Under the Table with Jen » Cravings

Brass Tacks Sandwiches

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:56:31 +0000

Sandwich obsessive that I am, I’ve always wanted to be a card-carrying Sandwich Lover. And now, I am. Because this charming little North Portland sandwich shop gives its regulars an official Sandwich Lover Card, and when you’ve punched nine Captain Roast Beefs (layered with spiced tomato jam, mushrooms, pepperoncinis & pickles) or Salami To Introduce Myselfs (salami, Swiss, & black olives) or Kick Out The Hams! (maple-glazed ham, Tillamook cheddar & tomatoes) or Velveeta Undergrounds (one of four vegan specialty sandwiches, made with agave-smoked faux ham, cashew “gouda” and caramelized onions), you get a free sandwich. Finally, an incentive program just for Sandwich Freaks like me. PS: Don’t pass on the crisp, crunchy, flavor-soaked-through-and-through housemade garlic dill pickles–they are something special.

Ruby Jewel Scoop Shop

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:18:17 +0000

Brutally blindsided by a fierce ice cream craving? Follow the scent of fresh waffle cones to Ruby Jewel Ice Cream’s cheery, Neopolitan-hued North Portland scoop shop, where friendly ice cream scoopers dish up creamy, handmade small batch artisan ice creams like the classic Honey Lavender and sultry Chocolate with Salted Caramel, swoony sundaes like the candied coconut and Marcona-almond topped Ahhh Joy, and of course, their signature ice cream sandwiches, all made with the finest locally-sourced ingredients and hormone-free dairy products. Forget about gummy bears and Oreo crumbles—Ruby Jewel’s artisan toppings include handmade marshmallow, anise sprinkles, rosemary pecans, peanut brittle, and three kinds of exotic sea salt from Ruby Jewel’s neighbor and Portland’s mecca of salt, The Meadow. Vegans rejoice—two “cow-free” selections grace the menu at all times. And one of the most perfect hostess gifts of all time might be the DIY “Make Your Own Sandwich” kits, which allows you to recreate Ruby Jewel’s ice cream magic at home, in case a craving sneaks up on you outside of normal business hours.

Cheese Bar

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:54:25 +0000

When prolific Portland cheesemonger Steve Jones announced that he was moving his revered cheese shop from its cozy Northwest Portland nook to the old Parkside Deli digs in Mt. Tabor and fattening it up into a cheese shop/café/neighborhood hangout, you knew instantly which side of the river Portland cheeselovers lived on by the resulting screams of joy/great gulping sobs. Now the wedge and wheel crowd happily flocks to Steve’s straightforwardly-dubbed Cheese Bar at the corner of SE Belmont & 61st Avenue, where you’ll find everything from creamy Bries and blues to odoriferous Langres, as well as a full selection of charcuterie, specialty groceries, chocolate, and a rotating, seasonally-influenced menu of beer-&-wine-friendly sandwiches, salads, soups, and small plates. Six rotating taps and a nicely-curated selection of wine ensures there’s always a stout for your cheddar and a rosé for your Mahón.

Pyro Pizza

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:54:05 +0000

Pyro’s crust is thin, chewy and blistery, the pizzas are cooked in a honest-to-goodness wood-fired oven right inside the cart, the toppings are fresh and delicious, the people are nice. I don’t have to wait forever to get a seat. Heck, there aren’t any seats. There’s a scant wait of seven or so minutes for your pizza. Which happens to be just enough time to put in an order for a peanut butter chocolate chip fried pie across the way at Whiffies Fried Pies. Take your pizza and pie home and pop open a bottle of cava/beer/YooHoo and you might just have the perfect meal.

Taste Tickler

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:16:22 +0000

When I eat at Taste Tickler, I’m transported back in time. Back to college, when I could party all night and sleep until 4pm, my carefree lifestyle interrupted only by a)the occasional call from my dad threatening to cut off my funding unless I added another two whole points to my GPA and fast, b)the occasional mandatory class attendance policy, and b)the relentless sandwich cravings. In college, unless you’re highly evolved, you aren’t necessarily interested in house-cured meats and artisan cheeses and organic tomatoes and free range pepperoncinis, you’re much more concerned with volume, economy and flair, which is exactly what you’ll get at Taste Tickler, an immaculate little basement sub shop at the corner of NE Broadway and 14th. Sandwiches come on a stretch of soft chewy white baguette, in increments of 7″ ($4.95), 10″ ($6.95), and 14″ ($8.75), and can be adorned with pretty much any trimming or condiment you want, which is why mine always end up resembling a Christmas tree decorated by a kid who got into the mulled wine. They are big, they are cheap, they are fresh, and they are satisfying, even to a mature, adult, free-range pepperoncini snob like me.

Eastmoreland Market

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:32:54 +0000

Riding along the quiet, immaculately-manicured streets of idyllic Eastmoreland, it’s a delightful surprise when the stately brick manors and quaint bungalows briefly part to reveal a tiny gourmet market filled with organic produce, wines, meats, bread, Spanish and Italian specialty groceries, Illy coffee, fresh Voodoo Doughnuts, and exceptional sandwiches. Natives, accidental tourists, and intrepid sandwich seekers alike can be found nose deep in one of this well-hidden neighborhood favorite’s sandwich creations, like the popular Smoked Turkey and Goat Cheese with housemade chutney and grilled onions, hearty Rueben with corned beef and housemade pickle slaw on rye, and marvelously meaty Muffaletta–a fresh ciabatta roll gripping seemingly endless layers of paper thin ham, salumi, mortadella, swiss, provolone and spread with a feisty olive, caper and pickled vegetable relish. Dine in at one of the cafe tables up front or pick up a bottle of Broadbent vinho verde, a bag of Kettle chips, organic Willamette Valley pears, oatmeal cherry cookies by Finale Fine Cakes and Desserts and a bar or two of Theo chocolate, and you’ve got the makings of a mighty fine picnic, if you can ever find your way out of this utopian neck of the Southeast woods and over to one of the nearby city parks.

Perierra Creperie

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:54:09 +0000

I never expected to find the blended and basil-blessed shakelove of my summer at a crepe-making food cart on SE Hawthorne, but I guess love’s funny that way. Truth be told, I’d been to Perierra Creperie three times before I even read the neatly lettered midsection of the menu. My eyes had always just shifted from the sweet crepes list listed on the left side straight over to the savories on the right, not even noticing the critical second column–smoothies and shakes. Where else can you find a Golden Graham milkshake? Basil and coconut milk? Avocado and sea salt? Fresh mint and Oreo? Even the classics, like Lavender and Honey, or Peanut Butter and Banana, or Fresh Strawberry, are something quite special. Vegans, swallow that lump in your throat–the smoothie is vegan-approved, made with fresh lemon juice, limeade, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and banana, for a cold, smooth dairy-free treat that’s so compelling you’ll brave brain freeze and practically swallow your straw trying to slurp it down before so much as one drop of condensation forms on the cup.

Pho Sam

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:26:22 +0000

I am always torn over how to spend my precious lunch hour–do I slurp pho, do I window shop, do I sit somewhere downtown and people watch to get ideas for the novel I’m always threatening to finish? Fortunately I can do all three at Pho Sam, a positively scrumptious Vietnamese food cart on the quiet side of the downtown cluster at SW Alder, along SW 9th Avenue. After ordering the Pho Bo, I plunk down at the small table tucked into the side of the cart and breathe in the otherworldly good smell of the rich anise-scented broth teeming with strips of tender beef flank and rice noodles and herbs, then add in bean sprouts, torn up fresh basil, bright green jalapeño slices, and hoisin, hot chili sauce and a squirt of fresh lime, and go to town with my chop sticks and plastic spoon while window shopping from afar–Pho Sam’s table offers views of both the quirky Magpie windows and dreamy spendy shoe store Johnny Sole, not to mention the always interesting downtown passerby. While I generally can’t help myself from ordering the pho exclusively, occasionally I divert to the grilled pork with vermicelli noodles, the thinly sliced pork surrounded by sparklingly fresh shredded lettuce, carrots, and cilantro and scattered with chopped peanuts. Thanks to Pho Sam, I can window shop, people-watch, and eat my pho too, all in the span of 60 short minutes.

Foster & Dobbs

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:46:29 +0000

If you’ve had a hard day at work, I highly suggest unwinding at Northeast specialty market Foster & Dobbs, where you can chase all your troubles and cares away with one of their fantastic DIY cheese plates and a bottle of wine or something from the by-the-glass menu–which usually offers a white, red, and rosé for $5-$6. To create your cheese plate, choose your favorite cheese(s) from Foster & Dobb’s well-stocked cheese case and then select one of three accompaniments to complement it–Savory (olives, marcona olives, bread), Sweet (dried fruit, hazelnuts, bread), or Ploughman’s (greens, bread, and mustard or chutney). The plate setup is $5, plus the cost of your cheese, by weight. Sit back with your wine and cheese at one of the little indoor or outdoor bistro tables and watch the after work crowd as they trickle in–the young professional couple buying two bottles of red wine for their dinner party, an older professorial-looking twosome discussing an NPR story on Sudan while choosing charcuterie, a Levi’s-clad 20-something sampling the Yakima Applewood Smoked Salt, two stylish sisters speaking French but obviously arguing over the Fromage d’Affinois, and a grandmother who smells faintly of lavendar and cats spooning olives into a to-go tub. Listen to the soft jazz music and eye the table of chocolate hopefully and one by one, the irksome memories of your boss’s inane requests and unfavorite coworker’s outbursts will vanish, and you’ll be refreshed and renewed, or at least a little buzzed, happy and mellow. That’s the power of wine and cheese.

Podnah’s Pit BBQ

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:47:38 +0000

Podnah’s may not much to look at, just a neat and narrow little two-window storefront with a couple of picnic tables outside and interior décor that’s as clean and sparse as a freshly devoured rib, but the simplistic down-home charm goes hand in hand with some of the city’s finest barbecued ribs, brisket, pulled pork, smoked trout, and yes—pecan pie. Don’t pass up the iceberg lettuce wedge, which wallows in a sea of house blue cheese dressing so beautifully tangy it borders on sour. It’s hard to say what the best day of the week to visit Podnah’s is—Tuesday is all day rib and draft happy hour, but on Saturday and Sunday breakfast is served, and until you’ve had Podnah’s eggs and brisket, you might have just thought breakfast meant overdone eggs and sad little wisps of bacon. And like me, you were so, so wrong.