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.

croque madam at la boulange

 

la boulange, fillmore & california, san francisco

Els and I hit up the Fillmore Farmer's Market last weekend to speak to a man about some smoked fish, and we brought our appetites with us.  The farmer's market itself was on the smaller side, and the booths we hoped would be offering bountiful breakfasts and pots of hot coffee did not actually exist.  So, we decided to take advantage of being outside of our neighborhood and stroll around in search of something to get our day started right.  When we first walked past this place, I mistook it for the chain store with a very similar name (you know the one), and didn't bother to investigate any further.  Fortunately, Els cleared up my confusion shortly thereafter, and we returned for a second look.  I'm glad we did, because this was a pretty charming little cafe.  The menu offered perhaps fewer choices than expected, but what was available all sounded inspired and delicious.  I settled on a croque madam, a sandwich I had never tried before (I did, however, try a croque monsieur for the first time earlier this year).  I should at this point make note of the fact that this was set up like a cafe and not a restaurant: you have to wait in line to order at the counter, then take a number, find a seat and wait for your food.  Personally I think this makes the experience a little more chaotic than it needed to be- there were customers loitering around everywhere, making navigating the inside of the shop frustratingly difficult.  However, Els and I managed to find some pretty decent seats in the upstairs area, and we both enjoyed the low-key decor of the place.  As you may note in the top photo above, large coffees at La Boulange are served in bowls, which I thought was pretty neat (although I have to say that the coffee was pretty bad).  As for the sandwich, this was a pretty great first experience with a croque madam!  Like a croque monsieur, a croque madam has ham, swiss and bechemel- but the main difference is that it is topped with an egg (sometimes there are further variations, like the addition of vegetables, but not here).  As you might imagine, it was a rich, salty and indulgent sandwich.  It was messy, too, and Els took the only napkin we were given even though she was eating oats with a spoon and I had buttery cheesy grease all over my fingers.  Jeez.  I'd also like to mention that the salad was quite good, too, with a slightly sweet vinaigrette topping the mixed greens.  And although it was not a sandwich, Els swore that the warm oats with brown sugar and fruit served in milk that she got was the best she'd ever had.  I'm definitely looking forward to coming back here again to try out some of their other offerings.