Bunk Bar: Another Notch in the Belt for Habetz

There are tons of places to get a good sandwich in Portland, but one of the best is from the Bunk family of restaurants, run by Tommy Habetz. The original Bunk Sandwiches is on SE Morrison, but within the last three years a second outpost has opened downtown near Little Bird Bistro, a Bunk Truck is up and running all over the city, Trigger opened up near Toro Bravo in northeast, and Bunk Bar opened on SW Water Avenue. 

Bunk Bar not only serves food and drink, but also hosts shows almost every night of the week. As a bonus, Hair of the Dog Brewery is just down the street and Water Avenue Coffee right next door, so it's a happening place.

Bunk Bar is quite open and well-lit with plenty of color on the walls and a lot of seating, something that is at a premium at the other two Bunk locations. Wifey and I visited on the weekend around lunch time and there was a constant stream of people coming in and out, some with children.

Here you order at the bar. We only planned to order two things, since we knew the portions were going to be big. Oops.

First up was the mole tater tots with avocado, cilantro, queso fresco and crema. Why? One, because tater tots are awesome, and two because, well, just look at it!

This $5 "bar snack" (according to the menu) would have been plenty for both of us by itself. Super tasty.

This sandwich, a special of roasted pork with roasted brussels sprouts and Russian dressing on ciabatta, wasn't in the plan, but it sounded so good we couldn't say no. And we're glad we didn't, even thought sprouts on a sandwich was a new one for us.

That enough food porn for ya? Click again on that picture if you need more to make it bigger.

The last item we ordered was the egg and cheese on a roll, which we ordered with bacon. Honestly, we didn't even touch it for lunch; we had to wrap the whole thing and take it home to eat for breakfast the next day.

Every single one of these items was excellent. Bunk Bar, just like the original Bunk Sandwiches, produces items with tons of flavors that work very well together. We will definitely return.

Dog-friendly? There is no outdoor seating. But there should be.

March Tasting Notes

EAT!

Kenny and Zuke's - biscuits and pastrami gravy, Day After Thanksgiving sandwich, cheesecake: Honestly, both of these items fell a little flat for us. The pastrami gravy was just too salty, which if I had to guess may be because the gravy was properly salted but then the pastrami (plenty salty on its own) was added. I'm probably wrong, because I'm not a chef, but that's how it tasted. It was great for a few bites, but after a while the saltiness was overpowering. The turkey (and everything) sandwich was good, but the elements seemed to cancel each other out, if that makes sense. And it needed more gravy - as in, more than none. The fries with the sandwich were very good. We'll absolutely go back, just order something else. And, as usual, the cheesecake was to die for.

Alder Pastry and Dessert - chocolate croissant, chocolate peanut butter cake: This was our first visit to the new Bakery next to Ate-Oh-Ate on East Burnside and it absolutely will not be the last. Both items were fantastic.

Alma Chocolates - chocolate chip cookie, Maker's Mark bourbon bon bon, salted peanut butter cup truffle: All three of these items were good. The cookie, well, was fine, it's just not as good as ours. I will say it's probably not as easy to make large amounts as it is one dozen, like we do at home. And that's fine, it really is, but it just means we'll probably stop buying cookies. I really liked the bourbon bon bon - had a solid but not overpowering bourbon flavor - and I would get again. The salted peanut butter cup is excellent.

Yuzu - gyoza, tori karaage, kakuni ramen, wiener sausage fry, gyu negima: The gyoza was good, the karaage excellent, and the gyu negima (thin sliced ribeye seared and wrapped around green onion) fantastic. I will say, I prefer the rib eye wrapping asparagaus instead of green onion, but that's a seasonal thing - have to go back in a few months. The sausage fry was interesting, a little greasy, and we probably wouldn't order it again. We both loved the ramen. The broth was rich and flavorful, the pork a little but not too fatty, and the sesame seeds and garlic they serve on the side unexpectedly added a whole other dimension. Definitely recommend.

The Dump Truck (food cart) - "Mr. Ma's special" pork dumplings: These dumplings were, well, marginal. The wrappers were thicker than ideal and we could barely taste the pork inside; the only flavor I picked out was onion. The dipping sauce was okay. Probably won't go back.

Ziba's Pitas (food cart) - combo plate with meat burek and cufte in white sauce: The meat burek we've had plenty of times, but this was our first time trying the cufte (pronounced "chuf-tee"), which are meatballs with various spices. Fantastic! The white sauce was very good with it and the ustipaks (bread - but much better according to the menu) I wanted about 12 more of - they were that good. Very moist, but dense. Next time I might order just cufte and no burek (gasp!).

The Whole Bowl (food cart) - Big Bowl, chips: Continue to love Whole Bowl. Fantastic meal, hearty, and fairly healthy. Great change of pace for us.

Mojo Crepes - S'mores crepe: We've been hearing about Mojo for a long time now, but since it's out on SE 84th and Division - far from home - we hadn't been. Finding ourselves in the area we had to stop to check out these stuffed crepes. And honestly? Not impressed at all. The crepe itself seemed soggy, undercooked, and lacking in flavor. Maybe it was our choice of flavors, but it did nothing to convince us we should go back.

The Country Cat - beef brisket sandwich with onion rings, "Hot Brown" sandwich: The brisket was well cooked with great flavor. It had a bit of heat with it which I wasn't expecting but wasn't unpleasant. I'd order it again. The onion rings were very, very thinly sliced - more like ribbons than the rings I expected. Light and fluffy with good flavor. The Hot Brown is an open-faced turkey sandwich with mornay sauce and bacon topped with  bit of romesco. One would think all the flavors would make a rich whole, but for some reason the end result was a tad bland. The turkey seemed a bit dry. Maybe it needed more mornay? Not sure. The home fries are excellent (this was a substitution on our part - who wants salad?).

Immortal Pie and Larder - garlic herb chicken pie, creme brulee pie: Immortal makes pies similar to Pacific Pie Company - small, perhaps individual-sized meat pies, in plenty of flavors. And they do dessert pies. The creme brulee pie was nothing short of fantastic. It seems like it's hard to find good creme brulee around Portland, but this is absolutely good creme brulee and their crust is so light and fluffy. The herb chicken pie was very hearty - Wifey and I split it with a side of veggies and filled ourselves up. AND - it's half a block away from The Country Cat. How convenient. They also sell wines, chocolates, and Belgian beers, among other things, so we picked up a French cotes du rone for a later meal.

Dove Vivi cornmeal crust pizza - corn, quattro fromaggio, pepperoni classico, sausage classico: Dove Vivi won't satisfy a real pizza craving, but it creates one all on it's own. The corn continues to be my favorite, but the sausage and pepperoni slices were excellent as well. The quattro fromaggio, to me, needed something. Maybe more sauce? Seemed a tad dry.

Violetta - corn dogs, yukon gold fries: Corn dogs are absolutely not on my diet (then again, what of this page is?), but when Violetta posted a special for two for $7.50 with the dogs being Kobe beef from Snake River Farms we couldn't resist. Most corn dogs are bad, doughy and greasy disgusting blobs on sticks, but these, these are what people remember when they talk glowingly about the dogs of childhood (provided that childhood was many, many moons ago, and included Kobe beef). That is to say, not my childhood, where I grew up not liking the massed produced crap some pass off as corn dogs. The corn crust on these was very well made, crunchy with a tiny big of sweetness. So. Damn. Good. Oh, and the fries are good too.

Little Big Burger - burger with bleu cheese, burger with cheddar: Something changed with LBB since our first visit, in a good way. The first time we went the burgers were pretty dang good. This time they were excellent. I have no idea what the change was, but I like it.

A visit to Pok Pok merited it's own post.

DRINK!

Wine:

Bergstrom's 2009 Old Stones Pinot Noir: We tried a tiny bit of this wine, but really only bought it to have a red to make boeuf bourguignon. Nothing jumped out at us about the wine itself, but it did great in the whole pot dish.

Ponzi's 2007 Pinot Gris: This was fine. Citrusy a bit, a little sweet, no complaints. Not sure what we liked in it at the Ponzi tasting that made us feel like we had to have a whole bottle though.

Beer:

Bridgeport's Cafe Negro Porter: I wanted to like this one, but it didn't move the needle for me. The coffee was there, chocolate flavors were there, but they didn't seem to mesh very well. I'd drink it again if someone gave me one without any whining, but wouldn't buy again.

Full Sail's Black Gold Bourbon Imperial Stout: I liked this stout, with a nice bourbon flavor and rich chocolate and caramel flavors, but I wanted to love it. I wanted to drink it and say, "Damn - I need to stock up!" That didn't happen. I drank it, liked it fine, and forgot about it. Maybe at $12/bottle it's better that way.

Kona Brewing's Koko Brown: I read about this beer finished with toasted coconut a couple months back and had been keeping my eyes open in the stores I shop at - normally New Seasons and Whole Foods, which stock Kona's other offerings - but finally found it at a closing Haggen grocery. Picked up a six pack for 20% off. It reminded me a little of the Beertown Brown Bridgeport Brewing did last year, which I also liked, but the big difference was the aftertaste of the toasted coconut. Excellent. It's not as good as the Pipeline Porter, but it lives up to the standard Kona has set for itself.

Coffee:

Edenway Coffee - mocha: Shrug. It was near my dentist, so I tried it. I don't need to make a special trip to get it again, and in six months when I go back to the dentist I'll probably try somewhere else. Okay flavor, slightly sweet, nothing special.

November Eating/Drinking Notes

It was a relatively light month out for us in November. With the Thanksgiving holiday and us having various study requirements, we actually stayed home a lot.

Maki - buta kaku (braised pork belly), gyoza, Philadelphia roll, ten don donburi: This little izakaya in Tigard is a neat little find. Very clean, modern lines inside and the service was very good. The braised pork belly was nicely tender with not too much fat and the Philadelphia roll - which they claim to hold close to their heart - was quite tasty. The gyoza was a new flavor for me, filled with shrimp and nira. Nira is like green onion but different, if that makes sense. A Japanese-English dictionary will tell you it's green onion; a native Japanese person will tell you it's different. Either way this was yummy. The ten don donburi had all sorts of items: onion, shrimp, carrot, potato, kabocha (squash), lotus root...and a hot pepper. That was unexpected. There should be some kind of warning... We'd absolutely go back, they have a very extensive menu.

Little Big Burger - cheeseburger with cheddar, cheeseburger with bleu cheese, fries: LBB, as the foodies in the know refer to it, serves up a pretty good burger. It's a good size, perfect for a meal on the go without filling you up. The fries were excellent, the service was quick, the burger cooked and seasoned well, the toppings fresh, and the bun perfect. Now, all of that said...I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to head to the Pearl District just to hit up LBB, like I might other places. If I was down there and wanted a quick bite, this would make me happy. If the rumors are true and Micah Camden does open one out in Beaverton, we'll probably hit it up every so often, since Beaverton is a culinary wasteland. Camden's ketchup, which will be available in stores in early spring, was interesting. At first I didn't like it all that much with the sweetness and alternating spicy kick, but it grows on you fast. They sell it at the shop, and if it's in stores the next time I need ketchup I might get it instead of Heinz. I can't believe I'm saying that.

Ate-Oh-Ate - Korean chicken: Went back to Ate Oh Ate with my dad and sister for lunch. This time I opted for the Korean fried chicken, which is deep-fried hot wings slathered with a spicy sauce. It actually was excellent, better than I thought it would be. Unfortunately I ate the entire plate and that probably wasn't the best of choices. By the way, this dish is quite messy - plan accordingly if you want to order it. Sister got the teriyaki steak which she thought was salty; after a taste I had to agree. Dad had no complaints about his teriyaki chicken, and both really liked the macaroni salad. While I liked what I ate, I don't necessarily think Ate-Oh-Ate is a place I'll be going to back to super often...though I do still want the loco moco.

Bunk Bar - meatball parmigiano hero, fries: Wifey and I were in the area, hungry, and wanted fries. We had heard they had fantastic fries, so we popped in and got them and the hero to go. Now, the fries were fantastic - I'd put them ahead of LBB - but if you eat in you get gravy and cheese on them (poutine! but not called that). To go we didn't get that - sad. Still, excellent fries, the meatball hero was awesome as always, and we will be going back - and eating in - very soon.

Public Domain Coffee - mocha, Kona "Cloud Forest" pourover: Wifey and I had some time to kill downtown last weekend so we stopped by here. I've been wanting to check it out for awhile. It's a very clean, bright, modern space, but not necessarily comfortable. This is a coffee shop that doesn't really seem to encourage you to linger. The mocha wasn't anything to write home about, but the Kona was good. Might have to go back and buy a bag of these beans, but probably won't get any more drinks there.

Blue Kangaroo Coffee - mocha: This little shop in Sellwood, by contrast, begs to be lingered in. Not that I did, but it seems like the kind of place I could sit down and do some writing. Unfortunately the mocha was not pleasing at all. It had cinnamon in it - or, as Wifey said, something that tasted more like Red Hots - which simply isn't acceptable to me at all. Mochas with that flavor in them better come with a warning, so I know not to get them. Honestly, it's a little nauseating when you are expecting chocolatey goodness.

Jade Tea House and Patisserie - raspberry and white chocolate/sea salt macaroons, Vietnamese wedding cake, barbecue pork bahn mi: I stopped here after a haircut to get the cake, which thankfully they had. If you have never had this cake, you need to head over there and get some. Now. The green pandan cake is light and fluffy with wonderfully crunchy layers mixed in. The macaroons were pretty good, but not as good as ones we've had from Pix Patisserie here in Portland or Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle. Then again, at $1.25 each compared to $2 at Pix, maybe it's a good tradeoff. The bahn mi was fantastic. Most of the ones I've had around town the content of the sandwich is pretty weak, but this one had think cuts of tender, juicy barbecue pork and fresh veggies. At $7 it's the most expensive bahn mi I've had, but well worth the price. The bread, which I believe Jade bakes themselves, was much better than many of the others I've had.

Coffeehouse Northwest - egg nog latte: Yes, this is still my favorite coffee place in Portland, and no, nothing has changed. Well, not really. Since it's the holiday season Coffeehouse NW has their egg nog lattes which are just plain awesome. Others try to make them, but once you've had this one nothing else will ever be good enough again. Get it. Thank me later.

Way late update...

After looking at the blog posts for November, it wasn't that light at all. We actually ate out a few more times... Here are some places that merited their own single posts:

Japanese food at Shigezo Izakaya.

Japanese curry at Kale, which I can't recommend highly enough.

Must have been Japanese food month, because we also hit Biwa's late-night menu.

And we tried a highly anticipated Hawaiian place, Ate-Oh-Ate.

Any food goes well with a 2010 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.

September Tasting/Drinking Notes

Pastrami on Rye - Reuben, pastrami - This food cart at the 4th and College pod near Portland State serves up a pretty damn good sandwich. People claimed it was the best in Portland and while I agree it's pretty good, I still give that edge to Kenny and Zuke's. I will say, though, that these were half the price and more of a single serving, so it really depends on what you want. I really liked the marbled rye bread they offer though.

Gladstone Pizza and Coffee - Mocha, sausage and pepperoni - We've been meaning to try this pizza place for a while because foodies kept claiming it was as good as any of our favorites, like Nostrana, Ken's, Apizza Scholls, Dove Vivi, and Lovely's Fifty-Fifty. Well, they were wrong. It's not that this pizza is bad. It's not. It's likely better than some of the middle tier places and I'd put it in the same category as Pizzicato, Hot Lips, and Pizza Schmizza. However, their prices - it was $24 - put them in the top tier category, so that's what they get measured against. And it's just not as good. I didn't hate it or anything, it's just not anything special. Neither was the mocha.

Chinatown Restaurant - normy gai, #5, pork shew my - Wifey and I split all of these dishes and we really liked them all. Next time we'll try some of the seafood they are supposedly known for. Normy gai is sweet rice with chicken, sausage, BBQ pork, bamboos shoots, and mushrooms all wrapped up in a lotus leaf and this was very, very good. The shew my literally melted in your mouth. The #5 dinner combo contained fried shrimp, pork chow mein, sweet and sour chicken, pork fried rice, and a spring roll. I have no complaints...though next time we probably won't get a combo. Sadly, they were out of baked BBQ pork baos. Our waitress offered steamed instead, but it's not the same. Next time.

Addy's Sandwiches - duck confit and cranberry, turkey and brie - I've been to Addy's before so the fact these were outstanding wasn't a surprise. I wanted to try the duck because that confit wasn't anything I've had before, but the flavors were excellent. The turkey and brie was likewise well balanced. And her bread...it's very, very good. Of course it is - it comes from Little T.

Ziba's Pitas - meat burek - Once again Ziba's burek was awesome. I keep getting recommendations to try the spinach one or the cheese one, but it's almost impossible for me to order anything else because this is so good. Perhaps next time. Maybe.

September was also our month to go back to places, apparently. In separate posts, all with pictures, we returned to:

The Country Cat | Biwa | Apizza Scholls | Screen Door

DRINK!

Adding this section new this month. Apparently we (well, mostly me) drank a decent amount. Oops. Some of these may have been from August too.

MandaRossa Nero d'Avola (red) - We found this wine at Taste Unique. Nero d'Avola is apparently a grape specific to Italy and this wine tasted very mature. That's a good thing. A medium level of tannins with red fruit and a taste of licorice if you really search for it.

Sokol Blosser Evolution (white) - We had never tried a Sokol Blosser wine before, but had been meaning too. Then this wine ended up being used on an episode of Top Chef (by Angelo), so we decided to give it a try. It's excellent. In fact, this might be our favorite wine we have ever tried - so much so we went out and bought two more bottles. Very crisp, you get flavors of citrus and supposedly pear, but we both really pulled peach out of it. Excellent wine.

Sokol Blosser Meditrina (red) - We ended up buying this one because it right next to Evolution at the store. Shrug. It's okay, but we like it better cold, which goes against all wine people will tell you. Why? Cold we can pull out the berry notes, but as it warms up it gets more and more tannic, in my mind, and pretty soon all I can taste is leather and alcohol. That's not good.

Conundrum (white) - We came across this wine online while researching Evolution. Supposedly, the claim was, if you like Conundrum you would like Evolution. Well, we liked Evolution so we figured we might like this. It wasn't bad, but it's not something I'm going to go out of my way to find again (like we did this time, finally finding it at Barbur World Foods). The flavors were okay, but it just didn't have the fruit-forwardness of the Evolution. And it's more expensive.

Full Sail Brewery - Old Boardhead 2010 - I picked up the 2010 version because I thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 version. Unfortunately, 2009 enjoyment did not predict 2010 enjoyment. This year's version was way, way too hpppy for me. Will I try again in 2011? Maybe.

Goose Island Brewing - Matilda - I've just about given up on any beer with fruity notes in it - see the next entry - but this one was very well balanced. the citrus notes were just barely there, but there was enough of malt and yeast flavors to not allow it to be overpowering. I'll try more from them.

Dogfish Head Brewery - Festina Peche - Hands down this was one of the worst specialty beers I've had. All I could taste was peach. Of course, I bought it because it promised some peach, but the peach overpowered everything else in the bottle. It ended up tasting like peach juice with all the elements of cheap beer. This was my first Dogfish beer and I will try others, but I'm going to keep an eye on the fruit content.

Laurelwood Brewery - Espresso Stout - I really enjoy Laurelwood's Porter - which they need to get in bottles rather than just being on tap - so I thought this might be good. It uses Portland Roasting beans in the brewing process. The results were, well, a tad too strong for my tastes. The coffee flavors weren't robust and fresh - it tasted like bad coffee.

Great Divide Brewing - Smoked Baltic Porter - I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this. I mean, I like porter generally but hadn't had a Baltic one before and wasn't sure what to make of the smoked malt idea. Turns out it's fantastic. Absolutely one of the best beers I've had in a while, and one I'll be buying more of. Also, I'll probably try others from Great Divide. As a side note, I picked this up at John's Marketplace in Multnomah Village. I had never been there before and heard they had tons of specialty beers - and yes they do. Belmont Station is pretty nice too, but that's an extra 10 miles further for me from this place. Definitely worth a stop if you like beer - or wine, actually. They have a ton of that too.

Wet Hot Beef

Believe it or not, Wet Hot Beef is not the name of something obscene, though it could easily be construed that way. It's the name of a new food cart at Dreamer's Marketplace, just off of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

We came across it via Food Carts Portland and it sounded very yummy, so last week we were in the area and decided to hit it up for dinner.

Deciding to order a little bit of everything, we ordered two sandwiches - the Dressed and Indecent versions - a strawberry soda with housemade syrup, and an order of the housemade sweet onion potato chips. It wasn't busy - I think it was still early for dinner - and our food came out pretty quick.

Let's get the drawbacks out of the way first.

We didn't like the soda. I think, perhaps, the strawberry syrup - made with strawberries from the Farmer's Market - was pretty good, but the mixture wasn't right. Perhaps it was the mixing, maybe it needed something...or maybe it was the fact this nice syrup was mixed with Big K brand club soda. Maybe, I don't know. I do know there is a definite quality difference between something like Coke or Pepsi and a cheap brand (like Big K) cola. Maybe that's the drawback. Or maybe soda just isn't the right choice. Not sure.

The chips were also burnt. They may have been seasoned nicely, but we couldn't tell because all we could taste was burnt potatoes. Maybe it was a bad batch, I don't know, but I won't be ordering those again.

Now the good.

The sandwiches were excellent. The roast beef, as promised, was extremely moist and lean. The bechamel on the Indecent was creamy and good (Wifey would have preferred a tad more). The pickled beets and onions added on the sandwich could have used a tad more flavor - they were overpowered by the meat and the bechamel.

Then again, you aren't coming here for vegetables.

The bread for the sandwich was also pretty good. It tasted fresh and was soft, not overly hard and crunchy. Getting the sandwich in a paper cup was very handy, since there was quite a bit of beef drippage.

Would I recommend this? If you are in the area then sure, but I don't know that we'll go out of my way for it again. And if we do go back, it will probably be just for a sandwich.

Melt In Your Mouth

Last month I did an entry about finding sandwiches in Portland and my thoughts on what are considered the best spots in the city. Literally a couple days after posting that entry someone posted on Twitter (it might have been Barista, might have been Coffeehouse Northwest, can't recall) about a new sandwich place up on NW 21st, between Irving and Jefferson they claimed was excellent.

So natuarlly Melt Sandwiches shot near the top of the must visit list (website here, but it's only a shell so read about them on Yelp).

Saturday was hair did day for Wifey, so I went out on the prowl for some good eats, with this place on the list to pick up lunch. After reading through the Yelp reviews we had already picked out what we wanted without ever seeing the menu - pot roast sandwich for her and the chicken for me.

When I walked in, not too long after 11am, the place was empty of customers, with just the cashier/order taker guy and a couple people in the kitchen, which is semi-open. Well, I guess it is open, just not right next to the seating. He explained to me the concept of Melt - hot sandwiches with high quality ingredients - and talked about their new Happy Hour menu (yep, they also serve drinks). I glanced at the menu for only a few seconds before ordering, which I think surprised him a bit since I also told him this was my first time in.

After I had paid for the sandwiches I happened to notice a tray of chocolate cakey-looking things. They were round - about two and a half inches diamater - and tall, roughly the height of one and a half cupcakes. I asked what they were and he told me mocha brownies, then also added all their desserts were homemade just for them. Well, I had to get one of those two.

Both sandwiches were excellent. Wifey's pot roast was perfectly cooked and came with a light amount of gravy and onions. If you think back to the yummy pot roasts mom or grandma made when you were young, then hack off a piece and put it on a sandwich, you have this. Oh yeah, it was good. Very good.

While the pot roast was a simple flavor done very well, my chicken sandwich was a veritable medley of goodness. The chicken was moist and well cooked, and along with that on the bread was avocado, apple-wood smoked bacon, onion marmalade, jalapeno orange mayo, and pepper jack cheese. It wasn't hot at all, just had a nice little kick, and I loved the orange flavor mixed in with all the others.

Both sandwiches also came with potato chips.

The mocha brownie was decent, but not great. There were bits of bean grounds in it, which were weren't expecting and are not quite sure we liked. It was also a tad dry for my tastes - I admit it, I love the gooey ones - but it was obviously done with a lot of attention to detail. If you don't like gooey you'll probably enjoy the brownie more than I did (but like I said, it was still good).

So yes, we loved Melt and we'll definitely go back. Of course, the question now is, where does it rank with the other big three (Meat Cheese Bread, Bunk, Kenny & Zuke's)? You won't like this, but much as I did with those three I'm copping out again. Here was my conclusion about those three:

So is there a winner here? I mean, after all of this I should pick one, right? That's the whole point of having a "throwdown" isn't it?

Well, I can't. See, in my view all three of these places - while all serving sandwiches - fill a different niche, a different craving.

Meat Cheese Bread is perfect in its simplicity, the place you go when you don't want something out of the norm but still want it to be good.

Bunk fills the need to challenge your taste buds, to present you with the chance to try something you never thought you would eat, or maybe just never thought of putting on a sandwich.

Kenny and Zuke's is the place to go for variety, the place that harkens back to what many people think a sandwich shop should be (and after experiencing it, not having been to one in New York, it's hard to disagree).

All three of these places also serve various breakfast foods which I have not tried, but plan to at some point.

In all honesty, it just depends on your mood and what sounds good - all three are excellent and will make your stomach happy.

I have the same conclusion here. See, Melt has a different thing to set them apart from the other three - hot sandwiches. That's not to say the others don't have hot sandwiches or you might not go there for a hot sandwich, but this is Melt's trademark and from what I can tell they do it pretty damn good.

Simply put, you can't go wrong.

***

I checked out a food cart at the 10th and Alder pod of carts for lunch the other day, Addy's Sandwich Bar. I picked up the ham and gruyere sandwich. The ingredients were very good and worked excellent together - I love a good gruyere - but I think the star was the bread.

Addy's mini baguettes she uses for these sandwiches come from Little T American Baker (yep, if you read the blog you've heard me raving about them before) and they are absolutely perfect. A light crust on the outside, not too hard it makes your mouth raw, with amazing softness inside. This sandwich made me want to drive up Division to get some of these rolls myself.

Overall the sandwich was very good and it's quick and easy and cheap. I'm definitely going back because I need to try the chocolate, sea salt, and olive oil. Putting that on those baguettes sounds simply divine; just thinking about eating that makes me feel French.

PDX Sandwich Throwdown

When you talk about finding a good sandwich in Portland with foodies the conversation will inevitably turn the Big Three: Kenny and Zuke's Delicatessen, Bunk Sandwiches, and Meat Cheese Bread.

All three of these places use premium ingredients and are slightly different - and there is much debate on the blogs and messageboards about which one is the best. Only one way to decide, right? Yep, Wifey and I got a taste of all three (though not on the same day).

Meat Cheese Bread: We went here for the Park Kitchen, a flank steak and bleu cheese mayo sandwich. The owner used to work at Park Kitchen, a Portland restaurant, and this meal was an afterhours staple for kitchen workers (so the story I've heard goes). When cooks eat something, it's usually good stuff. And this was good stuff. Well done, despite being so simple - but with a name like Meat Cheese Bread you have to expect simplicity. That's good when done well, and this place does it well. Our sample size is admittedly small, but we'll definitely go back and try some of the other items on the menu. No sides with the sandwiches included. Oh, and check out some of the pieces from Xocalatl de David - fantastic chocolates. With bacon. Yes, it's that good.

Bunk Sandwiches: The Bunk menu is long, but the online version of it is only a guide - you have to go into the shop to see what they have on a given day. And get there early, because you will be standing in line. Sandwiches start being served at 11. We actually went there twice. The first time we got there too late and the line was about 30 long - we didn't feel like waiting. The second time we got there at 11 and there were only four people in front of us. What we went there for - the pork belly with sauerkraut, Russing dressing, and gruyere - wasn't on the day's menu, so we went with another pork belly Cubano sandwich (which is not online and this was two weeks ago and I have a bad memory and I should really write things down). So good! The sandwich came with chips too. The menu is chock full of things I don't normally associate with sandwich food, but given the first experience - admittedly limited - and how much people love them, I'm going back. I'm intrigued by the tongue - but I'm nowhere near ready to attempt tripe. Maybe someday. All in all, I'd stand in line for them again - maybe even at 20 deep, which isn't unusual for them at all.

Kenny and Zuke's: At the other two places we ordered one sandwich each to go, but here we actually sat down and had lunch. Known for their pastrami (this is a Jewish delicatessen, rare on the West Coast), Wifey ordered the specialty of the house - a classic pastrami Rueben. Me, apparently with eyes bigger than stomach (no jokes, please) ordered a meshugaletta. And what, you may ask, is that? It's a double-decker sandwich with pastrami, salami, roast beef, and turkey. Both came with pickles and a side - Wifey got potato salad and I got the cole slaw (which was really good and not mayo-based). Word to the wise: that sandwich was a monster. As in huge. As in I wish had brought my camera to memorialize it. If you click on the Menu page on their website, the picture opposite the different menus is of the meshugaletta - and that's how I felt too. But you know what? Both sandwiches were amazingly good. Awesome good. And three meals each. How's that for good?! We also orderd an Egg Cream, billed as a NY Chocolate Soda (no actual egg involved). That was - um - not something that met our tastebuds happily. Not yummy - but apparently New York "real." (If you want to see some thoughts and pictures from someone who knows about these things, click here.)

Perhaps as much fun as the sandwiches is the deli portion. We've been back a couple times and ordered various things, from rugelach (a sweet filled pastry), salt bagels (soft and yummy), New York cheesecake (literally the best we've ever had), to an onion bialy (very good). Everything has been wonderfully good.

Kenny and Zuke's actually has too locations, with a smaller SandwichWorks shop deeper in NW (the main place is just off Burnside downtown). The day before we went to Crater Lake we were in the area so decided to get sandwiches from here to eat at the lake. Wifey ordered the Italian Grinder and I went with the Hood River (intriguing mix of apples, cheese, and ham). Both came with chips and pickles, which was nice. And both were, again, awesome. We ate them not too far from the visitor's center at a point where we could look almost straight down the rim to the clear blue water. Good times.

Also, one of the owners, Nick Zukin, runs a very good blog about Portland food along with a fantastic message board community. He will routinely chime in there on just about any topic.

***

So is there a winner here? I mean, after all of this I should pick one, right? That's the whole point of having a "throwdown" isn't it?

Well, I can't. See, in my view all three of these places - while all serving sandwiches - fill a different niche, a different craving.

Meat Cheese Bread is perfect in its simplicity, the place you go when you don't want something out of the norm but still want it to be good.

Bunk fills the need to challenge your taste buds, to present you with the chance to try something you never thought you would eat, or maybe just never thought of putting on a sandwich.

Kenny and Zuke's is the place to go for variety, the place that harkens back to what many people think a sandwich shop should be (and after experiencing it, not having been to one in New York, it's hard to disagree).

All three of these places also serve various breakfast foods which I have not tried, but plan to at some point.

In all honesty, it just depends on your mood and what sounds good - all three are excellent and will make your stomach happy.

Gun to my head? Okay, I suppose I can choose one then, if it's really got to be that serious. I'd take Kenny and Zuke's, for the old style feel and flavors as well as the huge variety both on the menu and in the deli case.

Still, I plan on doing plenty more research...

Really, We Went Out For Pie and a Sandwich

A little bit ago Wifey and I decided it probably wasn't the best thing in the world for us to hit about 17 different food places every time we went out, so last Saturday we made a plan. We decided we wanted to go to Bunk Sandwiches for a, well, sandwich, then we'd hit the Bipartisan Cafe for some pie and coffee.

That was going to be it. Really. Needless to say, that's not what happened. Not even remotely.

We ended up making Bob's Red Mill our first stop, hoping to find baking powder in something less than 16 ounces. Neither of us had been there before but we buy their stuff all the times at New Seasons or Whole Foods, so we figured we'd check it out, see what else they had.

Well, they had a ton of stuff, but not what we were looking for. And the place was crazy busy! Apparently they serve food, which didn't look that great but was enough to practically fill up the parking lot. The only thing we bought was some hazelnut meal - for a recipe - and I decided to try a loaf of their cinnamon raisin oat bread made with all their special flours and the like. The bread was okay - not great, but not bad. A decent loaf at $1.99, but nothing I'm going to go out of my way for.

By this time it was after noon, we were hungry, and we were a long ways from Bunk, so we decided to hit up the Garden State food cart in Sellwood, which was on the way. We decided we would split a meatball sub at Garden State - which specializes in Sicilian food - and then split another sandwich at Bunk. We ordered the meatball hero - their signature item - and two round balls called arancine. The arancine are fried balls of saffron risotto, filled with some seasonal vegetables and mozzarella.

Both items were very good. The sauce on the sub didn't overpower the meatballs, and the arancine were fairly light and fluffy. At $1 each for those, three of them are a nice snack. Or one and a sub for a nice meal. Either way, good stuff - we'll be going back here.

The area where Garden State sits shares some tables with a couple other carts, so we sat and ate there. As we were looking around the area Wifey noticed a place called Jade Teahouse and Patisserie across the street. This is a Vietnamese place and she wanted to try Vietnamese coffee, so that was our next stop.

We ended up ordering the coffee and a slice of something called Vietnamese Wedding Cake. The coffee was okay - what makes it Vietnamese is mixing the coffee with sweetened condensed milk. It's sweet, but at the same time bitter. We drank it, but neither one of us were all that thrilled. Wifey said she'd be willing to try it again someplace else - mark that down.

The wedding cake we took home and ate later, but it was excellent. The cake itself has a green color, from a pandan plant (not real sure how it's used), but it was very moist. The frosting was nice, but what really made the cake was a layer of puff pastry in the middle of the two layers of cake, with a type of pudding. Honestly, this was one of the best cakes I've ever had, and I love me some cake.

The rest of the menu looked good, but we had just eaten. We'll be going back at some point to try other foods, some more cake, and probably not the coffee.

At this point we weren't exactly hungry but we were still planning on going to Bunk, so we headed into the core of the city to Bunk Sandwiches. This place has a rep and is always, always, always busy, but it was after lunch time by now so we thought we'd give it a try. We parked around the block and walked up to it - the line was about 20 people out the door. We looked at each other, agreed that another time would be best, and walked back to the car.

Note to self: Get there right at 11 when they open, no matter the day of the week.

So what next? Some driving, apparently. We drove out to North Mississippi again to check out where a new pod of 10 foodcarts are going to be near Mississippi and Skidmore. Supposedly it's going to be open in September, so we wanted to just get an idea of where it was. After that, we drove around a bit aimlessly, just to see what was around in Northeast, see if anything caught our eye.

We found ourselves driving up Fremont Street and past a coffee place called Jim and Patty's. You may or may not have heard of them, but if you lived in Portland in the past 10 years and liked coffee you will remember their old company - Coffee People. Unfortunately Starbucks bought them out, but Jim and Patty started a new company. Considering I consider the Black Tiger blend milkshake a legitimate contender to crack cocaine (in a good way), we had to stop.

It's a nice looking place - spacious, bright, and a goodie counter filled with all sorts of scrumptious looking coffee accompaniments. No shake today though, and no goodies - I don't need to gain weight every Saturday. We did get a mocha and from the bevy of flavors chose the peanut butter and fudge. Shrug...

It was okay - but the peanut butter flavor came out of a bottle and it was very, very sweet. I would go back, but I'd try something else - perhaps something where the flavor is true. Or just get a Black Tiger shake and not sleep for a week. Definitely a thumbs down on the peanut butter and fudge mocha though, which was disappointing.

We were still planning on getting to the Bipartisan Cafe at this point, so we headed south towards Stark. After a detour to Mt. Tabor park (which looked like an interesting place to come back to and hike around), we were almost to Division and Wifey decided we MUST go to this new Italian place called Taste Unique, which happened to be next door to Tart. She found this place when looking up the area around Tart after our experience there two weeks ago.

Taste Unique is run by a couple by the names of Stefania and Lawrence who came to Portland from the fair Italian city of Perugia via Rome - about an hour or so north of Rome in the Umbria region. Those of you who know me know I love Perugia - I spent a summer there in college learning Italian. It's a very, very old city with a very, very violent past, but it's full of great people and pretty good food - though food wasn't super interesting to me at the time.

Taste Unique isn't really a restaurant, though they have a couple tables, but more of a take-out place. You can get various frozen Italian meals, sauces, fresh pastas, focaccia...just about everything yummy. Stefania makes everything herself, including the pasta, the tiramisu, and the sausage, with local ingredients.

Oh, and did I mention both of them are the nicest people we've run into in awhile?

We went in planning to get a little something for dinner, perhaps a lasagna. Local messageboards had been awash in praise for Stefania's cooking and as someone with some Italian experience, we had to see for ourselves. We settled on a freshly cooked eggplant parmegian and, of course, a serving of tiramisu (and by serving, I mean a huge amount that supposedly serves three but is more than enough for 6-8).

Why eggplant? Not sure really, since we haven't really had much eggplant, but it looked really good. Later when we ate it, it tasted good - but it was still eggplant. We have to go back and try something with meat...

We talked with Lawrence a bit because he wanted to know how we heard about them, especially when we told him we live on the other side of the city. Wifey mentioned I had lived for a short time in Perugia, so Stefania came over and talked with us too, ecstatic to find someone who had been to her town. Unfortunately, that was ten years ago and I confess to not knowing half the places she talked about (or more), plus I apparently missed out by not visiting the Perugina chocolate factory - all that means I have to go back.

After we paid for the food Lawrence asked us if we had a couple minutes to try something. Um, yes, actually. Yes we do. We aboslutely have time to try something. And if we didn't, we would have made time.

He asked us if we liked sweet things, we said sure. So a couple minutes later he came out with slices of focaccia with Nutella spread in the middle. In Rome they call it pizza bianca and the bread was just about perfect with a nice salting on the outside. Getting a bit of that with the creamy, chocolatey Nutella in the middle was fantastic, just a perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Oh yeah, we'll be going back.

After that wonderful stop - and now having tiramisu (which was creamy, espresso-y goodness!) and Vietnamese wedding cake in the cooler (yes, we drive around town with a cooler - and?) - we decided we probably didn't need pie from Bipartisan as well...so maybe another time. But, we weren't too far from a Vietnamese bakery called An Xuyen. They make a variety of Asian baked goods and sell at Uwajimaya (not too far from home), but I was looking specifically for Japanese shoku pan with raisins. It's basically just bread, but thick-cut square pieces, almost an inch thick. Uwajimaya used to carry it but then it disappeared, so I wanted to see if maybe An Xuyen still had it.

So we headed that way, but drove past this Asian mall called Fubonn. Given that out schedule was pretty open, we decided to check it out - and really, the place is amazing. They had various restaurants, a bakery, a candy store, an immigration office, an investment company, and a decent sized grocery store - all of it English optional. For us both it was interesting to just walk the aisles and see all there was to see. We didn't buy anything, but might go back at some point.

Then we made our way to the An Xuyen Bakery. Unfortunately for me no raisin shoku pan, but they do make Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and they did have Vietnamese coffee. And they had a special - the pair for something like $3.50. Considering the coffee was $2.50 on its own, that's a solid deal. We ordered a BBQ pork banh mi, Vietnamese coffee, a BBQ pork steamed bun, and an apple pastry - I think I spent less than $6 total or something like that.

Remember Wifey saying she would try Vietnamese coffee again? She didn't think it would be so soon! This one was, well, sweet. Sickeningly sweet. Unless you love, love, love sweet stuff, I wouldn't recommend it. The steamed bun was okay - nothing to write home about and there are better ones all over. The apply pastry was fine (had some kind of coconut taste to it), but the apple part of it was definitely not special.

The sandwich, though, was excellent. Their fresh french bread was very good, the filling was yummy, and at an average price of $2.50 you can't really go wrong. I'll probably be back to the bakery, but it will only be for a sandwich (well, unless they have my raisin shoku pan). This place actually isn't too far from work, so perhaps I can talk a co-worker into a banh mi lunch.

After that it was home - long day of exploring. Here's the summary:

Bob's Red Mill - shrug
Garden State - Thumbs up, will return
Jade Tea House - Thumbs up, will return
Jim and Patty's - Will return, but will order something different
Taste Unique - Thumbs up, will return (very soon)
An Xuyen - Partial thumbs up, will return