be a different story.

summer sandwiches: chicken sandwich & pork sliders at XV in portland

 

 

 

XV, 15 Southwest 2nd Avenue, Portland OR

http://www.xvpdx.com/

 

Most of the places I ate while in Portland I picked based on the recommendation of a friend.  One night, however, I decided to not pick a place in advance of going out and to just see where I ended up.  As I mentioned before, all bars in Portland serve food, which RULES.  Well, they are supposed to anyway.  We were hanging out in one of the bars that kinda sorta doesn't really obey that particular law, but the bartender suggested a nearby bar called XV ("fifteen") as a possibility.  According to their website, XV is a Caribbean tapas bar, but I didn't really pick up on either the Caribbean or tapas vibe while I was there.  It was a Sunday night, so it was pretty empty inside the bar, but there was a DJ spinning hip hop hits and the kitchen had put out a tray of strawberries and pineapple with chocolate and caramel dipping sauces in spite of the relative lack of customers in the club.  I got a chicken sandwich (I think the herb-encrusted one on the menu, rather than the jerk chicken) and Rob got pork sliders.  Because this was a place we had just sort of happened upon and I wasn't really in HARD HITTING SANDWICH JOURNALISM mode, I didn't really pay too much attention to the intricate details of either of these.  BUT I will say that they were both really, really good!  The pork sliders had a sweet and smoky flavor that was especially delicious, but the chicken sandwich was tasty too and even the side salads had character.  I was glad that my suspicion that one could just blindly head out on the town and end up with great food was rewarded, and this bolstered my growing belief that Portland is tightly packed with excellent food options.  This might not be one of the more memorable meals I ate during my visit but it was still very good.

summer sandwiches: reggie deluxe & regina from pine state in portland

 

Pine State Biscuits, 3640 Southeast Belmont Street, Portland

www.pinestatebiscuits.com/

I'm just going to get this out of the way and spoil the ending of the review: this was the best sandwich I ate in Portland and one of the best sandwiches I've had in a good long time.  How could it not be??  The Reggie Deluxe (above) was my pick, and it was fried chicken, a fried egg, bacon, cheddar cheese, and gravy, on a biscuit.  I don't need to tell you that it was AMAZING.  The biscuits were very good, light and fluffy and not at all dry and clinging to your teeth and filling up your mouth with dense dough like biscuits usually are.  I almost chickened out and ordered something less likely to cause me to die the second I'd finished eating, but then I gave in to LIFE and BEING ALIVE and ate this ridiculously delicious sandwich.  My pal (occasional breadxbread correspondent and new Portland resident Rob) got the Regina, since he isn't as suicidally devoted to sandwiches as I am.  His sandwich consisted of a fried egg, collard greens, and hot sauce, on a biscuit.  It was very, very good, and if you don't want something that will shorten your lifespan by years in one shot, it is just as good a choice as the Reggie Deluxe.  I'm impatient to go back and try the McIsley (fried chicken, pickles, mustard & honey) the next time I'm in Portland.  I'm sure my arteries are less excited.  Many thanks to (occasional breadxbread correspondent) Jen for the recommendation!

summer sandwiches: chorizo verde at bunk bar in portland

 

1028 SE Water Ave, Portland Oregon

http://bunkbar.com/

"chorizo verde with roasted corn, tomatoes, avocado, queso, salsa rojo"

Usually when Portland comes up in conversation, the consensus around these parts generally seems to be "yeah Portland is pretty sweet, you just have to be able to put up with the rainy/miserable weather".  Well I was lucky enough to be able to pay a visit to Portland last weekend, my first in a number of years, and it was hot and sunny there- unlike this foggy stink-town.  It's possible I caught the one sunny weekend a year that they get, but that's still more sun than I've seen here!  Not only was the weather perfect, and not only did I experience the beauty of not having to pay sales tax, but I discovered (with pure, unmitigated joy) that bars in Portland are legally obligated to serve food- an obligation that many bars take up with enthusiasm.  Bunk Bar is a good example of this (although they cheat a little bit by actually being connected to a sandwich shop).  On the recommendation of my old friend and PDX resident Kendall, I made Bunk Bar my first stop after arriving in town and getting settled at my friend Mike's place in the SE part of town.  Bunk Bar turned out to be quite close to where I was staying, located in what seemed to be a formerly industrial part of town but now appeared to be full of restaurants and wine bars.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, Portlanders- I was only in your town for three days and didn't really get too deep an understanding of the town during my short visit.  Anyway, Bunk Bar seemed like a pretty cool spot, open and sunny and with high ceilings.  They had a bunch of great beers on tap (another thing I loved about Portland- tons of local pale ales!), a pinball machine (I want to say... Sopranos?), some cool shows coming up, and rad sandwiches.  Kendall had recommended the Cubano, but unfortunately they weren't serving it the day I came in (the menu, or parts of it, changes daily).  I opted for the chorizo verde sandwich, which I had envisioned as being a sort of Mexican sloppy joe style torta.  To my surprise, the chorizo was actually a firm, grey patty, served on a roll with cheese and avocado and salsa.  The sandwich was drier than I had expected, but that's not to say it was very dry, just that I had expected it to be, well, sloppy.  It was midly spicy and I definitely enjoyed eating it, although $9 seemed slightly steep for a sandwich that was on the smaller side.  That won't stop me from returning to Bunk Bar to get the Cubano next time I'm in town, though.  Not a bad place to start my Portland trip!